Iwantja Arts is the beating heart of Indulkana Community, offering its artist members opportunities for artistic and professional development as well as sustainable income and economic independence. Iwantja Arts is a not for profit, Aboriginal owned and run corporation managed by a board of directors. Through strong governance, the art centre encourages and fosters artistic excellence and cultural development within the community by providing opportunities, training, and career development for artists.
“I started this place a long time ago, with my sister, she’s passed away now. We knew the community needed an Art Centre. A place where Anangu could work, make money, teach our young people, and keep our culture strong. I’m still working, still painting – I’ve been working here a long time. I can’t do this forever though, I might be finished soon. We need to make sure that this place is really strong for our grandkids, it’s their turn next. The art centre has to be ready – ready for our future.”
MR.ALEC BAKER – FOUNDING DIRECTOR, IWANTJA ARTS
Regarded as one of the premier Indigenous owned and governed art centres in Australia, Iwantja Arts is renowned for its innovative projects that celebrate Anangu cultural strength and artistic excellence. Iwantja Arts is the community’s cultural and creative hub, with older people passing on traditional knowledge to young people every day. Iwantja Arts was founded in the early 1980s (dec.) and was set up in an old Community Centre within the tiny Indulkana Community. Iwantja Arts continues to operate from this building today and while the Iwantja Arts business has grown steadily over the years, the art centre building is currently in an unfortunate state of disrepair. Today the art centre continues to support innovative studio artists working across a variety of mediums, encompassing both individual and collaborative contemporary arts practice. Artworks from Iwantja Arts are held in many private and public collections throughout Australia and internationally.
The APY Art Centre Collective is a group of 10 Indigenous owned and governed enterprises.The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands) seven art centres operate in the APY Lands, they facilitate and market the work of 500+ Anangu Artists with a united vision and voice on strategic business initiatives and collaborative artistic projects. Our vision is to increase capacity for APY art centres and support their important work in APY communities, through:
1) Creating and exploring new markets;
2) Increasing art centre income and supporting business development; and
3) Supporting innovative collaborative regional artistic projects, including the industry acclaimed Kulata Tjuta project, and the APY Photography initiative.
Art centres are powerful places, and vital to community. They are professional art making studios where culture is celebrated, maintained, and carefully instructed to younger generations by Aboriginal elders. These art centres are home to some of the best-known and most collectable Indigenous artists in the country, as well as a host of young and emerging artists. The art centres of the APY Lands are unique by way of their prestigious position within the Indigenous art industry, and their commitment to collaborate across the region on large-scale artistic projects and events.
We know the Indigenous art industry can be a tough space to navigate for collectors, art lovers, tourists and the general public. Sometimes people who want to make a well-intentioned contribution to social challenges in our communities look to the purchase of art as the vehicle of their contribution. Without access to reliable information about industry regulations and how the two prevalent business models function, sometimes these people have been disappointed, discovering too late that they have supported an unethical model. Here you can learn about the differences between the two business models and understand why buying artwork from art centres is the best way to guarantee you are supporting an ethical business that returns income to APY artists and the art centres we own – to the benefit of our families and the whole community.
APY ART CENTRE MODEL VERSUS PRIVATE DEALERS: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
