Category Archives: News

AAANZ End of Year Newsletter

December 21, 2020News

Newsletter | President’s Report | December 2020 As the end of the year quickly approaches I think most of us will be pleased to say farewell to a year more akin to a dystopian science fiction novel. It is a year that has changed everyone. A year that art historians, writers and artists are likely to interrogate for decades into the future. And unfortunately it has been a year that has seen our discipline, and the arts sector as a whole, come under threat. At first this was from the lack of government support through the JobKeeper and […]

AAANZ 2020 ECR and PhD Prize – Research in Focus

October 12, 2020AWAPA, News

As the 2020 AAANZ conference is not running this year, the AAANZ executive committee has proposed to run the annual PhD prize in a different mode. This is also in response to feedback on the prize format in previous years. This year’s prize will be based upon a video presentation of research and will be open to all current PhDs and recent graduates. The winner will receive $1,000 sponsored by Taylor and Francis. Deadline – Thursday November 12th, 2020. AAANZ Research in Focus – Online Online format – entrants submit a video (see website for details). Videos should be based […]

Launch of new postgraduate journal | CURRENTS

September 25, 2020Events, News

Launch of new postgraduate journal CURRENTS 28 September | 2pm AEST | 12pm AWST Currents is a new, collaborative, graduate research journal developed between the University of Western Australia and the Centre of Visual Art, University of Melbourne. The first rolling issue of Currents includes critical and exploratory articles by early career researchers from theatre, film, visual art, art history and theory. Following on from the proposition what should a peer-review journal for postgraduate students look like, we will also consider how peer-review works in relation to artistic and practice-based research, and what are the benefits and difficulties of an interdisciplinary research platform? Editors Kelly Fliedner and […]

News | The destruction of Indigenous Australian sites cannot be allowed to continue

September 23, 2020News

The destruction of Indigenous Australian sites cannot be allowed to continue Professor Jeanette Hoorn This article was first published in Apollo International Art Magazine 22 June 2020. Reproduced with permission from Apollo International Art Magazine and the author. On 24 May the multi-national mining company Rio Tinto, seeking to expand its iron ore mine in the Western Pilbara of Western Australia, blastedtwo ancient and sacred Aboriginal cave sections of the Juukan Gorge. Plans for the destruction of the caves – one of which contains evidence of human habitation dating back some 45,000 years – had been long in their […]

Research Grants | Applications Open | Australian Institute of Art History

September 11, 2020News

The Australian Institute of Art History is funding the following research grants in partnership with the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand. Eligibility and Selection Criteria Download the eligibility and selection criteria as a pdf Guidelines and Eligibility Eligibility There are four categories of eligibility. To be eligible for this research grant, you need to be: 1) an art historian or PhD student in Art History in one of the following categories Institutional art historian (i.e. working in an academic or cultural institution such as a university, art museum, public library, etc.). Independent art historian. Emerging art historian (PhD student […]

Tribute to John Schaeffer

August 5, 2020News

The Power Institute has published a series of tributes to the late John Schaeffer AO (1941 – 14 July 2020). Visit their website to read tributes from Mark Ledbury, Mary Roberts, Alison Inglis, Terry Smith, Donna West Brett, Tim Barringer, Ann Stephen, Daniel Robins, Robert Wellington, Helen Ennis and Roger Butler.

Advocacy | Letter to The Hon Paul Fletcher MP to reverse the decision to cut 10% of staff at the National Gallery of Australia

July 6, 2020Advocacy, News

On Monday 6 July, the Executive Committee of the Art Association of Australia New Zealand wrote to The Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety, and the Arts outlining their concerns with the proposed decision to cut staff by 10% at the National Gallery of Australia and what the ramifications would be with such a decision on the sector. Dear Minister, The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ), the peak professional body representing art historians, artists, and art curators in Australasia and the Pacific, objects strongly to the decision to cut 10% of staff at the […]

Joanna Mendelssohn | Staff cuts will hurt the National Gallery of Australia, but it’s not spending less on art. It’s just spending it differently

June 25, 2020Advocacy, News

Staff cuts will hurt the National Gallery of Australia, but it’s not spending less on art. It’s just spending it differently Thennicke/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Joanna Mendelssohn, University of Melbourne On September 10 1965, Sir Robert Menzies commissioned the National Art Gallery Committee of Inquiry to consider the establishment of a national gallery for Australia. The resulting Lindsay Report, published in 1966, is an ambitious document, describing an art gallery to serve the nation through the quality and range of its collections and exhibitions. It emphasised the need to have an all encompassing collection of Australian art. The report recognised, […]

News | Humanities hit hardest when needed more than ever | Australian Academy of the Humanities

June 19, 2020News

Humanities hit hardest when needed more than ever The Australian Academy of the Humanities today expressed deep concern about the Government’s changes to university fee structures, which disproportionally affect the humanities and call into question the very role of the 21st century university. “This is potentially the greatest hit to Australia’s humanities sector in a century”, said Professor Joy Damousi, President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. At a time when the Government has announced new policy strategies to combat disinformation and to develop ethical AI, the incentives for students to study the subjects which are the ‘source code’ of […]

News | Prime Minister, this is your moment to create Australia’s future | NAVA

June 5, 2020News

The National Association for the Visual Arts highlights what’s needed and what’s at stake with the Arts and cultural investment statement. Priorities for immediate investment: Introduce a substantial $500m recovery fund accessible to all arts and cultural organisations across all artforms and at all scales Establish an arts and culture working group to advise the National COVID19 Coordination Commission Harmonise income averaging arrangements between the ATO and Centrelink, so that artists can claim JobSeeker; extend JobKeeper for casuals who have been employed at least 3mo; extend JobKeeper to the end of January 2021 Expand income support eligibility to local government […]