About Indigenous Art Code Limited
About the Company
Indigenous Art Code Limited was established to provide a governance and legal structure for the administration of the Code. As a voluntary Code of Conduct, it was important that a structure be established for industry to manage the Code. The public Company structure was chosen for several reasons:
- The model allows for the industry to manage the code, independent from government.
- The liability of members is able to be quantified up front (in this case $50) which provides protection to members.
- The company is governed by the Corporations Act which contains details on the obligations of Companies, Directors and Secretaries. This provides a clear legal framework for the Code’s administration.
The Company's objectives, rules and processes are set out in the Indigenous Art Code Limited Company Constitution.
Download the constitution
To become a signatory to the Code, commercial art dealers must be a member of the Company.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of Indigenous Art Code Limited is the body with the authority to deal with complaints and issue sanctions under the Code. The Board will:
- implement and oversee the application of the Code;
- maintain an online register of Code members;
- investigate complaints that a member has breached the Code; and
- issue sanctions for non-compliance of Code members.
The Board is supported by the Australian Government through the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts which is providing Secretariat services and limited administrative support and operational funding.
Board Structure
The structure of the Board allows for:
- up to 4 commercial dealers who are Code members and are elected by Code members;
- up to 3 Indigenous artists who are appointed by the Board;
- up to 2 Artists resource organisation representatives who are appointed by the Board; and
- up to 2 non-arts representatives with legal and/or business and/or art consumer knowledge and experience who are appointed by the Board.
The structure of the Board has been developed in consultation with the Industry Alliance Group which was formed to provide guidance on the development of the Code and has been designed to achieve participation across the breadth of the Indigenous visual arts industry. Directors include commercial dealers, not-for-profit organisations and - importantly - strong representation by Indigenous artists and supporting organisations. Independent expertise is also included.
To ensure all major Code member groups are represented, the four elected dealer positions include 1 member who is also a member of the Australian Commercial Galleries Association; 1 member who is also a member of the Australian Indigenous Art Trade Association (Art Trade); 1 member who represents an Indigenous Art Centre and 1 member who is a non-affiliated dealer.
Terms for Board members will be staggered to ensure that the Board remains dynamic and that new and fresh ideas and perspectives are introduced regularly.
The Inaugural Board of Directors
The inaugural Board has had the critical task of setting up the management and legal framework to regulate the code.
The four inaugural commercial dealer positions were filled in consultation with the Industry Alliance Group. In future Boards, the four commercial dealer positions will be filled through a vote of all Code signatories.
The Board appointed positions were finalised through a call for nominations to fill vacant positions or where appropriate, a direct appointment drawn from the Industry Alliance Group.
The Hon Ron Merkel QC is Chair and Mr Richard England is Deputy Chair.
Commercial Dealer positions
- Cecilia Alfonso, Manager, Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation
- Beverley Knight, Director, Alcaston Gallery
- Martin Wardrop, Director, Aboriginal Art Online
- Ian Plunkett, Director, Japingka Gallery
Appointed Positions
Indigenous Artists
- Julie Gough
- Billy Missi
Artists Resource Organisations
- John Oster, CEO, DESART
- Elizabeth Tregenza, general manager, Ananguku Arts
Non-arts independent expertise
- Ron Merkel, QC (Committee Chair)
- Richard England, Director, Healthscope Limited. (Committee Deputy Chair)
