I have been accepted to attend the 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture being co-hosted by the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) and the Australia Council for the Arts in Melbourne, October 3-6, 2011. http://artsummit.org/
The Summit is being jointly hosted by the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, the Australia Council for the Arts and Arts Victoria. The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body. Arts Victoria is the state government body responsible for making the arts available and accessible and supporting and developing Victoria’s artists and creative industries.
This is the fourth art event I have been accepted to this year. The first was an AIR at the Art Students League of New York. The second was to deliver a paper at the 6th International Conference of Arts in Society in Berlin. The third is also to deliver a paper in Jamaica in mid October, at the Inaugural Edna Manley College/Rex Nettleford Arts Conference. All three events were based on my ShortKnee works exhibited at the 2010 Shanghai Expo and again in Grenada at my solo show ICON: ShortKnee as Art, in March.
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| Detail – from the ICON exhbition |
Unfortunately I had to decline the first two events, because of a serious lack of personal funds, and less than zero interest from government and private sector. The Jamaica conference at this time also appears to be heading in that general direction. However, I am thrilled to be able to attend the Australia Summit through their bursary programme which is supporting only 20 international delegates (out of 200 applications). So once again, Grenada’s art/artists will be represented – this time half way around the world, down under!
With the theme Creative Intersections, this international assembly will bring together over 600 delegates from national arts councils, ministries of culture, arts and cultural policy makers, researchers, artists and community leaders from 80 countries to discuss vital issues affecting public support for the arts and creativity at a global level. This summit will draw on Australian perspectives and case studies and speak to many challenges facing global art as catalyst for change, a complex issue that in Grenada, fellow artists and certainly the Grenada Arts Council have been trying to get positive sustainable action formulated here for some long time. I am cheered by the networking opportunities at the summit, on behalf of our visual arts sector here.
While I am in Melbourne I will embark on an expedition in search of how I can adapt aboriginal artist techniques to benefit my explorations of Grenada’s 109 Amerindian petroglyph designs and promote use of them in Grenadian artwork – our own ‘dreamtime’ works, so to speak.
I have calculated expenses not covered by the bursary, and necessary for my expedition, to be an additional USD 1500 (XCD 4,050). Please consider donating a minimum of USD 100 by the end of August, towards my participation at the Summit. I am scheduled to depart Grenada 27 September.
I would be happy to respond to any questions you have. Email me at artstung@gmail.com. Thank You.