2008 - An Arts Retrospective

2008 has been a big year for the Arts in Tasmania and our busiest year ever! Arts Tasmania and arts@work has been working hard throughout the past year to deliver a raft of industry development events, public art commissions, funding and residency opportunities to Tasmanian artists. Below is a summary of some of our major programs and projects of 2008.

Industry Development Events

2008 Australian Performing Arts Market
arts@work, in partnership with Tasmania Performs, represented 9 Tasmanian performing arts companies at the biennial Australian Performing Arts Market (APAM) held in Adelaide from 25 February to 29 February 2008.

APAM is a one-stop opportunity for the world's program-makers to experience the very best in new performing arts from the Australia region. Artistic Directors of national and international festivals and event organisers attend the Market to purchase productions for their seasons.

Red Island
Red Island provided 7 Tasmanian jewellers the opportunity to exhibit their work as a part of Singapore Fashion Week, March 28 - April 6, 2008. Participating jewellers included Di Allison, Karin Beaumont, Carmen Blyth, Natalie Holtsbaum, Jeanette James, Marisa Molin and Sandy Wrightson. Red Island was an initiative of arts@work under its international export program and was delivered with the assistance of Austrade and Curiocity Gallery, Singapore.

Amplified 2008
Amplified is Tasmania's biggest annual music industry event and provides real opportunities for young, emerging and established Tasmanian musicians. Amplified 2008 ran from March 14 to 16 and was the third iteration of this industry development event.

Amplified 2008 featured a range of events including workshops, awards, a sampler CD of Tasmanian musicians, showcase performances and a song writing master class featuring acclaimed Australian singer/songwriter, James Blundell.

Design Island 2008
In its third year the Design Island initiative has emerged as a benchmark for knowledge leadership in the fields of best practice and professional development for designers. Design Island 2008 was held from April 30 - May 6 and saw the introduction of the showcasing grant program; which encouraged designers from around the state to apply for funding to showcase their practice or product during Design Island.

Design Island 2008 was also the catalyst for the forging of a new international partnership between Arts Tasmania, Vitra Design Museum and CIRECA (Centre International de Recherche et d'Education Culturelle et Agricole). The partnership lead to the establishment of the Vitra Fellowship - an Australian first - which enables a Tasmanian designer to attend an international design workshop at Domaine de Boisbuchet, an idyllic country estate in the southwest of France (Poitou-Charente region). The 2008 fellowship recipient was Poppy Taylor.

Tasmanian Living Writers' Week 2008
Tasmanian Living Writers' Week is a biennial statewide celebration of the wealth and diversity of Tasmania's literary community. Held from 15-24 August 2008, the second Tasmanian Living Writers' Week saw 110 free and ticketed events being held in 42 locations around the state and employed over 50 writers.

Tasmanian Living Writers Week 2008 was comprised of events curated by arts@work and community registered events and included literary lunches, author readings and book signings, panel discussions and the monumental Tasmanian Book Fair.

Public Art Commissions

The Art for Public Buildings Scheme
The Art for Public Buildings Scheme (APBS) sees 2% of all government capital works budgets of $100,000 and over set aside for commissioning or purchase of artworks, with a cap of $80,000 per project.

The APBS is administered by arts@work, who works with the client and artist to achieve the best possible outcomes for all involved. During 2008, 13 projects were seen through to completion, a further 25 began and 50 artists were employed. 2009 will offer a raft of new projects commissions to Tasmanian artists, with 8 new projects expected to be advertised within the first half of the year.

The Corporate Art Scheme
2008 saw the introduction of a full-time Corporate Art Officer. The Corporate Art Scheme is based on the APBS model and aims to extend public art into the private sector.

In June Hydro Tasmania Consulting's sculpture SCAPE was successfully launched. The engaging stainless steel artwork, created by Tasmanian artist John Vella and Scottish artist Stephen Hurrel, articulates how artists and corporate clients are able to collaboratively create meaningful work.

There are currently 4 other corporate art projects underway and 2009 will see the Corporate Art Officer take to the road to engage with current and potential clients around the state.

Funding and Residencies

COLELCT Art Purchase Scheme
The COLLECT Art Purchase Scheme was officially launched by the Minister for the Arts, Michelle O'Byrne, in Hobart on 12 November 2008. In an Australian first, the COLLECT Art Purchase Scheme offers interest free loans for the purchase of Tasmanian art. Artworks can be purchased through 9 approved galleries located around the state and both Tasmanian and interstate residents can access loans.

The COLLECT Art Purchase Scheme can be used to purchase original Tasmanian paintings, photographs, sculptures, furniture, jewellery, drawings, glasswork, textiles, metalwork, ceramics and new media. Commissioned works are also eligible. For further information visit www.collect-art.com.au

Artsbridge
Artsbridge provides funding for travel fares to allow Tasmanian artists to take up exceptional opportunities to perform, present or showcase their work interstate or overseas. This year eight international projects have been funded through the Artsbridge program, these include: Coral Tulloch, Penny Carey-Wells, Mikel Simic and Undine Sellbach and the band Psycroptic to the USA; The Green Mist to Europe; Lucia Rossi to France; Robyn Friend to India and Laura Purcell and Sara Cooper of Terrapin to China. In addition ten National project have also been supported.
In 2010 changes to the program now make it possible for artists to apply for either flights or freight up to the $3,000 cap.

Cultural Collaboration
The Cultural Exchange program was launched in 2008 and was developed out of the An Island Inspired consultation. This program builds on the success of Arts Tasmania's existing residencies program and is designed to encourage a two-way exchange of ideas, skills and creativity between Tasmanian artists and interstate or international artists.

The two artists selected for the International Artists' residency program in 2009 are Marie Jeanne Hoffner, from Châteauroux, France and Jonathan Magnus Ledgard from Scotland but currently residing in Kenya.

Marie Hoffner will undertake her residency in Tasmania at the Port Arthur Historic Site where she plans to create a video work about people and places to explore the relationships one builds through domestic space, and private history.

Jonathan Magnus Ledgard is a Scottish novelist and author of the acclaimed 2006 novel, Giraffe. He will spend 6 weeks on residency hosted by the Tasmanian Writers Centre and Salamanca Arts Centre at Kelly's Cottage in Battery Point.

The cultural colloboration fund has awarded five grants to assist with establish cultural exchange between Tasmanian and non-Tasmanian artists and arts organisations, these include: Pip Stafford for a residency with The League of Imaginary Scientists; Justy Phillips professional mentorship with Vault 48 in New York; University of Tasmania, Tasmanian School of Art towards International Artist Exchange Residency Tasmania - Ireland (Pilot Stage 2); John and Penny Smith towards 4 Squared: Tasmanian/Danish Design Exchange Project; Arts Tasmania / Vitra partnership towards the international summer academy at Domaine de Boisbuchet in France.

Infrastructure Fund
Introduced in 2008, the Infrastructure Fund is another initiative developed out of the An Island Inspired consultation. The Infrastructure Fund focuses on supporting Tasmanian arts organisations to increase their ability to operate successfully within a competitive environment both locally and nationally.

The 2008 & 2009 Infrastructure Fund Rounds funded 24 arts organisations throughout Tasmania. Funding was awarded to assist arts organisations to increase their business capacity.

Aboriginal Arts Fund
The Arts Tasmania Aboriginal Arts Fund aims to support, revitalise and preserve traditional and contemporary Aboriginal artforms and practices. The fund is administered by the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board with assistance from the Aboriginal Arts Advisory Committee and is another new funding opportunity that arose out of An Island Inspired consultation.

The Arts Tasmania Aboriginal Arts Fund offers grants to eligible artists and organisations in the following categories: Residencies, Mentorships, Projects - Individuals and Projects - Organisations. 11 grants were allocated during 2008 with the second round of the fund currently open for applications until 6 February 2009.

Premier's Arts Fund
In partnership with the Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) and with the support of Veolia Environmental Services, the Premier's Arts Fund was established in 2008 to encourage the development of new business arts partnerships over the next three years. The fund will match dollar for dollar approved new cash partnerships, for further information visit www.abaf.org.au

Ongoing funding
Throughout 2008 Arts Tasmania has continued to deliver several other funding rounds to invigorate and build capacity within the Tasmanian arts industry. Arts Tasmania is determined to support a healthy arts industry, which is able to develop skills and to increase the cultural and economic value of the arts in Tasmania.

Ongoing funding rounds included Assistance to Organisations, Assistance to Individual, Small Museums and Collections Program, Loans and Recurrent Funding.

Other new initiatives for 2008

Critical Exchange
Critical Exchange is a trilogy of discrete yet interlinked professional development projects designed to encourage artist's discussion and sharing of information, increase critical debate and the development of critical writing.

Critical Comment is a program where through facilitated forums or individually, artists receive critical feedback from selected peers or mentors on performance or exhibited work. Critical Comment can intersect with existing Artist Run Initiative programs or be developed as a new opportunity. Critical Comment is designed to stimulate critical discussion and group critique in a supported environment. Critical Comment has been offered to exhibiting visual artists in 2008 and will be introduced incrementally to other fields through 2009-10.

5@5 is a flexible structure where small groups of artists meet regularly to strengthen their communities of practice, encourage professional networks and provide a mechanism for peer and artist feedback. Each cluster independently determines the group's interest and is representative of the artists involved. Through 2008 the concept has been introduced to the visual arts sector in Hobart, Devonport and Launceston.

Critical Acclaim is a program to develop critical writing, to encourage a new generation of writers and reviewers and to profile Tasmania's arts nationally. In 2009 arts@work in association with the Ten Days on the Island Festival will offer Critical Acclaim, an intensive critical writing workshop that focuses on the performing arts within the Festival.

Industry Consultation
As part of Arts Tasmania's ongoing commitment to deliver the goals of An Island Inspired and developing sustainable cultural sectors, Arts Tasmania and arts@work engaged with the arts sector in a series of consultation forums throughout the year.

The think tank sessions comprised online discussions and face-to-face discussions in Hobart, Launceston and the North West.

The aim of the industry consultations was to develop a statewide perspective of the arts ecosystem to inform where Arts Tasmania can best direct its policies and investment over the next 10-20 years. Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Design and Contemporary Music were the focus for 2008 with Literature being the focus for early 2009.

We were thrilled to enable a statewide, "big picture" discussion and identify some of the opportunities for future development of the Arts Sector within Tasmania.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Office Move
2008 also saw Arts Tasmania, arts@work, Tasmania Performs and AbaF move into a new home together at 146 Elizabeth Street.

The new premises, the former Bridges Bros building, has been transformed into a shopfront with an exhibition space for artists and organisations as well as Arts Tasmania and arts@work events; significant works of new art created through the Art for Public Buildings Scheme as part of the fit out; and a space for emerging artists who have not previously exhibited work.

This move represents a fantastic opportunity for arts@work and Arts Tasmania to interact with our clients in a location that is central, accessible and inviting.

We would like to thank and acknowledge everyone who contributed to the move and invite you to come and visit us at the new office in 2009.