Expressions of interest are now open for an important new program that will support the next generation of Indigenous writers and mentors to grow and develop agency in critical arts writing, within a culturally safe framework.

Overseen by an Indigenous advisory board co-chaired by Clothilde Bullen, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia’s Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections and Exhibitions, and Stephen Gilchrist, the University of Sydney’s Lecturer of Indigenous Art, the Indigenous Voices Program will team two First Nations emerging writers with two First Nations mentors in 2021 with:

· National travel and networking opportunities for the writers and mentors

· Print and online publishing outcomes for the writers in Art Monthly Australasia

The first paired writer and mentor will be offered the opportunity to travel to the Darwin Festival in August 2021, and the second paired writer and mentor will have the chance to attend the Tarnanthi festival in Adelaide in October 2021.

Each participant will be given a $2500 travel stipend; NAVA-recommended rates of up to $1500 in total will be paid to each of the writers for their texts; and the mentors will each receive an honorarium of $1500.

In addition, the writers and mentors will have the chance to develop commissioned texts for a special First Nations edition of Art Monthly Australasia in 2023. One writer in the program will also be considered to develop their research for a book project with the University of Sydney’s Power Publications in the future.

Please email through a cover letter, CV and writing sample (for both writers and mentors) to: artmonthly.admin@anu.edu.au to express your interest.

Expressions of interest close 30 October 2020.

The Indigenous Voices Program is presented by Art Monthly Australasia with funding from the Australia Council for the Arts.