The Pilbara will welcome in the New Year with the launch of an
innovative enterprise. The region’s newest Indigenous art centre –
the Spinifex Hill Studio – is scheduled for completion mid-January
2014
and will be the first dedicated Indigenous art centre in
Port Hedland.
Located on Hedditch Street in South Hedland, Spinifex Hill
Studio will be used by Pilbara Indigenous artists including the
Spinifex Hill Artists, an emerging local collective that has been
working together for five years under the mentorship of FORM.
Spinifex Hill Artists currently practice out of a rented church
in South Hedland. Seeing the potential not only of Spinifex Hill
Artists, but of the richness of contemporary Indigenous art in
the Pilbara prompted FORM to facilitate a new, purpose-built
art centre.
The Spinifex Hill Studio will comprise two professional studio
spaces (painting and three-dimensional works), accommodation
for an art centre manager, gallery-standard storage facilities
for materials and artwork, interior and exterior breakout
areas with cooking and dining amenities, and climate-
appropriate landscaping.
The new studio provides an apt example of the long-term
community and legacy outcomes that can be achieved through
significant cross-sector partnerships. BHP Billiton, FORM’s
principal partner, invested the equivalent of $2 million to help
realise the facilities.
As a major corporate stakeholder in the Pilbara, BHP Billiton
is aware of the flow on effects of genuine community investment,
which reach further than the project at hand to build pride and
ownership of place, multicultural goodwill, and new enterprise
and income opportunities. These elements are proven indicators
of a region’s economic competitiveness and aptitude for
sustainability. Together they form a critical mass that attracts
workers, residents and tourists by offering the essential elements
of vibrancy and legacy that make a person feel as though it is
worth spending extended time in a particular place.
Standing alongside BHP Billiton and FORM in this equation of
partners over the Spinifex Hill Studio is the Regional Development
Australia Fund, and the Federal Office of the Arts with the land
provided by Department of Lands.
This combined funding will work towards completing the build
and fittings, operating the facilities, and delivering the artistic
development and cultural programming, which is essential if the
facility is to generate lasting outcomes for the region in terms of
skills development, income opportunities and cultural reputation.
With cultural and artistic outcomes in mind, a keystone of the
Spinifex Hill Studio is the Land.Mark.Art program; a professional
development model that builds new skill, income and employment
opportunities for Indigenous artists. Researched, designed and
FORM helping skills, income and culture
Lynda Dorrington
Executive Director
FORM
An independent not-for-profit cultural development
organisation with offices in Perth and Port Hedland,
FORM has been running creative development and
engagement activities throughout the Pilbara since
2004.
Aiming to improve the quality, opportunity
and enjoyment of life for the people of the Pilbara,
FORM continues to work closely with principal partner
BHP Billiton in building the capacity and the creativity
of Indigenous artists from the region, focusing
on artworks that are practical and functional as well as
artistically satisfying and culturally engaging.
In this article, Executive Director Lynda Dorrington
outlines some of FORM’s recent exciting achievements.
ThelivingcanvasofthePilbara
Spinning Wattle Buds for Cemetery
Beach Playscape, Port Hedland
by Irene Coffin, Spinifex Hill Artists
Minesite 2013
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