A $1 million grant from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust to establish a far-reaching new Indigenous arts residency program in perpetuity at the University of Melbourne was announced at the biennial conference of Philanthropy Australia in Melbourne on Tuesday September 2. Created to enable a Victorian Aboriginal artist to undertake a significant project of their choice every year, the residency will build an alumni of Victorian Indigenous artists who have been provided with a unique opportunity to explore ideas, enhance skills and develop new iterations of Indigenous cultural practice.
Named in honour of Darvell M Hutchinson AM, who steered HMSTrust for a remarkable 50 years and last month retired as Chairman, the Hutchinson Indigenous Residency (HIR) will be open to Victorian Indigenous artists. Each residency will last for one year, with a cash grant of $40,000 plus up to $5000 for materials (indexed for inflation).
It will offer each artist appropriate support from a range of specialist resources at the University of Melbourne, comprising at the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation (CCMC).
HMSTrust’s new Chairman, Dr Philip Moors AO, said the residency was created as the most appropriate way of honouring in perpetuity the enormous contribution of Mr Hutchinson to the Trust and to philanthropy in Australia over a 50-year period. He also spoke of the unprecedented opportunity to utilise the range of facilities at the University of Melbourne:
“This includes enrolment in the Specialist Certificate in Cross-Cultural Conservation and Heritage with progression to a Master’s program, without any formal education prerequisites.”
The HIR has been developed with input from leading arts advisors and academics including Indigenous soprano and educator, Deborah Cheetham, Head of the Wilin Centre; Robyn Sloggett, Director of the CCMC and Dr Gerard Vaughan, former Director of the National Gallery of Victoria.
Based at the University’s Southbank campus, it will allow recipients time and space away from their usual environment or obligations, opening up opportunities for reflection, research, presentation and production.
The HIR will be open to Indigenous arts practitioners who identify with at least one of the 11 language families of Victoria. They must have a successful record of at least three years as an Indigenous arts practitioner and at least three years’ relevant experience in a related industry. A degree in a relevant discipline is desirable but not mandatory.
Applicants will need to provide a clear vision and purpose of their residency and a set of outcomes, and state how it will benefit from the resources at the University of Melbourne, how it will increase the profile of Victorian Indigenous cultural practice and how it will enhance the career of the applicant.
Image: Helen Macpherson Smith Trust retiring chair, Darvell Hutchinson and Deborah Cheetham, Head of the Wilin Centre, paving the way for Victorian Indigenous artists to win Melbourne University residency. (They are pictured in front of the Dulka Warngiid (Land of All) tapestry in Melbourne Recital Centre. The Victorian Tapestry Workshop piece was based on a collaborative work of seven women artists from the Gulf of Carpentaria).
