Monday 11 October Ant and I made special visit to the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. Neville Field (Senior Education Officer) greeted us and gave an initial outline of the prison. Neville introduced us to Nancy Cowham (Arts/Education Teacher) who took us through the prison’s art room, where we met a number Indigenous artists and saw their work. I spoke about “Artists in the Black” (AITB) and Ant explained Arts Law’s services and the role it plays assisting the Australian arts community.
After that we held an informal workshop with the inmates where we discussed copyright, moral rights and contracts. There was one inmate who intends opening his own Art Centre when he is released and Ant had a look at his business plan. He said that he will definitely be calling Arts Law for further assistance. We were impressed by the setup at the prison and the outlets for creativity available to the inmates.
Later that afternoon Ant went to the Araluen Arts Centre to meet with Sonja MacLean de Silva of Arts NT and Penny McDonald of NT Film, Television and New Media Office. Ant held two seminars that evening, one for artists discussing copyright, moral rights, contract and Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP) and the other aimed at filmmakers on similar subjects.
On Tuesday Ant met individually with a number of local creators to give them a chance to discuss particular issues they had. Arts Law is currently only able to offer this face-to-face in state capitals so it was great to be able to provide the Alice Springs arts community with the opportunity to meet with an arts lawyer one-on-one. Thanks to Sonja at Arts NT for making the appointments.
While Ant was at Araluen I had a meeting with CAAMA (Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association) to discuss AITB. It was well received with around 8 staff attending. Many issues were raised and concern was put to rest when I explained that AITB can help all Indigenous artists including musicians and beyond. Later in the day I met with Ant at Araluen and had a look around the Desert Mob Exhibition (these art works were from throughout Central Australia including inmates from Alice Springs Correctional Centre). While at Araluen I was also able to meet Bess Price, Project Officer, Indigenous Arts Strategy with Arts NT.
Wednesday found us in Darwin. After speaking with music students at Charles Darwin University Ant met up with me to attend ANKAAA’s (Association of Northern Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists) arts workers conference at Frog Hollow. There was a good turn out of artists and arts workers many of who had travelled from remote arts centres to attend the conference. I introduced AITB and Ant gave a presentation on copyright, moral rights, contract and ICIP. We received some assistance in the workshop from artist Alan Kerinauia (see photo) who helped us demonstrate how copyright and moral rights worked in a real life sense.
Later that evening Ant held two more seminars along similar lines to those presented in Alice while I attended the ANKAAA Conference dinner and spoke more about AITB and Arts Law with conference participants.
On Thursday we visited Berrima Prison and met with Madonna Cochrane, Senior Education Officer. Madonna introduced us to Fiona Cocks who is the Arts Facilitator at the prison. Berrima has a majority of Indigenous inmates many of whom are artists and we spoke with about 20 that were available on the day. It was a general information session on Arts Law and AITB. After this we had an open discussion with inmates asking questions regarding copyright, contracts and debt recovery. Madonna also took us to the Women’s section and we spoke with some of the artists, in particular one who will be released soon and was very keen to contact Arts Law with any problems that she may encounter.
The trip to Alice Springs and Darwin gave us an opportunity to spread the word about Arts Law and AITB. It was exciting to see the vibrant arts communities in both places and to meet with creators both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous. This reminded us of the importance of Arts Law providing services to the Northern Territory and also made us want to get back there soon as we can.
A big thanks to Steph Hawkins at the crew at ANKAAA for making Ant and I so welcome in Darwin. An equally big thank you to Sonja and Bess at Arts NT and Penny at the NT film, Television and New Media office for their assistance and hospitality in Alice.
