Indigenous Arts Leadership Program

Supported by Wesfarmers Arts

About

Photo of two men and a woman are standing outside beneath a gum tree. The man in the middle has his arms around the others, while they look at the camera smiling. — Wiradjuri Elder Uncle James Ingram, Wesfarmers Indigenous Arts Leadership Coordinator Ian RT Colless and Elder-in-Residence Aunty Mary Atkinson in Wiradjuri Country/Wagga Wagga for Residential One of the 2022 Program.

The Indigenous Arts Leadership Program is a professional and cultural development opportunity. It brings together a mixed cohort of national First Nations arts workers who are ready to reflect on their skills, capabilities and what leadership means to them individually.

The Program supports First Nations arts workers to deepen their understanding of the creative sectors and build their network of support. This unique opportunity aims to nurture individuals as their careers progress.

The Program is designed and led by the Wesfarmers Indigenous Arts Leadership Program Coordinator and guided by the Elder-in-Residence, responding to the needs of the cohort.

The Program is run by the National Gallery of Australia and is supported by Wesfarmers Arts as part of their commitment to First Nations leadership in the arts.

Supported by

Wesfarmers Arts Visit the website for Wesfarmers Arts

Residential One – Wagga Wagga, Wiradjuri Country

Outside a man in a grey tracksuit is talking to a group of people gathered around him — 2021 Residential One in Wiradjuri/Wagga Wagga

'There's something so deeply valuable and nourishing about being in a community. I think as Indigenous people, there's few things more valuable than hearing stories from our old people and there's something very grounding about starting the Program in a way that allows us all to become comfortable … the Wiradjuri Elders on Country have done such an exceptional job at holding that space for us.'

Juanita Kelly-Mundine, 2019 Alumni and 2021 Program Mentor

Opening and closing with a ceremony and dinner with Wiradjuri Elders and community members, Residential One included a Cultural Smoking Ceremony at the Murrumbidgee River, Program Alumni and artist presentations and institutional skills development in the regional context at the National Art Glass Gallery and the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery with Linda Elliot, and a presentation from NSW National Parks and Wildlife's Aboriginal Discovery Ranger Shane Herrington

Wiradjuri Elder Uncle James Ingram led a Cultural on Country Learning Tour, and participants learnt Wiradjuri songs with Aunty Elaine P Lomas, wove with Aunty Lorraine Tye and Aunty Joyce Hampton and spent time with Aunty Isabel Reid, Australian of the Year’s NSW Senior of the Year 2021 and Aunty Cheryl Penrith and other community members.

Yindyamarra

Wiradjuri Elders and community shared Yindyamarra philosophy with participants at the Opening Ceremony. Particpants were asked conduct themselves with Yindyamarra and hold the Yindyamarra Message Stick throughout the duration of their time in Wagga Wagga.

Yindyamarra means:

To Do Slowly
To Be Polite
To Be Gentle
To Honour
To Respect

The Yindyamarra Message Stick was returned to the Wiradjuri at the end of Residential One through a ceremony the participants had developed themselves.

At the Closing Ceremony and dinner, the Wiradjuri Elders and community gifted all participants their own individual Message Stick and encouraged the National Gallery to come Wiradjuri (Wagga Wagga).

'I would like to congratulate and say thank you for the respect – Yindyamarra shown to the Elders here in Wagga Wagga and for the foresight to bring the Leadership Program artists and creatives out on Country for Residential One. Thank you for coming, for bringing hope for the future, for the creativity and opening our eyes to what is possible. I loved the reciprocity and the possibilities this exchange has brought and walking forward in an uncertain world and time in history'

Aunty Cheryl Penrith, Wiradjuri Elder

Three women are sitting at a table outside

'I think there's always an importance of two-way learning and why being on Country is so different learning towards being in the museum space of learning, or the galleries space of learning.
When you're actually out on Country, you see those people who slipped through the cracks, the local community members who need that direction in their life, that maybe the arts can guide them through alternate pathways.
And for us as arts workers to be seeing just how diverse the local community is in places like Wagga Wagga. And you really need your eyes opened sometimes because you forget that living in the cities, that there's a real powerful need for arts projects out on Country, where we can in some ways, connect better with the community members that we work with and give them the tools that they need to inspire the next generations of future arts leaders to come through.
That's definitely something that I've learned just in the few days that we've been here and something that I really want to take back to my workplace in that sense, is outreach isn't just going out and asking for information that we put on a wall label back in the museum. Outreach is actually building those personal relationships and networks and sharing out on Country. How we build those networks ourselves and understanding the importance of that because it's only through working together outside in a safe-space where we've worked with community members who have invited us to be here, that we truly get that sense of what it means to connect the arts with the broader story of modern Australia as we move forward.'

Matt Poll, 2021 Participant

Two women are sitting next to each other talking and laughing as they weave with natural grasses

Three people are standing in a gallery looking at works of art while one person with a video camera films the art

Two people are standing in a gallery looking at a work or art on the wall

a group of people are walking along a path in the bush, heading towards the camera

A man wearing a grey zip-up jumper is gesticulating with his arm while speaking to a group of people standing on either side of him

Residential Two – Kamberri/Canberra, Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country

Photograph of Paul Girrawah House using a hammer and chisel to engrave a traditional First Nations symbol onto a tree — Paul Girrawah House, Ngambri/Ngunnawal peoples, work in progress, Kamberri/Canberra, 2021 © the artist.

Residential Two was delivered at the National Gallery using a hybrid online/onsite model – with the lockdown of the Greater Sydney area, Sydney-based participants attended the Program online. Aunty Mary Atkinson joined the participants again as Elder-in-Residence, providing cultural guidance and advice and maintaining the link to the Wiradjuri community; while also being a representative of the Ngunnawal. Participants also connected with local Ngambri/Ngunnawal Custodian Uncle Paul House for local on Country learning and protocol and insights into his tree scarring project for the Ceremony exhibition, and the group were invited to attend Bangarra Dance Theatre’s SandSong: Stories from the Great Sandy Desert.

National Gallery Director Nick Mitzevich provided and National Gallery Council member Dr Terri Janke met with the group, who also took part in Decolonisation and Racial Literacy Workshops with Genevieve Grieves and Lillian Brown and heard a presentation from Conceptual Producer of The Aboriginal Memorial installation Uncle Djon Mundine OAM and Bruce Johnson McLean, Assistant Director, Indigenous Engagement about the upcoming plans for the work. National Gallery staff held sessions with participants on marketing and social media, sponsorship and partnership, conservation, and digital and learning practise in a gallery environment, as well as curatorial tours of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander collection and a tour of the Research Library & Archives.

'When you're on Country, you get a sense of having a personal, cultural and spiritual empowerment and learn about how to be a leader in that sense of life.
Being at the Gallery, you get to have a sense of what it takes of leadership in the workplace and these institutions where most of us work.
I think there's a good balance of personal, cultural and spiritual compared to professional development in how you lead.'

Charlie Nelson, 2021 Participant

Paul Girrawah House in front of a scar tree

'The Program was focused on the importance of sharing and solidarity. Participants showed unity and respect. Residential Two continued focusing on Yindyamarra which underpinned the Program. The highlight was being out on Country, developing relationships with people. Our culture is based on relationships with people, plants, Country and each other. We were fed, we were worked, we learnt and we still had time to reflect.'

Uncle Paul Girrawah House, Ngambri/Ngunnawal Traditional Custodian

A man is standing up and playing the Didjeridu outside. Three other men can be seen seated next to him, watching and playing other instruments. There is smoke surrounding them.

Five people are watching a demonstration given by a woman in a painting storage area. — 2021 Program participants and team members behind the scenes with National Gallery Preventative Conservator, Lisa Addison.

A man and a woman are standing on either side of a work of art that is sitting on an a-frame trolley, looking towards it. They are inside a conservation lab. — Behind the scenes with Christopher Pease, Minang/Wardandi/Ballardong/Nyoongar peoples, *Souvenir*, 2016, National Gallery of Australia, purchased 2019, © the artist

Two women enclose a paper-wrapped object in a plastic bag to undergo preventative conservation

In a conservation lab one man is standing on a footstool and treating a paining resting on an a-frame stand. Nearby, two other people are watching a demonstration out of frame.. — 2021 Program participants behind the scenes in the Conservation lab

Four people are walking in a large painting storage room, with many paintings hanging in tall wire storage racks

Birds-eye view of two large tables in a library, surrounded by book shelves. Each table has archival material laid out on it, and people are standing around the tables — 2021 Program participants viewing archival material in the National Gallery Research Library.

Indigenous art objects are sitting on a large table in a conservation lab. People are standing around the table, one woman is speaking to the group. — 2021 Program participants and team members in the National Gallery Conservation lab with Preventative Conservator Lisa Addison.

In a large hall a man is looking at a large screen displaying a presentation via conference call. — A hybrid online/onsite model was used for Residential Two so participants affected by lockdowns could attend Program online.

A group of people are standing around large table covered in pieces of timber, drills and other tools, as a man gestures towards the table. He is explaining how to make frames. — Wesfarmers Indigenous Arts Leadership Program participants, including Elder-in-residence Aunty Mary Atkinson, attended workshops on site at the National Gallery including a tour of the Conservation department.

Graduation Ceremony

Residential Two concluded with a Graduation Ceremony, a hybrid online and on site event with 35 guests in Gandel Hall at the National Gallery, and Sydney-based participants and mentors joining the celebration online. Uncle Paul House performed a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony in the Australian Gardens at the Gallery, and the evening included a Keynote Address from Elder-in-Residence Aunty Mary Atkinson, with speeches from National Gallery Director Nick Mitzevich, Program Coordinator, Ian RT Colless, and Assistant Director, Indigenous Engagement Bruce Johnson McLean.

One man is holding a metal bucket that is emitting plumes of smoke from native leaves. Three other people are gathered around taking part in the smoking ceremony.

Three people are on stage clapping, while a large projection on the stage of a video call shows a person on screen smiling

People are standing in a line holding microphones and reading/singing together from a booklet

A man is standing behind a lectern on a stage, smiling as he give a speech. There is a projection of people joining via video call displayed on the stage beside him.

A close-up photo of a woman smiling as she give a speech from behind a lectern

Elder-in-Residence

In 2021 the Program introduced the Elder-in-Residence, Aunty Mary Atkinson/Charles. The Elder-in-Residence provides Indigenous Arts Leadership participants with cultural guidance and cultural safety throughout the Program.

A group of people are standing in an arc around a painting in a gallery space with one person speaking about at pointing at the painting

Over 100 First Nations arts professionals have taken part in the Leadership & Fellowship Program since it began in 2010.

Two men standing in an art gallery surround by Indigenous works of art

First Nations staff at the National Gallery are involved through the Program.

The Gallery is embarking on a National Consultation to help guide the development of the Indigenous Arts Leadership and Fellowship Program.

About

Supported by

Residential One – Wagga Wagga, Wiradjuri Country

Yindyamarra

Residential Two – Kamberri/Canberra, Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country

Graduation Ceremony

Elder-in-Residence

Alumni

Our Team

National Consultation

Related

Leading the Way

The Aboriginal Memorial

Fellowship Program

First Nations

PLACE

Alumni