Arts and cultural production has significant potential to contribute to the economic sustainability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in remote areas of Australia. However, little is known as to how the cultural assets in Indigenous communities can be mobilised as a source of employment and income generation. The only official survey that collects some data on aspects of cultural production in Indigenous communities in remote Australia is the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS), which targets only selected cultural activities. The statistics generated by the NATSISS are not suitable for determining the full scale of artistic and cultural production in these areas. A nationwide survey of remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists was initiated by the present authors in 2015 to remedy this situation. The survey responds to a need for a deeper and more informed understanding of the circumstances of Indigenous cultural production as a source of income and employment in remote communities. The survey is being undertaken in seven remote and very remote regions across Australia, funded jointly by the Commonwealth, the Governments of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and South Australia, and Macquarie University.

In this seminar, we will discuss the theoretical underpinnings of this project, with particular reference to issues of sustainability, in circumstances where the long-term viability of remote communities is being questioned. The role of the individual cultural producer is interpreted within an institutional system that includes government, commercial, not-for-profit and community/family organisations. In this model, the artist and cultural producer is placed at the centre of the system, engaging in cultural production and cultural transmission in a range of activities that have interrelationships with all of these sectors. The survey data are designed to throw light on the ways in which these processes are carried on. We will present some of the results, and discuss their implications for current policy strategies.

Biography:

David Throsby is Distinguished Professor of Economics at Macquarie University. He holds a Master’s degree from the University of Sydney and a PhD from the London School of Economics. He is internationally recognised for his research and writing on the economics of art and culture. His current research interests include the economic circumstances of creative artists, culture in sustainable economic development, the Indigenous art economy, heritage economics, the creative industries, and the relationships between economic and cultural policy. His recent books include Economics and Culture (2001), which has been translated into eight languages, and The Economics of Cultural Policy (2010), both published by Cambridge University Press.

Katya Petetskaya is Research Project Director at the Macquarie University Department of Economics and a visual artist working across painting and performance art. She has twelve years of research experience in the economics of art and culture, tourism development, cultural and heritage planning, urban and regional planning and economic development in Australia and internationally. She was Co-Director of the 2017 National Artists Survey (Australia Council) and is Co-Director for the National Survey of Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists. Petetskaya has three postgraduate degrees in Commerce, Town Planning and Fine Arts, including postgraduate research.

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