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.
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.
A great deal of anecdotal evidence points to the diminution in time allocated to visual education in the Australian school curriculum and erratic teaching quality. Often the experience for children is not one of logical, sequential and progressive learning of the subject, but rather its being treated as a form of recreation. However, there are also excellent models for good practice. Wishing to test the facts of the situation, in 2004 NAVA and the Art Education Group of NVACN successfully lobbied the Federal Government to provide $250,000 for research to scope the current thinking and application.
