Artist Self-Organisation
Detailed Discussion
Art Centres play an important role in supporting, developing and providing a platform for First Nations artists and communities to share and maintain their cultural and artistic practice. This includes generating economic income for communities.
For the purposes of this chapter, the term ‘organisation’ is used to include an organisation, individual or government body wanting to collaborate or engage with an Art Centre on a project or engagement.
The term ‘Art Centre’ refers to First Nations and governed corporations funded by the Commonwealth Government’s Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support (IVAIS) program. Typically the boards of Art Centres are made up of First Nations artists from the local community. Employees of the Art Centre, including managers and arts workers are engaged by the board and are accountable to the board for the business and artistic operations of the art centre.
Some Art Centres are owned and operated by local governments or other organisations, and can be guided and directed by a First Nations advisory group.
For more information on collaborating with First Nations communities, see First Nations.
Current Conditions
In keeping with the diversity of the hundreds of First Nations groups across the country, Art Centres and artists operate and do business in diverse ways and with various parties. Each Art Centre has their own way of considering requests and making decisions which is influenced by the community within which the Art Centre operates and the protocols and obligations required by board members, artists, Elders and community members.
Key Issues
Art Centres often have a wide scope of responsibility with limited resources. This means that Art Centre staff have varying levels of time and capacity, which impacts the turnaround time for dealing with requests for collaboration. Requests and decision-making may also require board approval or further community consultation.
In all cases, Art Centres require substantial lead-in time to consider any request to work together. This is to ensure adherence to the Art Centre’s cultural and administrative processes and enable artists and board members to make informed decisions and maintain agency.
Legal Requirements
Legal obligations in the area of intellectual property and Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (see Intellectual Property and First Nations) apply in this area.
Responsibilities of Organisations
Building a good and respectful relationship with an Art Centre is key to a successful engagement or collaboration. Art Centres and Art Centre artists operate within the ecology of their own specific region, community and cultural practice and are subject to their own ways of doing business. Overall, this requires organisations to have an open mind and be flexible in their proposed plans and budget.
Proposal and Communication
To align with good practice, an organisation wanting to work with an Art Centre needs to have a genuine intent to build a respectful two-way relationship.
This includes:
doing research on the Art Centre, artists, artforms, and geographic region before approaching an Art Centre
providing a realistic budget outline and being willing to negotiate that budget
understanding that each Art Centre is different with varying levels of time and capacity to consider and respond to requests
placing advice and input from the Art Centre artists at the heart of the project
In developing a proposal, organisations should consider and articulate why they want to work with a particular Art Centre. This should be informed by the organisation’s own research. Proposals should include information about the organisation itself, including whether the organisation employs or has employed First Nations contributors to develop the proposal.
From a format and communication perspective, organisations’ proposals should be in an easy-to-read format with clear and succinct language covering the key concepts of the proposed project and expectations of the parties. In a time-poor environment, this can assist Art Centre staff in initially considering requests in the most efficient way.
Art Centres conduct their own due diligence to assess whether there is alignment between the organisations. There must be flexibility and room within the proposal for the Art Centre artists’ input and advice to be acknowledged, incorporated and acted upon. This ensures the artists’ voices are part of each step of the project development and decision-making processes.
Engagement and Consent
Art Centre staff may be required to go through various levels of consultation before responding to a request from an organisation. This process may be required by existing cultural protocols the Art Centre must comply with.
Organisations must accommodate the requirement for the Art Centre to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of the relevant artists and families who have the authority to provide such consent in relation to any proposal or engagement.
While this process can take time, it is critical to any engagement with an Art Centre. The progress and timing of projects can also be subject to other community events that are outside the control of the Art Centre, including ‘sorry business’ (the passing of members of the community), illness or other community obligations that an artist is required to attend to, and therefore not able to commit to project timelines or delivery dates. This means that organisations may need to adjust their expectations of receiving responses from the Art Centre or commencing work within a short or particular time frame. Pressuring an Art Centre to move quickly to agree to work together is not respectful to the Art Centre.
Projects may also require high levels of artistic and cross-cultural translation between the organisation and artists, with heavy reliance on Art Centre staff to translate and interpret project ideas and outcomes. Translation arrangements and the collaborative nature of this type of work should be negotiated and outlined in proposals and agreements with the names of translators and collaborators being recognised in all documentation, attribution and crediting.
Budget
Art Centres and artists do not work for free. Organisations must have a clear understanding of the proposed budget and be willing to negotiate that budget with the Art Centre. The budget should consider the time taken by Art Centres to provide their advice and recommendations throughout the duration of the project, including time taken to obtain permissions or provide other inputs, such as high-resolution images.
Ensure that artists’ are reimbursed for their time on the project. This includes the production of work, but also for time spent in meetings, telephone calls, approving drafts, travelling to exhibitions or openings, media appearances or attendance at other events.
Organisations should also ensure non-financial benefits flow back to the Art Centre once the project is finalised. This may include supplying items that were created as part of the project such as products, merchandise, garments, videos, photographs or other materials. This demonstrates an ongoing commitment to the relationship built with the Art Centre and artists after the project is complete.
Agreement
Once there is an understanding of the project and expectations, a legal agreement reflecting that arrangement should be put in place between the parties.
The agreement should outline all terms and conditions of the project, responsibilities of all parties, timeframes and payment of fees. The agreement should consider and outline responsibilities of each party in relation to ICIP. The payment structure will reflect the nature of the project.
The Art Centre should have adequate time to obtain independent legal advice on the agreement. Depending on the nature of the arrangement, various contract templates are available for purchase from Arts Law including Collaboration Agreements.
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property
In addition to complying with legal requirements under the Copyright Act and other relevant laws, all parties must ensure that Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) principles are upheld for any use or adaptation of Indigenous cultural heritage.
For more information, see First Nations.