Finding Utopia (and Town Camp)

Connecting with artists offline can often be vital in providing legal advice and education, particularly for those living remotely. For this reason Donna Robinson, one of our lawyers and our Director of Artists in the Black Legal, was recently visiting the Northern Territory’s Tangentyere (Alice Springs) and Utopia (Arlparra). This Outreach was sponsored by Desart, the peak body for central Australian art centres, as part of our ongoing partnership with them. 

Landing in the capable hands of Desart’s Lara Dykun, the trip organiser and driver, we traversed over dirt roads interspersed with some large puddles – surprising for the July dry season. Arts Law were also joined by Kate Gillingham, from Baker & McKenzie, attending on a pro bono basis and providing the essential role of second lawyer so as to help us maximise the number of instructions and wills we could provide.

Spending several days in the beautiful studio at Tangentyere, the hub for the Town Camp artists which has been operating for 18 years, the team got stuck into the thick of wills. This was followed by travel on to Utopia art centre in Arlparra, some 250 kms northeast of Alice Springs. Utopia is a relatively new art centre supporting over 100 artists from 16 remote homelands. Arlparra is a small central town surrounded by many communities.

This most recent journey was an incredible opportunity to meet, face to face, with our clients and as well as the art centres who provide such fundamental services to artists in remote communities. These centres give artists places to work and materials to use, as well as strong administrative support for sales and artwork licensing. Therefore, Arts Law’s team always looks forward to supporting individual artists and art centres during outreach when possible.