supporting artists' professional development
NAVA campaigns and advocates for artists’ rights and the needs of the Australian visual arts sector as a whole. Since its formation in 1983, NAVA has been a powerful force in bringing about policy and legislative change to encourage the growth and development of Australian visual arts and craft.
NAVA has been lobbying for a number of changes to the way artists are treated under the social security system. Its “ArtStart” proposals to government include the recognition of being an artist as a profession with the support of appropriately trained caseworkers to assist them to seek relevant work opportunities, provision of specialist NEIS training and access to appropriate Work for the Dole work experience.
Read NAVA’s election proposals for changes to social security
With other arts sector bodies, NAVA is lobbying for the introduction of Indigenous Communal Moral Rights legislation which was promised for introduction in 2005, but is still yet to be implimented. This legislation would ensure the right of appropriate attribution and protection against derogatory treatment of Indigenous communities' traditional knowledge, which finds expression in cultural works and forms.
In 2002 the Australian government proposed the introduction of Non-Commercial Losses (Division 35) legislation, intended to prevent hobby farmers from making illegitimate tax claims. However it became apparent as an unintended consequence, that most artists would be unable to claim their art practice expenses because they would not meet the exemption criteria.
In 2004, the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and the Art Education Group of NVACN (the National Visual Arts and Craft Network) began a campaign out of concern that that state of visual education needed some concerted attention.
In response to the announcement by the Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock that the government will not make the changes to sedition laws recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), NAVA has joined with others in the legal, arts and media sectors to demand changes needed to guarantee freedom of expression. Our concern is especially for artists and other creators however, this principle applies for all Australians.
Following a meeting of representatives across all sectors, a co-ordinated response was agreed. Go to the NAVA blog and join us in demanding the changes recommended by the ALRC to remove the title “Sedition” and to draw a clear distinction between legitimate comment,critique and dissent and the intentional urging of genuine terrorist activity
Read the ALRC's report: "Fighting Words: A Review of Sedition Laws in Australia"
