Growing Indigenous Arts Leadership

Michelle Evans, University of Melbourne

Abstract

The arts inspire and express the many cultures and societies of the world. They reflect the spectrum of the spirit, from the inspirational to the darkness of humanity. The arts and culture in Indigenous communities function on many levels – as tradition, as expression, as story - song, - dance, and as an economic activity. Through the arts, Indigenous communities link the past, present and future. The Indigenous arts and cultural sector is vibrant, complex and the site for much consideration of the leadership artists and arts managers play in Indigenous cultural and economic development.

This paper aims to explore what’s known of Indigenous leadership development in Australia through a scoping study of the literature available. This will then be compared with other Indigenous leadership development literature from around the world, I seek to clarify key themes and concepts for the development of Indigenous leaders like the acknowledgement of the diversity of Indigenous approaches and the importance of place and community in leadership work. I will place this body of knowledge into an arts and cultural context through a case study on the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural development.

The Wilin Centre is situated in the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts at the University of Melbourne. It is a unique Indigenous centre in that it is 95% philanthropically funded and based on a strategic purpose of cultural transformation. The paper will explore how the Wilin Centre supports the leadership development of individual Indigenous artists and their communities.