art+place Queensland Public Art Fund important information:

It was announced in the 2012-2013 Budget that the art+place Queensland Public Art Fund will cease. This was a limited-life program due to end in June 2014.

The art+place funding round due to close on 30 September will not proceed. There will be no further rounds.

Almost $1 million has already been allocated in 2012-13 to public art projects.

All funding agreements in place for existing projects under the art+place program will be honoured.

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Best practice public art commissioning
art+place encourages best practice in commissioning public art projects.

This means:

• Acknowledging visual artists as professionals and paying appropriate fees
• Adopting clear and transparent processes for commissioning public art projects
• Ensuring that contracts are fair and equitable for all parties
• Ensuring that artist’s rights in terms of intellectual property, copyright and moral rights are acknowledged
• Advocating the commissioning of innovative artworks to applicants
• Including artists and project managers in project development teams from the initial planning and delivery stage
• Researching the social, cultural and environmental heritage of the site
• Undertaking appropriate consultation with communities, and stakeholders including Traditional Owners
• Commissioning public artworks that make connections with place

Commissioning public art projects
There are three basic ways to source artists for a public art commission:
1. An open competition through a call for an ‘expression of interest’ from artists;
2. ‘Limited tender’ where a number of artists’ agencies, galleries or representatives are approached or a jury of experts is used to recommend artists for the commission;
3. ‘Direct commission’ where artists are approached directly for the commission.
For more information see: Sourcing artists for public art commission

Contract curator and project manager
Public art curators may be contracted by the commissioning agency to deliver the public art commission. Contract curators are professionals with specialist public art expertise.

They may operate as individuals, a commercial business, or not-for-profit arts or cultural organisation. A contract curator can develop the curatorial rationale for the project, undertake the selection process for artists as described above, develop the Artwork Commission Plan and liaise with the artist on the organisation’s behalf from concept development to realisation, providing coordination of artists with sensitivity to place and artwork integrity.

Some contract curators also have project management expertise and can liaise more broadly with the artist and client, coordinating and managing the public art project, undertaking community consultation and stakeholder management, conducting risk assessment and managing the artwork commissioning, timeframe and budget.

Register your expertise in public art projects by completing the Nomination Form

Access the art+place Industry Register of people with public art curatorial and project management skills

Appropriate fees
The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) Code of Practice is a useful guideline when proposing artist’s fees. Visit NAVA’s website for more information www.visualarts.net.au

Legal contracts
Arts Law Centre of Australia provides up-to-date legal advice to Australian artists and organisations, including sample contracts for commissioning artists and artist’s agreements. Visit their website for more information www.artslaw.com.au

Intellectual property, Copyright and Moral Rights
Intellectual property represents the property of your mind or intellect. It can be an invention, trademark, original design or the practical application of a good idea. In business terms, this means your proprietary knowledge - a key component of success in business today. For more information visit IP Australia www.ipaustralia.gov.au

There is no registration procedure to protect copyright in Australia. Artworks are automatically protected by copyright once they are created and put into ‘material form’. For more information refer to the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and visit the Australian Copyright Council website www.copyright.org.au

Under the Copyright (Moral Rights) Amendment Act 2000, a moral right means:

• a right of attribution of authorship; or
• a right not to have authorship falsely attributed; or
• a right of integrity of authorship

This means that the creator of the artwork is required to be identified wherever the artwork is exhibited to the public, reproduced in a material form, published or broadcast. This usually takes the form of a plaque or label with a credit line acknowledging the artist.

Commissioning agencies are further obliged to ensure that the work or any adaptation of the work will not be subject to any material distortion, mutilation or alteration that is unreasonable or is prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the artist.
Visit www.comlaw.gov.au