At the Jam Factory in Adelaide, Rolf Bartz, David Archer and Lorry Wedding-Marchiaro are three of the SA designer makers who have entered into a marketing agreement which may be the way of the future for many more.
Operating both as an industry training ground and as a space for creative experimentation, low budget film and video production must be thought of as an economic and a cultural investment.
A recurring feature of recent initiatives is to be self-funded or to operate with a minimum level of government funding and frequently to begin with a limited time frame in mind. The social side of such organisations cannot be underestimated and is probably as important as any art that eventuates.
Artists collectives and access galleries do not just exist in big capital cities. It seems that wherever there is a community of artists and Artist Run Initiative will happen.
The Cultural Services Unit of the Liverpool City Council has increased substantially over the last 2 years as has the number of artists employed by them.
The Thousand Handed Hydra has been an experiment of difference and opposition in practice. Hydra began in May 1993 as a one year pilot program of education, transition and introductin for migrant artists to the professional networks of Australian (Melbourne) art, culture and practice. Includes the work of artists Fernando Ronquillo, Anita Lorina and Rafael Rojas.
"If you are real lucky you got CDEP or your are making it selling your art and then you got a good art centre too, maybe. If you are real lucky just when you turn up with a couple of week's art production, maybe yours, maybe the families, the centre's got cash, no one's a bastard, everyone's happy, the store has even got some decent food, even new bikes, toy guns, tape decks and a few tins of Log Cabin. Shit, life's good - sometimes anyway." A personal view of art making in indigenous communities.
"As a practising artist/craftrsperson with an interest in education, teaching and learning, the potential of studio based training greatly appealed to me."
Artists were left out in the cold at the 1994 Festival of Arts. Examines issues facing organisers of events such as Artist's week in the context of the Adelaide Festival of Arts.