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Northern Australian arts workers extend themselves nationally
supplied by ANKAAA 5 February 2014
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NKAAA, the Darwinbased peak body for Indigenous visual arts servicing the Top End of Northern Australian regions of WA and NT, has provided remote Indigenous arts workers with the opportunity to extend themselves into leading national arts institutions. Last year nine (9) Aboriginal Arts Workers were chosen from nine Art Centres across Arnhem Land, Darwin/Katherine, the Kimberley and the Tiwi Islands to participate in the ANKAAA Arts Worker Extension Program [AWEP].
Governor General Hon Quentin Bryce, Lena Nyadbi and Roseleen Park (2011 - 12 Graduate), Paris, 2013. Image: Jonathon Kimberley
AWEP was designed to take steps towards overcoming one of the biggest challenges for Northern Australian Aboriginal Art Centres. At present, Art Centre managers are usually non-indigenous and are fulfilling multiple challenging roles in remote and underserviced Indigenous communities. As a result staff turn over is extremely high. There is a huge need for long-term capacity building for Aboriginal arts workers to increase their skills and, in the long run, move up to management and decision-making positions that are located in Art Centres within their
communities. One of the program’s primary aims is to develop professional networks and relationships between remotely based art-workers and leading arts professionals in major cities nationally and worldwide. The professional development of the arts workers has played a crucial role in building career pathways and providing quality employment opportunities to art workers across Northern Australia, many of whom are faced with a lack of employment opportunity and growth. Direct contact with leading
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professionals from leading arts institutions has been a successful modality to achieve this objective, “This program has helped me share what I do and where I come from with a new audience. It has also given me more confidence and new skills to take back to Maningrida”, says 2013 Graduate and artist Marcus Pascoe - Maningrida Arts and Culture, NT. Over an intensive nine months, the arts workers, many of whom had never travelled interstate before, undertook Darwin based professional development programs, on site learning and a two week trip to Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne for internships and behind the scenes learning experiences at Australia’s leading cultural and art conservation institutions. “This kind of course helps remote people to understand more and extend themselves. For the people from remote areas we are really stirring them around and opening their visions and their dreams to get into this open world. It is a new pathway opening up for arts workers - a new pathway for both sides.” Djambawa Marawili AM ANKAAA Chairman The program also offers the staff of these cultural institutions to gain first hand knowledge of Aboriginal art and conservation. As Cara Pinchbeck, Art Gallery of New South Wales, put it: “It is vital for arts workers to be able to see what the Institutions are doing and what is happening outside their communities. And for Institutions to hear about what is happening in communities. AWEP allows for a great exchange and rare opportunity to talk and meet with arts workers directly as opposed to communicating only with the Art Centre managers.”
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Participants of the 2013 Arts Worker Extension Program in front of the National Museum of Australia. Image supplied
Now in it’s third year and with a solid track record of meeting objectives, the program has had 24 successful graduates who have gone on to become leaders in their field. Previous participants have travelled to Paris, Shanghai and the Solomon Islands to showcase Aboriginal art overseas as leaders in their own Arts Centres as well as cultural tourism. A number of artists have won places in the prestigious National Gallery of Australia Wesfarmers Indigenous Leadership Program. All graduates receive ongoing support and opportunities through ANKAAA’s Art Worker Extension Graduation Program. The program has an empowering affect that builds confidence and echoes loudly back to the broader Indigenous community. With a dearth of real opportunity for remote art workers this initiative creates vital opportunities for them to bring valuable skills and knowledge back yto their Art Centres and communitites that would otherwise be diffiuclt to attain. It opens doors for progressing arts workers’ careers
that did not previous exist. Furthermore AWEP provides leading professionals from the country’s most prominent institutions with firsthand interaction and experiences with Aboriginal artists thus generating a true understanding and respect for culture and country. Chaired by Djambawa Marawili AM, ANKAAA supports 49 art centres and 5000 artists working across 1 million square km of northern Australia. Many of the artists are internationally acclaimed artists and cultural leaders with custodianship for invaluable traditional knowledge. Applications for the 2014 Arts Worker Extension Program are open now and candidates will be announced in March 2014. The 2012-13 AWEP program was made possible by the support of the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation, the Western Australian Department of Arts and Culture, the Ministry for the Arts Professional Development Fund, as well as sponsorship through INPEX Ichthys Pty.