Artbank Sydney collection store. Photo: Tom Ferguson.
When the average salary of an artist is $7000 and only 17 per cent are able to work full-time on their practice, it is not surprising that a significant number of practitioners in the mid-to-late stage of their careers choose to leave the industry to pursue other endeavors.
Kelly Doley, Program Officer at Arts NSW, said the alarming drop-off rate was noted during a review of Arts NSW funding programs, which evaluated their ongoing relevance and responsiveness to sector demands.
The outcome of the review was a new suite of fellowships aimed at all career levels, including the Visual Artist Fellowship, a program that addresses the need for across career funding.
‘There is a lot of targeted support at the emerging level but I think there is also a misconception that you get support when you start out, then you get shows in big galleries and progress to living off your practice from there,’ Doley said.
‘The experience of being an artist long-term is more complex than that.’
‘Some artists also come to a point in their career where they enter a comfort zone, but we are suggesting that through the Visual Arts Fellowship that they can always keep expanding and challenging their practice.’
The inaugural NSW Visual Artist Fellowship offers mid-career and established artists a cash, residency, commission and professional development package.
It includes a $30,000 NSW Government cash grant, an Artbank acquisitive commission of up to $20,000 (with a $5,000 production budget if required) and a regional NSW live-in artist residency at either the Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) or the Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre (TRGMOAC).
Do you fit the Fellowship criteria?
Head north or south?
Doley said the Fellowship inclusions do not merely tick collaboration, partnership and silo busting off a checklist, rather they are considered development pathways which break away from traditional models of what constitutes artistic and professional development.
A live-in artist residency at MAMA in the State’s south or TRGMOAC near the NSW/Queensland border benefits both the artist and the local community.
‘The gallery director acts as a broker, barracking for you and introducing you to new people for the duration of the five week residency, so it’s very engaged,’ Doley said.
‘A regional placement provides growth for the artist and builds regional arts excellence within the community, contesting the notion that only metropolitan areas can be cultural hubs.’
MAMA director Jacqui Hemsley agrees.
‘Many people from Sydney think that cultural excellence stops at the Blue Mountains. It’s a perception that is just not true,’ Hemsley said.
Hemsley said MAMA’s new galleries have attracted 75,000 visitors since the doors were opened nine months ago.
‘To me it says [locals] have an appetite, so that whole perception of uncultured, uninspiring folk from the regions is just not true,’ Hemsley said.
‘They appreciate the value of art as being just as important as a good old Saturday footy game, having an entire lifestyle.
‘Our own stakeholders and community invested $10.5 million in us for a regional arts centre and this [fellowship] partnership keeps reiterating to them that we think the arts are important and so does Arts NSW, the benefit of dialogue with external artists also presents a wider professional development opportunity locally.’
TRGMOAC director Susi Muddiman said regional areas provide artists with tremendous exposure – more than 240,000 people have visited TRGMOAC since it opened in 2014, putting it on the map despite its obscure location.
‘We are a destination in our own right because, fundamentally, we are in a paddock and some distance out of town, so we have to think outside the box, regions make things happen for themselves,’ Muddiman said.
‘Our partnerships are lucrative and very innovative, the metropolitan spaces can’t possibly show all the mid-career artists but the regional gallery network can, so this kind of partnership is really important.
‘Also, our studio is plush 5-star gorgeousness and any artist will become part of the gallery family.’
Not just money in the Artbank
The Artbank involvement with the Visual Artist Fellowship is not a mere commitment to pay up to $20,000 for an artwork, rather it is a true partnership which will provide the successful Fellow with exposure to the business side of the arts sector.
Artbank director Tony Stephens said the partnership provides mentorship during the commissioning process, helping artists gain the important business experience required to be successful at the mid-career stage.
‘Artbank is known for supporting emerging artists, but people don’t know that we support all stages of those artists’ careers and build a collection over their working life,’ Stephens said.
‘Our curators work with artists to support their concepts and engagement with Artbank, I think an initiative like this will stimulate their careers in ways they wouldn’t expect.’
Artists shortlisted for the Fellowship also benefit by having their work exhibited at Artbank’s Sydney headquarters as part of the partnership.
How to apply
Applications for the 2017 NSW Visual Artist Fellowship close on Monday, 22 August 2016.
NSW artists wishing to apply for the Visual Artist Fellowship can find further information at www.arts.nsw.gov.au.
The Arts NSW website also contains information about the range of professional development opportunities available to artists and arts and cultural workers through the broader Arts and Cultural Development Program.
