Western Australia has enjoyed the fruits of a comprehensive government policy approach that has seen every new school, hospital, prison, justice centre and TAFE over the past 18 years include art as a key component of the construction budget. All four Redevelopment Authorities have adopted similar methodology. Main Roads have ensured that many of the new roads, bridges and walkways include integrated public art. Local Government Authorities have a tendency to include art within new construction and many are adopting a percent for art approach to development applications. Encouragingly, a growing number of land developers have taken the lead in employing consulting artists on their design teams.

Two key threads emerge from all this activity. One is that the standard, quality of work and ability of Western Australian artists has grown enormously. The other is that the proliferation of artwork has not resulted in braver commissioning - there is still much more work that needs to be done in terms of advocacy. The challenge for art coordinators and artists is to demonstrate and promote the opportunity to create exceptional and memorable spaces to all client groups. The other challenge, which is infinitely more difficult, is for artists to walk away from projects that do not advance their practice and for coordinators to decline projects that fall short in enhancing the public realm.

But it's the high standard of work being made by Western Australian artists that has been the driver for Artsource to expand our thinking to an international market. When we looked at work being made in other parts of the world it was clear that Australian artists are no slouches. So Artsource began a discussion with a group of very experienced artists who became part of a pilot project promoting the work of Australian artists through a financial and advocacy commitment.

We explored the potential for a market by looking at countries that:

Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai all fulfilled the criteria. Since that time we have made two international visits - to Singapore twice and to Dubai once, with a further visit to Dubai in October ahead. The results, particularly of the Dubai visit, were extremely encouraging, and the support we received from the Western Australia Trade Office was exceptional.

We have approached the marketplace on three fronts:

We now have excellent contacts in Singapore and Dubai with design firms, government, independent galleries, arts organisations and art consultants.

The first trip to Dubai immediately resulted in Artsource being requested to provide quotes for arts consultancy work for three reputable international firms. If successful we expect the work will result in commissions for Australian artists. There is no doubt that this is the right time to enter this marketplace, and that there are good opportunities for artists to further their careers in an international arena. On our return to Dubai in early October we will present to decision makers in a number of government departments and to senior personnel from architecture and landscape architecture firms.

Artsource intends to continue to pursue this line of development, and anticipate new horizons for many of Australia's most gifted artists specialising in public art. We look forward to meeting more artists from around the country and inviting others to join the project.

Jude van der Merwe
Executive Director
Artsource, Western Australia
www.artsource.net.au