The Australian Federal Government, after calling for submissions in August 2004, seems to have forgotten the issue of implementing a system for resale royalties for visual artists. Why has this important issue been dropped when the unfortunate reality is that visual artists are most often the most impoverished of all creators?
In 2004, many art-based organisations submitted proposals (NAVA, Arts Law Centre of Australia, Australia Council, etc) arguing for the resale royalty right to provide an additional income to some artists. In a time where the majority of visual artists derive their income almost entirely from a single transaction, the notion of resale royalties seems like an advantageous idea. In short, this would mean that artists are rewarded for the ongoing economic use of their creative efforts with the economic return from resale being connected with the value of the work. However – there are some organisations (particularly Aust Indigenous Art Trade Association) that feel the introduction of resale royalties would do nothing to address the issues of exploitation of artists. Furthermore, there exists the concern that only the already successful and wealthy artists would benefit from the resale royalty anyway. Therefore, emerging and less successful artists still suffer from the existing issues.
My project aims to look at case studies from Germany and Norway – both of which have implemented successful royalty and funding programs for visual artists. Using this research I would like to explore the ways in which a beneficial resale royalty rights program can be put in place for Australian visual artists.
URLography
http://www.visualarts.net.au/nava/PDFs/international.pd
Working project discussion paper; A Brief Look at International Models of Income Subsidy for Artists: Ideas for Australia. This is a PDF file.
http://www.arttrade.com.au
Official website of the Australian Indigenous Art Trade Association.