Fabric of our culture: Contemporary textiles by Bundjalung women from the Northern Rivers, NSW. Image by Fran Flynn, Frangipani Creative
In March 2011 Arts NSW introduced the NSW Aboriginal Regional Arts Fund. The fund is designed to support arts projects that celebrate and promote Aboriginal cultural identities in regional NSW and, by doing so, make the rich and diverse Aboriginal cultures of regional NSW more visible and accessible.
The successful applicants are currently engaged in creating, producing, promoting and presenting their work and one such example is Fabric of our culture: Contemporary textiles by Bundjalung women from the Northern Rivers, NSW an exhibition at Boomalli Aboriginal Art Gallery Sydney.
This exhibition was the culmination of a series of workshops on product development and presentation delivered by Arts Northern Rivers Indigenous Arts Development Officer Robert Appo and Northern Rivers Textiles and Fashion Consultant Wendy Powitt. It featured works from the Wake Up Time Women, Casino, the People of the Reeds, Cabbage Tree Island and the Saltwater Women, Ballina and nine women (three from each group) travelled to Sydney for the opening.
The workshop series, and resulting exhibition, gave the women an opportunity to be mentored through a process of selecting a product line, preparing the packaging and presentations of the pieces, pricing and presentation as welll as the chance to network and share skills and experiences as both artists and Bundjalung women.
The exhibition introduced the works by these groups into the Sydney arts and fine arts market and provided a platform for their work to be received and critically reviewed by a broader audience.
Information on the other recipients of funding from the Aboriginal Regional Arts Fund can be found here.
Further information on the Aboriginal Regional Arts Fund can be found here.
The Aboriginal Regional Arts Fund is consistent with the objectives of the NSW Aboriginal Arts and Cultural Strategy.
