NAVA: in conversation

NAVA joins Pari Co-directors Tian Zhang and Naomi Segal for an in-conversation chat on good practice frameworks for running and sustaining artist-run initiatives (ARIs). The conversation offers insights into the ways in which NAVA's Code of Practice can help champion the long-term viability of ARis, ensuring they continue their role in platforming experimental and responsive practice within art communities, both locally and beyond. The talk accompanies Pari's fourth annual iteration of Mixed Business; an exhibition celebrating the people who keep Pari running. Endorsed by the Australian Government as part of National Cultural Policy - Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place, the Code of Practice for Visual Arts, Craft and Design sets out equitable, ethical and self-reflective standards for the professional Australian contemporary arts sector. Saturday 9 December 2023 Pari, Parramatta NSW Photo: Garry Trinh

98% of us engage with the arts and 45% of us create art, yet the majority of Australian visual artists and arts workers remain deeply concerned by income security, cuts to arts education, program cancellations and reduced sales due to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. All Australians would benefit immensely from ambitious visual arts and culture experiences made possible through strategic policy and funding investment. In the electorate of Moreton, Queensland, POPSART's Bec Mac facilitates a conversation with artist Gordon Hookey (Waanyi), Pat Hoffie AM artist and Professor Emeritus, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Penelope Benton, Executive Director National Association for the Visual Arts, Paul Osuch Founder and CEO of Anywhere Festival and Carmel Haugh, Program Director Chrysalis Projects about NAVA's call for federal election candidates to take bold action for arts and culture by committing to a whole-of-government National Cultural Plan to effectively invest for impact in the medium and long-term needs of the arts sector. We also hear from Claire Garton candidate for the Greens, Chelsea Follett from the UAP and Graham Perrett candidate for Labor. Presented in partnership with Fund the Arts and The Paint Factory. Wednesday 11 May 2022 The Paint Factory, Yeronga Qld

Sophia Cai is a curator and arts writer based in Melbourne, Australia. In this podcast, NAVA's Leya Reid talks to Sophia Cai about community-based practice, cultural safety, creative nourishment, and the importance of joy in our work.

Arts Day on the Hill is Australia’s annual focus on building sector capacity for sustained government engagement and lasting policy reform. This year’s Arts Day on the Hill took place on Wednesday 12 August 2020. In this podcast, NAVA’s Esther Anatolitis is joined by artists Nadia Odlum and Sha Sarwari in reviewing our experiences and next steps, with Nicholas Pickard, former policy adviser, joining half-way to offer a national political perspective on the debrief.

Rohin Kickett is a NAVA Board Member and Nyoongar artist from the Balardong region Western Australia. In this podcast, NAVA’s Esther Anatolitis talks to Rohin Kickett about his personal leadership journey, community development models for Art Centres and key issues around Indigenous art production.

Santilla Chingaipe is a journalist, filmmaker and author whose work explores migration, cultural identities and politics. In this podcast, NAVA's Tanushri Saha talks to Chingaipe about interrogating whiteness and centring blackness in the arts.

This episode bridges the cross-generational experiences of Helen Grace, on behalf of the historical Artsworkers Union, and Dylan Batty, a co-founder of the Australian Arts Workers Alliance. NAVA’s Professional Practice Coordinator, Justine Youssef, speaks with the pair about the cyclical issues and widespread instability facing arts workers, the amount of free labour still subsidised by artists, how unfairness and illegality can be challenged, and the rights that the Artsworkers Union were able to fight for and achieve.

Emele Ugavule is a Tokelauan (Te Kaiga o Fagatiale, Nukunonu, Te Kaiga o Koloi, Uea) Fijian (Kaideuba, Navua) woman, born in Aotearoa (Takapuna, New Zealand) and living on Gadigal lands of the Eora Nation and the Darug Nation (Sydney, Australia). She is a multi-disciplinary storyteller working across live performance & film as a performer, writer, director, & creative producer.

In this podcast, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with Toby Dennett from the Arts Council of Ireland about their 'Paying the Artist' policy released earlier this year.

Following the culmination of the 42nd Sydney Mardi Gras Parade, we opened a conversation about the role of art in worldbuilding and community mobilisation with four 78ers on Wednesday 11 March at I.C.E., Parramatta NSW. Facilitated by artists Enoch Mailangi and Justine Youssef in conversation with artist activists Ray Delaney, Dj Gemma, Alissar Chidiac, Beau James and Yul Scarf on behalf of the Department of Homo Affairs. This program was presented in partnership with I.C.E. and Twenty 10. More information here: https://visualarts.net.au/news-opinion/2020/past-becomes-our-future/

Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, Cr Jess Scully in conversation with Penelope Benton about the importance of having more creative people in politics and in government and how to get involved at a local level.

"I was thinking a lot about what an art museum of Indigenous moving image work from this region, the Great Ocean and all its shores would look like and how it would feel. And to use the words that we have in English, how do you archive living knowledge of bodies? How do you go beyond shame? How do you bring all these things together?" - Dr Léuli Eshrāghi Dr Léuli Eshrāghi is an artist, curator, writer, and researcher from the Samoan archipelago and Persian ancestries. Léuli's creative practice is based around performance, installation and curatorial projects primarily working with the body, language, ceremony and positive futures for First Nations peoples and cultures, in addition to regularly featuring in publications and contributing to the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective (Canada) on the board. In this episode of NAVA: In Conversation, Georgia and Léuli chat about global First Peoples collaboration, language, display culture and improving our First Nations leadership in institutions in Australia. Wansolwara: One Salt Water is showing at UNSW Galleries until 18 April 2020

Mandy Quadrio is a contemporary artist and doctoral candidate at Queensland College of the Arts with the Griffith University. Her multidisciplinary practice is intertwined with her proud Palawa identity in her ancestral country of Tebrakunna, Coastal Plains Nation on the lands colonially referred to as North-East of Tasmania.
 In this podcast, Mandy talks to Justine Youssef about her work 'Here lies lies' showing at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery's Bond Store Basement as part of Hobiennale 2019.

"The artist doesn't have to be starving. It should not be starving. It is not the way that it should be. You should be able to be an artist and sustain yourself." In this episode, NAVA's Executive Director, Esther Anatolitis, is in conversation with Renuka Bauri, Director of Communications and Advocacy for Canadian Artists Representation / Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC National). CARFAC was established by artists in 1968 and promotes the national voice of Canada’s professional visual artists; promotes a socio-economic climate that is conducive to the production of visual arts in Canada; and conducts research and engages in public education for these purposes.

In this podcast, Eme, artist and member of the Anticolonial Asian Alliance, is in conversation with Soo-Min Shim from NAVA's Membership and Communications team. Eme is an interdisciplinary Filipinx artist based in Sydney - Gadigal land. Identity and personal experience are the driving force to their art practice where ideas are transformed into objects, installations, and naturally, action; a collective experience of creating spaces that welcome inclusivity, diversity, dialogue, self-expression, self-determination, reflection and healing. Anticolonial Asian Alliance are a group of Asian peoples living on unceded land, and working in solidarity with First Nations communities and elders to dismantle colonialism.

In this podcast, Latai Taumoepeau speaks with NAVA’s Professional Development Coordinator, Justine Youssef, about her practice relative to climate justice and the environmental, ethical and political effects of climate change in the Pacific region. Further to this Latai, shares ideas on how the art sector can transform the conversation around climate change and translate it into action. Latai Taumoepeau is a contemporary Punake — a body-centred performance artist whose powerful artistic practice tells the stories of her homelands, the Island Kingdom of Tonga, and her birthplace of the Eora Nation, Sydney. Working in durational performance and documenting it through photographs, she addresses issues of race, class and the female body. In her recent practice, Taumoepeau explores the effects of climate change in the Pacific, probing existing power structures and the looming possibility of dispossession that many island communities face.

Recorded live at the launch of Arts Day on the Hill and the inauguration of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Contemporary Arts and Culture, Co-Chaired by John Alexander, Maria Vamvakinou, and Adam Bandt. Hosted by Esther Anatolitis, we also heard from guest speakers including the Minister and Shadow Minister for the Arts and Welcome to Country by Aunty Matilda House. Arts Day on the Hill is a new program presented by the National Association by the Visual Arts (NAVA) to create an annual national focus on advocacy for the arts. https://visualarts.net.au/nava-events/2019/arts-day-hill/

“I think we'll see organisations essentially deciding which artists get supported as opposed to artists applying directly to a funding body… There's independence at stake: the idea that artists can maintain independent practices where they instigate projects that may or may not operate within an institutional context...” This podcast looks at Connie Anthes and Rebecca Gallo’s collaboration Make or Break and what happens when arts policy neglects artists. Make or Break is a collaboration between Connie Anthes and Rebecca Gallo that began in 2015. Make or Break has worked across gallery, institution, festival and nightclub contexts to produce a range of process-based art projects. These have included creating experimental economies that address precarity and privilege; using galleries as live work spaces; performing personal admin for an audience; co-writing texts; circulating fictional currencies; making books; celebrating the invisible labour of strangers; and facilitating conversations and workshops as alternatives to traditional forms of research. Make or Break is passionate about exposing the role and visibility of labour, process and the artist/audience relationship in ways that question and challenge the social and political systems that surround us. NAVA in conversation Logo by Laura Pike Music by Marcus Whale Editing by Bec Stegh

Genevieve Grieves in conversation with NAVA's Wesley Shaw and Georgia Mokak about her current role teaching students about decolonisation at the Art Gallery NSW as part of their annual Djamu Indigenous Art program, as well as her role as Head of the newly formed First Peoples Department at Museums Victoria, and developing a practice and knowledge around decolonisation more broadly.

Esther Anatolitis in conversation with artists Abdul Abdullah, Çigdem Aydemir and Harriet Body presented in partnership with Parramatta Artist Studios as part of Movers and Makers 2019.

What would an artist run world look like? Imagine if artistic courage was a guiding force in the policy arena. What sort of cities could we build? What sort of housing, health, schooling, agriculture, transport or data governance could we put in place? In the lead up to the federal election, 7 artists and critical thinkers joined us for a feisty conversation about voting for a world fit for artists and culture makers. Bek Conroy hosted this conversation with guests: Alex Wisser (Cementa Festival), Bec Dean (The Big Anxiety), Jehan Kanga, Jess Cook (107 Projects), Louise Crabtree (Institute Society and Culture, WSU), Nadeena Dixon and Ange Abdilla (Old Ways, New). 630pm - 730pm Thursday May 8 Venue: 107 Projects at 107 Redfern St, Redfern NSW 2016

Keynote recorded live at Australian Cultural Policy: The Next Decade, presented by Monash University’s Masters of Cultural & Creative Industries and NAVA at the State Library of Victoria on 8 April 2019. “We need a national cultural policy that’s grounded in First Nations sovereignty and the NAVA Code of Practice... Cuts to the arts affect the Australian identity.” Gabi Gabi / Kabi Kabi and Wiradjuri artist and academic Dr Bianca Beetson gave the artists’ keynote and response to Shadow Minister for the Arts the Hon Tony Burke at Australian Cultural Policy: The Next Decade, presented by Monash University’s Masters of Cultural & Creative Industries and NAVA at the State Library of Victoria on 8 April 2019. Dr Beetson studied a Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) at the Queensland University of Technology 1993-95, completed Honours in 1998 and was awarded a Doctorate of Visual Arts in 2018. She is a visual artist who works in a broad range of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography and public art. She is a former member of the seminal Aboriginal artists collectives Campfire Group and ProppaNow. Dr Beetson is the Program leader of the Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art degree at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University and was recently appointed to the QAGOMA Board of Trustees. In this podcast, Dr Beetson speaks of the need to legislate against fake ‘Aboriginal-style’ art and its cultural harm, to establish a national Aboriginal arts authority, keeping places and a repatriation fund, as well as climate change policy because there are several sacred sites currently at risk of permanent loss to rising sea levels.

NAVA's Esther Anatolitis in conversation with Girramay/Kuku Yalanji artist, Tony Albert and Noonuccal Nuugi playwright and theatrical director, Wesley Enoch discussing the role of artistic courage amidst our nation's current state of political confusion.

Artist Adrian Villar Rojas sits down with Coby Edgar to discuss the research methodologies informing his exploration of Australia as a potential site for future works. The conversation covers Adrian's practice, narratives of colonial violence and the tenuous relationship between audience, artist and curator played out in cultural institutions.

NAVA's Penelope Benton in conversation with Chinese-Australian artist Amy Suo Wu and artist, curator and founder of Feminist South, Kelly Doley. Feminist South is a curatorial project and research platform spanning across 2017-2019 that aims to generate discussion on contemporary feminist practice located in and around Asia, Australia and the Pacific regions. In collaboration with I: project space, Feminist South is currently presenting 'Thunderclap', a part-shop, part-sewing workshop and part-exhibition by Amy Suo Wu at the Artspace Sydney Ideas Platform until 10 March 2019.

‘As artists we have to keep questioning and being really honest about what’s going on’ Karla Dickens, 2019. Artist Karla Dickens sits down with Penelope Benton to discuss her most recent work in the new Artspace exhibition; ‘Just not Australian’. The conversation covers Karla’s practice and approach to making work, her Copyright Agency fellowship, and the responsibility of artists to make clear and honest work.

Ku Arts​ is the South Australian support organisation for Aboriginal artists and art centres, and recently hosted a professional development symposium and workshop in Port Augusta. Penelope sat down for a conversation with Alison (Milyika) Carroll, an artist and the chair of Ernabella Arts​ (APY Lands), David Miller an artist and chair of Ku Arts and Ninuku Arts​ (APY Lands), Lavene Ngatokoroua, the director of Ku Arts Port Augusta region, on the board of Ku Arts, recipient of the 2018 NAIDOC Lifetime achievement award in Port Augusta and Marie Falcinella, the CEO of Ku Arts.

‘Both the ‘Community and Cultural Development’ (CACD) and the ‘Emerging and Experimental Arts’(EEA) sector are the vanguards of the exploration of new genres of artistic practice and artistic practice and I think it’s a really exciting part of the Australian arts ecology as we move into the future’ -Jeremy Smith In the midst of travelling around remote and regional Australia, Jeremy Smith sits down the Esther Anatolitis at the NAVA office to talk about his role at the Australia Council for the Arts, and the future of community, emerging and experimental arts in Australia. The conversation covers Jeremy's career trajectory, recent projects and future plans. Jeremy provides provocations for artists and organisations working in Australia, and asks 'what difference can I make in the here and now?'

'Any conversation becomes easier when there is a starting point of universal and collective understanding' Joe Toohey Joe Toohey is the Executive Director of Regional Arts Victoria and he sat down with Esther Anatolitis in Melbourne to discuss Artlands 2018. Artlands is the national biennial event for regional arts in Australia, and was held this year in Bendigo. For information about the program, and future events, head to their website​.

For this episode, Penelope Benton chats with Meagan Shand, CEO of Arts Access Australia about this year's 'Meeting Place' forum held in Alice Springs. Arts Access Australia is the national peak body for arts and disability in Australia. They work to increase national and international opportunities and access to the arts for people with disability as artists, arts-workers, participants and audiences. 'Meeting Place' is AAA's annual forum, and brings together artists and arts workers in Australia to talk about best practice in disability and access in the arts. This year's event co-hosted with NT's Incite Arts. Details about Meeting Place including the live stream of the sessions can be found on their website: https://www.meetingplaceforum.org/

Curator and writer, Jeff Khan joins Penelope Benton in conversation about Performance Contemporary as part of Sydney Contemporary Art Fair and Liveworks 2018, Performance Space's annual festival.

Esther speaks with Tess Maunder ahead of the launch of her new publication, Absolute Humidity. Absolute Humidity is a volume that aims to re-position conversations about the climate, weather and the environment by placing artist’s voices at the centre of the discussion. The publication focuses on contemporary artists from the Asia-Pacific region, including twenty-eight new conversations and other contributions that form a new constellation of inquiries. Through this project, contributors discuss how ideas surrounding weather, the environment and the climate be conceptualised by artists producing fresh ideas surrounding artistic agency. Tess Maunder is a writer, curator. editor and researcher based in Brisbane.

In Cairns for the annual Indigenous Art Fair, Esther speaks with Artistic Director Janina Harding about this year's program. Curator and artist Bianca Beetson discusses her recent exhibition at NERAM gallery, and her son Aidan Finn about his study of contemporary Australian Indigenous art at Griffith University. Finally, Esther speaks to artist Laliana Tusa and her mother about their work featured at the fair. For more information about the CIAF program, head to the website: https://ciaf.com.au/

Soda_Jerk​ sits down with Esther Anatolitis in the NAVA office to talk about their most recent and controversial work, 'Terror Nullius, a political revenge fable in three acts'. The artists discuss their approach to making work as a seizing and hacking of culture as an act of political resistance and solidarity. Formed in Sydney in 2002, Soda_Jerk is a two-person art collective who work at the intersection of documentary and speculative fiction.

In the window of the Australia Council building in Sydney, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with Gosia Wlodarczak, during her drawing residency. They discuss Gosia's approach to drawing as looking and focus, what that means, and how she built her art practice in Poland and Australia over the years.

Artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah in conversation with Esther Anatolitis about his most recent work in 'Enough خلاص Khalas' exhibition at UNSW Galleries, and the development of his practice as a professional artist in Australia.

For this episode, artist Chris Fox is in conversation with Esther Anatolitis and Penelope Benton around public art, and his most recent public artwork at Wynyard Station, 'Interloop'. The conversation discusses the value and role of art in the public space, and the challenges inherent in public art policy and delivery - through competing stakeholders and agendas. This episode unpacks the challenges facing contemporary artists working in public space, and makes suggestions for change. Check out Chris Fox's work via his website: http://chrisfox.com.au/

For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with artist Sarah Goffman. Sarah describes her work as an obsession and compulsion, and her role as 'trash converter' as she reframes plastics and everyday consumer products and packaging into beautiful objects through the critical lens of waste and excess consumption. For more information about Sarah's work, and upcoming shows, head to her website: http://www.sarahgoffman.com/

Esther Anatolitis in conversation with Elvis Richardson, the curator of 2018 Adelaide Biennial. They discuss the exhibition, artists and the arts in South Australia.

For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with artist and activist, Elvis Richardson. Founder of the Countess Report, Elvis has been exposing gender inequity in the arts since the blog launched in 2008, and subsequent 'counts' of gender imbalance in gallery and museum representation, media and opportunities. Elvis lives and works in Melbourne, and has an upcoming show at Kyneton Contemporary Art Triennial, and a new website for The Countess Report.

'the five fundamental elements of the universe is sitting in reciprocal relationship, so no one is stronger than the other, that one either kill or killed by others, and that's the how the whole universe keep changing and keeping that good balance with everything' Mami Kataoka. For this episode, Esther Anatolitis is in conversation with Mami Kataoka, the Artistic Director of Superposition, the 21st Biennale of Sydney. Esther and Mami discuss superposition and thermo-dynamic equilibrium, a concept drawn from quantum physics, and how it is applied to contemporary art systems and artists and the direction of this years Biennale. 21st Biennale of Sydney runs 16 March - 11 June 2018 in various locations around Sydney. More information via www.biennaleofsydney.art

For this episode we are at MAAS, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences speaking about the upcoming Sydney Design Festival. Running from the 2nd to the 11th of March the festival hosts over 100 exhibitions, events, workshops and talks, both in the museum and through the public program partners in and around Sydney, including industry, universities and studios. The theme for this year's festival is 'call to action', and the events focus around the role and responsibility of design in our world and the potential for design to solve complex global problems. International keynote speakers alongside local makers contribute to the dialogue of what design can offer our contemporary society. We speak to the producer of the festival about the curatorial approach, the key events and why the event is important in challenging, provoking and inspiring creative practitioners in Australia. Information, ticketing and news about the festival can be found on the website: sydneydesignfestival.com.au

For this episode we are speaking with Dr. Pippa Dickson. Pippa is the chair of Design Tasmania and an advocate for design, art and creativity in Australia. We speak to Pippa about the changing climate of design in Tasmania and Australia, and some of the key issues facing the sector in 2018. We discuss multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary creative practice, and her recommendations for developing design, design policy and creativity in Australia.

For this episode we are at Girrawaa Arts Centre at Bathurst Correctional Facility. The arts centre is an initiative for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inmates to connect with culture, develop their art practice and sell their work. We speak with centre manager Bryan Reiri about the role and value of art in corrective services and one of the current participants about his experience in the program.

'If we want change, we gotta make it ... we need to participate', Richard Bell. For this episode, artist and activist Richard Bell is in conversation with Esther Anatolitis about politics, social change, the role of art and the responsibility of artists. Richard is involved in the current Artspace instagram project, #52artists52actions, featuring an artist a week throughout 2018, each tackling an urgent political issue.

​For this episode we speak with Susie Rugg, the Kids & Families Coordinator at the Museum of Contemporary art about the major summer exhibition, Pipilotti Rist: Sip my Ocean. Pipilotti's work is immersive, engaging and accessible and has been particularly successful in attracting and engaging children and families. The museum hosted a children's only preview opening, and is running 'Sundays with Pipilotti' an interactive space for children and families in the learning centre. We discuss the increasing role and importance of these family friendly exhibitions to the MCA and to museums and galleries throughout Australia. For more information about the exhibition and the family programs, visit the Museum of Contemporary Art website.

In this episode of NAVA: in conversation with are in Hobart for the inaugural Hobiennale 17. We speak with the two directors of the festival, Grace Herbert and Liam James as well as producer Alex Hullah, about why they developed the festival and about the role of artist-run spaces in Australia. Hobiennale went for 10 days in November, with 18 ARI's from around Australia and new Zealand presenting and discussing works in unusual and re-contextualised urban spaces. For more information about the festival and the participating organisations, visit the website: www.hobiennale.com

For this episode we speak with Australian Design Centre about the state of the craft and design sector in Australia, and particularly the inaugural Sydney Craft Week that took place in October this year. We speak with ADC’s CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill and Creative Strategy Associate, Penny Craswell about the Design Centre's program of exhibitions, workshops and events celebrating craft in Sydney. We explore why craft and design are increasingly important in contemporary culture, and the future of the industry. For more information, head to the website for Sydney Craft Week or the Australia Design Centre

For this episode, we discuss the Fake Art Harms Culture campaign. The Fake Art campaign is being run by Arts Law, the Indigenous Art Code and Copyright Agency, to introduce policy to protect Indigenous artists against Fake Art being made and sold in Australia. We speak with Gabrielle O'Sullivan, BiBi Barber and Judy Grady about why this campaign is so important and how artists and arts workers can get involved with the current Parliamentary Inquiry. The Fake Art campaign suggests over 80% of Aboriginal products sold in Australia are not authentic – meaning they are not made by or credited to Australia's Indigenous peoples. It is important that Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people’s rights are protected and this means stopping the fake art and holding companies, individuals and dealers to more transparent and ethical processes. The campaign is encouraging artists to make a submission to the enquiry, for more information go to www.aph.gov.au/inauthenticart This discussion was part of the NAVA Book Club, held during Artspace’s Volume Another Art Book Fair 2017. Stay tuned for the next podcast from this event that will discuss Indigenous protocols and policies and critical methodologies.

This week we speak with Georgie Meagher, the CEO and Artistic Director of Next Wave Festival, a biennial arts festival based in Melbourne. Georgie chats with us about what good leadership means, the role of directors in organisations and the responsibility of curators to artists. We get an insight into the plans and challenges for Next Wave’s experimental new model of artistic develop in Australia. Next Wave have just announced an incredible list of artists for the 2018 festival, so keep up to date on website.

For this episode we speak with Rabbaya Nasser & Hurman Ul Ain, two artists from Pakistan who are in Sydney presenting a live performance work as part of the Public Body .02 exhibition at Artspace. Rabbaya & Hurmat are performance artists who have collaborated for several years, and work as artists, curators and educators in Pakistan and internationally. In this episode we discuss their collaborative practice, what we can expect from their work, and explore what it means to be a performance artist today.