PRIZE REVIEW: Bundjalung Artwork Competition 2023
This month, Arts Law has reviewed the terms and conditions of the Bundjalung Artwork Competition in New South Wales. Read the terms and conditions of this competition here.
The deadline for this competition is 28 February 2023.
What is the rating?
Arts Law has awarded the competition 5 stars out of 5.
How did Arts Law help?
Arts Law reached out to the organisers of this competition, Momentum Collective, to make its terms clearer and more artist friendly. We were delighted at the organisers’ enthusiastic response, and that they took on board our suggestions.
How artist-friendly is this competition?
This competition is very artist friendly. It asks for a reasonable copyright licence from only the winner of the competition, and commits to respecting both the Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property and the moral rights of the winner.
How do the copyright terms stack up?
| What is copyright? | Copyright is a bundle of rights that protect literary, artistic, musical and dramatic works (as well as films and sound recordings). These rights allow the owner of copyright to control the ways that a work is used. If you want to learn more, you can read Arts Law’s Information Sheet on Copyright here. |
This competition has artist-friendly copyright terms.
The organisers only ask for a copyright licence from the winner, not from all entrants. That licence is non-exclusive (so the winner can licence their work elsewhere), limited to 5 years, and only for the purpose of promoting Momentum Collective via specific formats. These are reasonable, best practice terms.
The licence allows the organisers to reproduce the winner’s artwork on promotional items. We are pleased that this is limited to items that will not be for sale, and that there are protections for the moral rights of the artist specific to these kinds of uses).
Does the competition respect moral rights?
| What are moral rights? | Creators have moral rights when their work is used (i) to attribution, (ii) against false attribution, and (iii) to integrity, which means not having their work treated in a derogatory way. For more information, you can read Arts Law’s Information Sheet on Moral Rights here. |
We are thrilled at the competition’s treatment of moral rights. Based on suggestions by Arts Law, the organisers commit to:
- Crediting the winner whenever their artwork is used
- Not making major alterations to the artwork without the winner’s consent
- Consulting with the winner regarding any reproductions of their artwork on promotional items and providing them with samples for approval
What about Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP)?
| What is ICIP? | ICIP is a broad term that covers all of the rights that Indigenous people have, and want to have, to protect their traditional arts and culture (including writing, music, performances, paintings, languages, sacred sites, stories passed down orally, and other records of heritage). If you want to learn more, you can read Arts Law’s Information Sheet on ICIP here. |
We are pleased that the organisers decided to include protections for ICIP based on Arts Law’s suggestions. The terms now include a positive commitment not to display or use any artwork in a way that might be might be considered by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community to be inappropriate, derogatory, degrading or offensive.
The organisers have agreed to make attribution in relation to any ICIP (as notified by entrants). In addition, they have included a process for relatives or representatives to request that an artist’s likeness not be displayed in the event of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander artist’s death.
These are best practice terms for a competition dealing with artwork of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
What could they have done better?
We think the organisers have done a great job with these terms.
For future competitions, the organisers may want to include more details about the medium and format of entries, to provide more guidance to entrants.
We note that the copyright terms include that there will be a further consent form that the winner will sign. While it would be more transparent to include the full terms of any licence in the publicly available terms and conditions, we think that the terms and conditions are still best practice as long as that further consent form is consistent with the terms that have been published.
You can lodge a query with us here if you would like to obtain advice from Arts Law about this competition.
What is the Budjalung Artwork Competition about?
Momentum Collective calls for submissions by saying: “Attention! Momentum Collective is calling out for artists who have Bundjalung Nation Heritage. We are inviting all artists born in the Bundjalung Nation to design an artwork representing the beautiful Bundjalung Country which we will reprint and displace in all our offices across the Bundjalung Nation.”
Entries are open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from the Bundjalung nation.
The winner will be selected by a panel that includes employees from Momentum Collective who are on the Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group and a local elder.
What prizes are on offer?
The winner of this competition will be paid $500 (inclusive of GST), and will have their work featured on various promotional material produced by Momentum Collective.