Wesfarmers gives indigenous art a $1.2m boost

Wesfarmers is boosting indigenous art with a $1.2 million fellowship scheme to train the next generation of administrators and curators.

The WA-based company, already a big sponsor of the arts, will provide the money over five years through the National Gallery of Australia in a bid to start redressing a leadership imbalance in the Aboriginal art industry, estimated to be worth $500 million a year.

NGA director Ron Radford said at the scheme’s launch yesterday that only 16 of the hundreds of professional curators or visual art administrators across the country were indigenous.

Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder said indigenous art was one of Australia’s most dynamic sectors and increasing the leadership levels in museums and galleries was a challenge that needed to be met.