Newsletter for April 2010

Our sale of paintings in support of the Western Desert Dialysis Program has now concluded. It was a great success and raised over $20000 for the Program.

The manager of the Program, Sarah Brown, commented:

"The funds will be used to assist Western Desert Dialysis to assist dialysis patients to return home and reconnect with family and country. .. On behalf of Western Desert Dialysis, I’d like to give our heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in this fund raiser. We were blown away by the generosity and kindness of all those involved."

The Indigenous Australian Art Commercial Code of Conduct is now operating. The Code is open for expressions of interest from dealers to become members and the Administration Committee has been appointed and started operations.

In other matters affecting commercial aspects of Aboriginal art, the government has selected the Copyright Agency Limited to administer the resale royalty scheme which comes into operation on 9 June 2010.

These two developments will over time bring major changes to the way that Indigenous art is documented, sold and re-sold. The extra cost of record-keeping and administration will undoubtedly be passed on to buyers - it is hoped that that this will not depress the art market during a difficult period but rather will result in greater benefits to the artists.

We continue to feature the work of artist Adrian King from Lockhart River on Cape York Peninsula.

Finally. it is pleasing to note that Kate Podger has been appointed the curator of the 27th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, opening in August this year. Kate successfully curated the Desert Mob exhibition last year in Alice Springs and is a former coordinator at the Ikuntji Art Centre in Haasts Bluff.

Martin Wardrop
Director, Aboriginal Art Online Pty Ltd

The Indigenous Australian Art Commercial Code of Conduct is now operating: applications to become members are being received from dealers and the Code Administration Committee has been appointed and held its first meeting.

Those who register their interest will be contacted directly by the Committee and provided with application documentation once the full application process has been finalised.

The approach taken to approving signatories to the Code will be broadly inclusive. This is a deliberate policy.

The chair of the Committee, Ron Merkel QC, says:

".. it is not the intention of the Code to form an exclusive club, but to raise the standards across the whole of industry.  Only once a dealer, gallery or art centre has signed up and committed to uphold the Code, can their behaviour be assessed by the requirements of the Code.  In this way, we hope to change the behaviour and raise the standards of the industry as a whole - making those who choose to continue to act outside of these standards or deny the worth of the code, more visible and more accountable for their practices.."

There has been some public comment criticising the scope of the Code for its failure to include public galleries, museums and collecting institutions. While these organizations were involved in early discussions about the Commercial Code, they decided to establish their own set of principles in recognition of their different roles and the different issues that they face.

The Charter of Principles for Publicly Funded Collecting Institutions was developed in consultation with state and territory collecting institutions and the national collecting institutions, and was approved by Cultural Ministers in October 2009.

Public collecting institutions that adopt the Charter will be sending a clear message that careful checks of the background and provenance of Indigenous works of art will be made before they are acquired.

Criticism of the Commercial Code over lack of public institution involvement appears not to take account of the Charter nor of the different roles of the public institutions. Nevertheless, consideration is being to the possibility that the Commercial Code might have public galleries and museums as associate members supporting the Code but without being bound by details relating to commercial activities.

 

The Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts has appointed the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) to manage the artists’ resale royalty scheme that comes into operation on 9 June.

The scheme will provide artists with a 5% royalty on commercial resales of $1,000 or more that occur after 8 June this year.

The royalty will apply to existing as well as new works, but will not apply to the first change of ownership after commencement, even if that is a resale.

CAL’s administrative fees will be 10% of the royalties collected. The Agency will set up two advisory panels – one representing artists and the other representing the art trade - to ensure that the administrative processes work with current industry practices.

Sellers, buyers, auction houses, commercial galleries and art dealers will be legally obliged to provide information to CAL about all commercial resales from 9 June, including those that do not generate a royalty.

The information must provided to CAL, in writing, within 90 days of the resale. It must enable CAL to work out: whether a royalty is payable on the resale; the amount of the royalty; and who is liable to pay the royalty.

CAL envisages that the data collected under the scheme will be useful for other purposes, such as provenance.

CAL has provided fact sheets for artists and for the art trade.

 

Adrian King has an established reputation as a member of the Lockhart River Art Gang, having had four solo exhibitions since 2002. Recently he has taken a new direction with his style and use of colour. Recently he has taken a new direction with his style and use of colour. The focus of his new works is particularly on fishing for mullet and the coast of Cape York Peninsula where Adrian lives.