Opening A New Art Centre: Utopia’s Experience

The Utopia region is located North East of Alice Springs.  While well-known artists have hailed from the Utopia region for years, as a community-owned and governed entity, the Utopia Art Centre opening in 2020 was a significant event. Before then the artists had individual relationships with galleries or with other art centres nearby.  Utopia Art Centre was established with the support of Desart, the peak body for central Australian art centres, and the Urapuntja Aboriginal Corporation.   

Indigenous art centres play a fundamental role in Indigenous art business. Art centre managers and arts workers are integral to operating these businesses.  The role of the art centre manager, under the direction of the Board, is multi-faceted and is part business manager, agent, art adviser, lawyer, accountant and money business manager, negotiating merchandise agreements, estate manager, nutritionist, chauffer, harvester of bush grasses, and more; you name it, the art centre manager may do it!  The art centre manager represents the artists in their business and cross-cultural dealings with galleries, art fairs, prizes, competitions and collectors. A good art centre manager is key to the success of the art centre.  The staff ensure a secure and calm work environment and supply the necessary art materials for the artists.  If they’re not local to begin with, the manager will often learn the language of the local artists for whom is English is a second or third language.  The job is about understanding and promoting culture and connections with country as much as it is about art. 

In 2023 Arts Law visited the Utopia Art Centre as part of our Artists in the Black outreach services to remote Indigenous communities.  Arts Law provides regular legal support to art centres like Utopia giving advice on a broad range of issues from copyright and moral rights, to interpreting contracts, explaining the terms of copyright licences, consignments, Indigenous Cultural & Intellectual Property, governance, administration and or management of deceased estates and drafting wills for the artists. 

The art centre is a community hub for the artists and their families.  It provides income opportunities and empowers the artists and strengthens their practice and income.  It is a safe work environment for the artists, allowing them to pass their knowledge on to the next generations.  The art centre and the supporting peak body train the arts workers to be the managers of the future. 

Currently housed in a series of converted shipping containers, new art centre buildings are currently being built off site for the Utopia Art Centre and will be moved into position in about June 2024.  This is a big step forward for the art centre and a reflection of the success it has achieved since it began operating less than three years ago. 

The art centre appreciates and relies on the support Arts Law provides and says: 

Arts Law’s support has been invaluable to establishing Utopia Art Centre. From connecting us with specialised legal support to providing templates and resources, we have worked closely together in the foundational years of development. Arts Law have always felt accessible. Outreach trips have been especially important, reinforcing Utopia Art Centre as a place of honesty, good governance and expertise. Arts Law has provided legal services to artists from the bonnets of cars and under trees across the 16 Homelands we service. We have immense appreciation for the flexibility, dignity and respect Arts Law have shown in their work with us.

Sophia Lunn, Manager Utopia Art Centre

Useful resources  

Arts Law | Artists in the Black have a range of resources for art centres available here. 

Desart Art Centre Guidebook – https://desart.com.au/publication/the-desart-art-centre-guidebook/  

Arts Hub article – https://www.artshub.com.au/news/features/art-centres-go-above-and-beyond-2698080/?fbclid=IwAR3QBlstv7Epwxd4AGxIBLsntAkzBFuRGbJXZFMzmy4ODrEqTmcK