Community
18 February, 2023
Call out for Queensland’s Indigenous artists
QUEENSLAND’S peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and cultural organisation, UMI Arts, has called out Indigenous artists to participate and showcase works in its 2023 tour of Australia’s three leading art fairs.
While building upon existing programming and establishing new events, UMI Arts will elevate its already strong focus on promoting member artists in 2023 by providing representation at Sydney’s National Indigenous Art Fair (NIAF) in July, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) in July, and Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) in August.
According to UMI Arts’ Exhibition and Gallery Officer Robyne Pacey, this will be the second year running that the Indigenous-led, not-for-profit organisation has participated in Australia’s three consecutive art fairs.
Ms Pacey said they are looking for art and craft products in any medium that represent the First Nations people, culture, and stories of FNQ from both emerging and established artists.
“With its beautiful setting in Gadigal Country at Sydney’s heritage Rocks precinct, NIAF is the perfect start to a whirlwind tour at the beginning of July,” she said.
“Then returning to Cairns, Gimuy Country, to fly the flag at CIAF and then wrapping up with DAAF where UMI Arts will join more than 70 art centres from around Australia in Larrakia Country.
“We are keen to welcome our members and new members to participate and showcase their art and crafts in all mediums for what is intended to be a diverse audience from collectors and curators to visitors from Australia and overseas.
“This is a fabulous opportunity for emerging and established artists who want to build their profile and business to a much larger audience that, due to vast distances and expense, is logistically difficult to achieve,” Ms Pacey said.
UMI’s call out is open to all mediums, but particularly paper works, works on canvas, artefacts, fabric and small gifts, homewares, and jewellery.
For interstate fairs (NIAF and DAAF), there is a focus on lightweight, portable items to reduce freighting costs in a range of price points, preferably in the low (<$250) to medium (<$750) range.
Open applications for 2023 Art Fairs EOIs are now available to download for all art fairs: NIAF in Sydney, CIAF in Cairns and DAAF in Darwin.
For CIAF, UMI Arts will participate in both the Art Fair (curated selection of artworks) and the market (wide range of artworks). There are individual Expressions of Interest for both opportunities.
To download the form, visit https:// umiarts.com.au/exhibitions/
