Artists collectives and access galleries do not just exist in big capital cities. It seems that wherever there is a community of artists and Artist Run Initiative will happen.
...So in effect, what we have in Australia is a separation of public and commercial by governments arts departments that unfortunately does not take into account the fact that the arts industry operates on a continuum...
Every State has one - a local council that is outstanding in its commitment to the arts and in Western Australia, the credit for innovation and energy goes to the City of Gosnells, who have arguably led the pack for the last 5 years in interesting community arts projects...
Written with Lee Salomone exploring the utilisation of prominent billboards on the tram track in Adelaide for the term of one year at no cost for them to be used as public art spaces.
The time is post-recession, the economic climate is uncertain, Australian designers and consumers inhabit the suburbs but are cut off from each other, and someone decided to do something about it in the City of Caulfield, Victoria.
Bark painters of Arnhem Land are experimenting with a new medium - canvas- and in so doing both increasing their output and responding to market forces.
Artists are particularly vulnerable to economic downturn for two main reasons...the business cycle and the role of other jobs in a tight employment market.
As an organisation, Arts + Industry is fundamentally concerned with economics and income generation. Assisting artists and designers to either find employment with industry or create opportunities as self-employed designer/makers is integral to their goals.
At the Jam Factory in Adelaide, Rolf Bartz, David Archer and Lorry Wedding-Marchiaro are three of the SA designer makers who have entered into a marketing agreement which may be the way of the future for many more.