Having celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) commemorates this milestone with the launching of an online forum. Brianna Munting, Deputy Director for NAVA, spoke to Art Almanac about this exciting new phase, and what this online development will entail for emerging artists and the Art community.
Why the evolution to the NAVA online forum from your previous printed products and services?
It enables us to produce a whole range of materials, from videos and podcasts to online seminars and forums, and assist artists at all stages of their careers. For us it was really important to also make sure that the content we were developing spoke of the diversity of voices in it. We didn’t just want NAVA’s presence to be the overarching one, we wanted artists to be able to speak to each other in a language that would be understood by the community. It was integral to put the creative practitioners at the heart of this online development.
What are some of the obstacles you hope to overcome with the online forum?
We found that every time someone wanted to take up an opportunity, or set up an exhibition or a project or an artist-run initiative, it was kind of re-inventing the wheel. We wanted to look at what artists needs were throughout their career. People tended to say to us “I don’t have a standard career”, and what we really wanted to do with this website is challenge this assumption, to say “Hey, you’re not alone and everyone does something differently, but often there are overlaps and let’s actually show this shared space and create a community that can cross geographies and cross practices and find those similarities to build the strength of the sector”.
What are the new levels of memberships and what do they involve?
There are three levels. The first one is what we call a ‘Free Forever’, so you sign up and get an e-bulletin and get access to industry news, as well as selected opportunities. We then have ‘Premium Level’, which involves a monthly payment, that grants access to a list of all of the grant awards, prizes and competitions across Australia. You’ll also get access to the ‘Professional Development’ fact sheets, templates and checklists. The third tier is the ‘Premium Plus’, which includes all the benefits of the other levels, as well as public liability and professional indemnity insurance. We are able to provide insurance at a much more affordable price than if they were trying to do it themselves.
Can you tell us about your new online video interviews?
We have two different ways that we have done the video interviews; one is under the broad heading of ‘The Artist Files’. We produced a series of interviews with artists – Nell, Tony Albert, Sally Smart, Craig Walsh and Lindy Lee – about how they have made a career, how they have traversed going from art school to the industry, what are the key issues or needs, how they have earned an income and why they think art is important. So ‘The Artist Files’ look at how artists have done what they do and why it is important. We also have done a whole lot of videos that look at key questions that artists may face at different stages of their career.
National Association for the Visual Arts
www.visualarts.net.au
Mark Shorter
Nell
Photography by Joan Cameron-Smith. Courtesy of NAVA