11 May 2016
Minister for the Arts Mitch Fifield, together with the Liberal Candidate for Denison, Marcus Allan today announced $427,875 over three years for a culturally significant touring exhibition from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG).
Joined by the Tasmanian Minister for the Arts Vanessa Goodwin, Minister Fifield announced that TMAG will tour the exhibition kanalaritja: An Unbroken String, funded as part of the Visions of Australia program, featuring historical Aboriginal shell necklaces from the Museum’s collection alongside contemporary pieces, providing visitors with a unique insight into this culturally significant and closely guarded tradition.
Working closely with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community to deliver an exhibition that is community driven, the Museum brings together for the first time 1,800 year old archaeological evidence, necklaces from the 1800s, and works from current artists.
The contemporary pieces are the culmination of senior artists passing on their knowledge over a five year period to 18 Indigenous women artists in Tasmania.
The exhibition will be displayed at TMAG for six months over its busiest visitation period and will coincide and link with the 2017 Wooden Boat Festival and The Art of Science: Baudin’s Voyagers 1800-1803, which recently received funding of $186,000 through the National Collecting Institutions Touring and Outreach program.
The tour will run from 2 June 2017 to 30 June 2019 and will be exhibited at 10 museums and galleries across Australia, including six regional venues.
The Visions of Australia program supports the development and touring of exhibitions to and from regional and remote Australia and increases access to high quality cultural material originating or created in Australia, as well as cultural material originating from elsewhere that is held in Australia collections.
The Government provides approximately $2.4 million each year for the program to increase access to quality Australian arts and cultural material with a focus on exhibitions touring to regional and remote Australia and the touring of regional collections to national audiences. It also encourages curatorial and financial partnerships across the collections sector.
More information about the Visions of Australia program can be found http://arts.gov.au/visions-of-australia