Julianna Yau’s blog

I realized today that I have not yet distilled Tamara Winikoff’s presentations from the Summit. When reviewing my notes, I realized that most of them were of the stats she provided of and from NAVA. While the stats highlighted the challenges they have overcome and those yet to be tackled, the stats themselves were not the thrust of the content.

The most important thing Tamara had to share was that they have only been able to accomplish as much as they have because NAVA, as “the peak body representing and advancing the professional interests of the Australian visual arts and craft sector”, works internally with the various parts of the visual arts community to reach consensus before taking it to the government and the broader public. It seems like such a simple concept, but I’ve often seen (within the arts community and elsewhere) people let sensationalism get the better of them. I continue to hope that the arts community can maintain the unity initiated by the Summit.

Another strategy NAVA has taken is to demand public/government inquiries into matters relating to the visual arts. Through this and other work done by NAVA itself, they have been able to put numbers to issues and be more effective in their influence on policy and program changes. Figures such as those presented by Hill Strategies will help strengthen our statements of what needs to be done and why.

NAVA has also produced The Code of Practice for the Australian Visual Arts and Craft Sector, which is a publication encompassing all aspects of the sector. This is obviously the result of much work, not merely in the writing of the document but the development of the code itself. I think it would be immensely valuable for the Canadian arts sector to develop a similar document. The exercise would be a useful point of reference but, more importantly, would allow us to work through the many issues which need to be settled so that we can have a better understanding of each other’s concerns and a resolution for our own.

Related posts

• Visual Arts Summit – Day 1 (0)
• Visual Arts Summit - Day 3 - Morning (1)
• Visual Arts Summit - Day 2 - Summary (0)
• Visual Arts Summit - Day 2 - Further Thoughts (0)
• Shawna Dempsey’s remarks – Visual Arts Summit 2007 (1)