A RESIDENCY program for First Nations artists is being established at Langwarrin’s McClelland Gallery.
The four artists selected to take part in the Bunurong Fieldwork Residency will work on concepts for a public artwork. Successful applicants will receive $17600, plus $2000 in travel expenses, to undertake a maximum three-month residency in the McClelland studio cottage between 2023 and 2024.
McClelland Gallery director Lisa Byrne hopes that the program will address the “scarcity of First Nations cultural markers on the Mornington Peninsula.”
“While the number of public art commissions available to Australian artists increases every year, only a small number of First Nations artists are given the opportunity to realise these. The residency program intends to provide four First Nations artists or artist teams with the time, space, skills and connections required to develop and realise public artworks. It aims to upskill the four artists/artist teams to work in the field of public art practice, which will embed First Nations practice within the field of Australian and international public art,” Byrne said.
“Each artist-in-residence will engage with the Bunurong community, via McClelland’s First Nations education and public programs manager and the registered Aboriginal party, the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, in the development of a public artwork that will lead to broader community understanding of the culture and history of the Bunurong people. It is envisioned that one of the four major public artwork proposals will be realised by 2025 with support from public and private sectors to a value of up to $1.5 million, to be fabricated and installed at a culturally significant site on the Peninsula Link freeway to mark and celebrate the Bunurong People’s local presence, culture and heritage.”
The program is supported the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and Service Stream. McClelland will also pay cultural engagement fees to the Bunurong Aboriginal Land Council Aboriginal Corporation.
Expressions of interest close at 5pm on 16 November 2022.
For more information visit artshub.com.au/opportunity/the-bunurong-fieldwork-residency-program-at-mcclelland.