Today, Terri Janke delivered the Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA) commissioned landmark document First Peoples: A Roadmap for enhancing Indigenous engagement in museums and galleries at the AMaGA National Conference 2019 in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Almost 400 delegates from all over the nation have travelled to attend the week-long conference that includes workshops, panel discussions, cultural tours and significant keynote speakers from the museums, galleries and arts sector.[1]
The highly anticipated Roadmap lays out a 10-year program for strengthening Indigenous engagement across the entire museum and gallery sector in Australia – addressing employment, collections, curation, leadership, cultural safety, keeping places, benefit sharing, repatriation and more. With Indigenous self-determination and reconciliation at its core, it provides key recommendations, critical pathways and targets for the sector to move through over the next ten years.
Mat Trinca (Director, National Museum of Australia),Alex Marsden(Director, AMaGA), Terri Janke
Terri Janke and Company are thrilled to see the release of the Roadmap following almost two years of nationwide consultations, research, collation, analysis and writing that begun in early 2017. The project saw us conduct surveys, travel around the country for workshops, facilitate round-table discussions, consult with individuals, deliver presentations and hold meetings with a key Indigenous Advisory Group.
This collaborative process allowed us to understand the experiences and needs of Indigenous artists, communities, curators and those working in the sector to inform the final Roadmap document. The project also involved an Audit Report, Project Report and a revision of AMaGA’s policy document Continuous Cultures, Ongoing Responsibilities: Principles and guidelines for Australian museums working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage (2005).
Those who contributed to the realisation of the project include project leader Terri Janke, Sarah Grant, Andrew Pitt, Jean Kearney, Elizabeth Mason, Taryn Saunders, Gabriela Dounis and Jason O’Neil. We are grateful for the support and direction of Alex Marsden (Director, AMaGA), the Indigenous Advisory Group and deeply thank all others who shared their valuable perspectives and voices.
We are excited to see the sector implement First Peoples: A Roadmap for enhancing Indigenous engagement in museums and galleries to support the continued thriving of First Nations arts and culture in Australia.
The Roadmap is available online: https://www.mgaindigenousroadmap.com.au/
Sarah Grant and Terri Janke
[1] For more information on the conference visit http://mga2019.org.au/.