The Museum and Art Gallery of the NT advertised for a Director at the weekend. No news of the sacking of the current Director “ Pierre Arpin “ had leaked south; so this was a major surprise. There was no coverage in the NT News or The Australian either. And the promised link to a full job description on the MAGNT website was also missing in action.
Arpin himself has clarified matters this morning. His interpretation is that the job spill “ currently something that’s very much in fashion “ was a reasonable consequence of last year’s transformation of the Museum from an NT government instrumentality into an independent institution governed by a board. So Arpin has happily applied for his own job. Others have until Monday 23rd Feb to challenge him.
At the time of the last NATSIAAs “ the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Art Awards, aka The Telstras “ in August, it seemed to me that the new Chair, Allan Myers was tending to think that the appearance of remote art and urban/Blak art at the Awards on an equal competitive basis was counter-productive. The fact that the judges had given the Top Telstra to urban artists in 2013 and 14 may have underlined his concerns. Meanwhile, Arpin defended the equal access. And according to him, the issue hasn’t actually come up at MAGNT’s board meetings since.
So no change in the rules for entry to the 2015 NATSIAAs “ which will be announced in a week or so’s time.
Keep watching AAD.
