About NAVA
- What is the National Association for the Visual Arts?
- What is NAVA's Role?
- Who are the members?
- How is NAVA structured?
- Representation by NAVA
- What work is NAVA currently involved in?
- NAVA's Professional Services
- How is NAVA funded?
- What does NAVA offer its members?
- Who can I speak to at NAVA?
What is the National Association for the Visual Arts?
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) is the national peak body for the visual arts, craft and design sector working through advocacy and service provision, to achieve a flourishing Australian visual arts sector and a more vibrant, distinctive and ethical cultural environment. Since its establishment in 1983, NAVA has been extremely successful in bringing about policy and legislative change to encourage the growth and development of the sector and to increase professionalism within the industry. NAVA undertakes advocacy and lobbying, research, policy and project development, data collection and analysis. It also provides direct service to its members and the sector generally by offering expert advice, referrals, resources, professional representation and development and a range of other services.
NAVA's constituency includes visual artists, craftspeople and designers, other arts professionals including curators, agents, educators, arts writers and critics, arts administrators, art librarians & conservators, and a range of organisations including public, artist run and commercial galleries, arts agencies, arts service organisations, educational institutions, arts publications, manufacturers and retailers.
NAVA is a company limited by guarantee with about 3,000 individual and organisational members and 1000 student affiliates. NAVA is run by a Board of up to nine directors, five elected by the members representing the interests of visual arts practitioners and organisations and drawn from at least four states/territories, and up to four co-opted members with other specialist skills in the areas of law, business development and fundraising, politics and strategy, marketing and promotion & media.
Current Board Members: NAVA's Chair is Ian Howard, respected artist, academic, and Dean of the College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales. The elected members are Rick Clise (SA), Felicity Johnston (WA), Timothy Morrell (QLD), Aaron Seeto (NSW), and Julie Shiels (VIC). The co-opted members are Ian Howard (NSW), Simeon Beckett (NSW) and Mark Baxter acting as Honorary Treasurer and Company Secretary.
NAVA's patrons are Professor David Throsby, eminent cultural economist and NAVA's Founding Chair and Pat Corrigan AM, arts philanthropist.
NAVA represents its members and the Australian visual arts, craft and design sector in meetings, discussions, forums and the media. NAVA also is the convenor of the Australian Design Alliance and the secretariat and spokesbody for the National Visual Arts and Craft/Design Network (NVACN), a group of peak bodies which collaborate in advocacy and joint initiatives. It provides the same service for the Visual Education Roundtable, a coalition of the key stakeholders in school visual education. NAVA is also the co-convenor of ArtsPeak, the confederation of national arts service organisations and an active member of the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) and the Australian Coalition for Cultural Diversity.
What work is NAVA currently involved in?
NAVA continues its tradition of working to improve conditions for visual art, craft and design practitioners and other arts professionals and is engaged in the following:
- Advising all political parties on national cultural policies
- Securing the inclusion of the Arts in the national curriculum for schools in partnership with other members of the National Advocates for Arts Education, and through serving on the advisory group to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
- Lobbying for the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy funding to be increased and made a permanent commitment
- Strengthening protection of artists' freedom of expression through supporting the introduction by the Federal Government of an Australian Bill of Rights and seeking the removal of federal sedition law
- Lobbying for ethical trade practices by those dealing in and purchasing Indigenous art, craft and design
- Seeking amendment to exempt all professional artists from the federal Non-Commercial Losses tax legislation allowing them to claim their art expenses for income tax purposes.
NAVA's Grant Programs
- Two small grants programs:
- The Janet Holmes a Court Artists Grant
- The NSW Artists Marketing Grant
- Awards through:
The Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Artists
The Windmill Trust
Curator Development Initiative
Art & Australia/Credit Suisse Private Banking Contemporary Art Award
The Artists Benevolent Trust
Ignition Prize for graduating students
Industry Codes and Professional Resources produced by NAVA
- Visual Arts Net, the website for the Australian visual arts, craft and design sector
- The Code of Practice for the Professional Australian Visual Arts, Craft and Design Sector, Edition 3
- Valuing Art, Respecting Culture: Protocols for Working with the Indigenous Australian Visual Arts and Craft Sector.
- Getting Art There: an Artists' Marketing Manual
- Money for Visual Artists: NAVA's Guide to Competitions, Awards and Prizes
- Theory in Practice Series (TIPS) of ten professional practice booklets
- Where There's a Will: Estate Planning for Visual Artists" with the Arts Law Centre of Australia, commissioned by the Australia Council
- National visual arts/craft professional practice module for the tertiary education sector on-line
- Ideas for Policy and Legislation for the Visual Arts and Craft Sector arising out of the Visual Arts Industry Guidelines Research Project
- The Big Picture: A Planning Matrix for the Visual Arts, research report analysing the impact of five major forces shaping the Australian visual arts and craft sector
- Outside the Gumtree Report on the needs of non-English speaking background artists and their contribution to Australian culture
- Report on artists' childcare needs in Australia
NAVA's core operations are funded by the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council, the Federal Governments arts funding and advisory body and by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments. It also has a triennial grant from Arts NSW. Otherwise it generates income from:
- membership subscriptions
- sales of products and services
- project grants from public and private bodies
- sponsorship (some in kind)
- donations from arts benefactors
What does NAVA offer its members?
- A nationally recognised voice representing the interests of visual arts, craft and design
- Powerful advocacy and lobbying to bring about positive changes to advance visual arts, craft and design interests
- Information, referrals and expert advice
- Representation in disputes
- The NAVA Quarterly, art industry journal
- A fortnightly email news bulletin listing opportunities and NAVA news updates
- Concession price entry to all major national and state/territory galleries
- Discounts on more that 200 services and products in the Services Directory including some gallery bookshops
- Discounts on NAVA publications
- A Members section on NAVA's website: www.visualarts.net.au with up to date information on jobs and other opportunities and a chat facility exclusively available to NAVA members
Executive Director - Tamara Winikoff
General Manager - Samatha Wild
Strategy & Projects Manager - Brianna Munting
Marketing & Communications Coordinator - Lara Summers
Artist Career Project Coordinator - Erica Molesworth
Administration and Membership Officer - Edith Moss
Principal Funder
