THE FOURTH NATIONAL ABORIGINAL AND TORRES
STRAIT ISLANDER VISUAL ARTS CONFERENCE

Masonic Centre, North Terrace, Adelaide, 5-7 March 2002

ABOUT THE INDIGENOUS VISUAL ARTS CONFERENCE 2002

This conference is co-sponsored by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Fund of the Australia Council.

The purpose of the conference is to bring together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and arts workers to have a voice about the future of their professional practice, to share their knowledge, expertise and stories, and to make recommendations for the future support of Indigenous arts in this country. Interested professionals working within the Indigenous arts industry and other members of the public are also welcome to attend.

The Conference will include:

• Keynote addresses by leading artists, curators and arts administrators.
• Artist presentations (using work or slides to talk about work, techniques, story, etc)
• Workshops on issues relevant to artists and arts workers
• Talking circles (co-ordinated group discussions around a theme in a relaxed environment)
• Papers and presentations on Indigenous art and the conference themes (20 minute papers with 10 minutes for questions)

History

The first national gathering on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual arts was a five-day seminar sponsored by the Australia Council for the Arts, held at the Australian National University in May 1973.

The conference, 'Aboriginal Arts in Australia', was opened by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Dick Roughsey and John Moriarty introduced the program, which included artists from around the country, including Papunya and Yirrkala artists, and Maori, Indian, Nigerian, PNG and Native American artists. The seminar dealt with film, theatre and literature as well as visual arts. Participants made a series of resolutions on how traditional and emerging Indigenous arts could be supported.

It was 16 years before the second conference was held in Perth in 1989, hosted by Dumbartung Aboriginal Cooperative. The conference was sponsored by the Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts, which had all-Indigenous directors for the first time: Gary Foley, Chicka Dixon and Jimmy Everett.

The third national conference was held in Cairns in November 1999. Delegates attending included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, art and craft advisers, gallerists, academics, bureaucrats and observers interested in Indigenous visual arts. One of its recommendations was that a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts Conference should be held every two years, coinciding with a major cultural event.