Mob right across Australia are finding ourselves at the centre of major national political discourse regarding where and how our Recognition and Indigenous Affairs bureaucracy and policy will be set within our Constitution. No matter one’s views on the Voice to Parliament and/or Constitutional Recognition, the political matters for our peoples in the arts (the Indigenous art sector, namely) have been ever-present and are at the fore.
Australia Council for the Arts’ transformation into Creative Australia and its reinvigoration of both ethos and funding (including guidelines and frameworks for best practice) are being observed en masse with much anticipation. And, while these changes are set to be for the better, with hopes for brighter and more supported days ahead for the arts sector, the topic of where lines or Terms of Engagement should be drawn between Indigenous creatives and non-Indigenous arts workers and collaborators linger. Calling-out of blatant and direct interference in the actual creation of artworks, credited under a sole artist’s name, is but one matter; a trickier jig to spot is in instances where arts professionals and teachers are brought into art centres in order to up-skill and transfer knowledge of new techniques.
