Chris Gibson, School of Geography, University of New South Wales. >cgibson@unsw.edu.au

Indigenous cultural industry development in remote Australia.

This paper discusses summary findings from a three-year study of indigenous participation in the cultural industries in Australia. Cultural industry participation has been promoted as an avenue for employment, indigenous self-determination and economic independence from welfare dependency, particularly for remote indigenous communities with dispersed, small populations and little access to formal economic flows. Cultural industry development strategies have been formulated by several national government and Aboriginal-controlled institutions, against a complex backdrop of colonial and post-colonial relations. Indigenous communities in Australia have experienced forced removals of children from families, dispossession of traditional country, and face harsh economic conditions. In contrast, cultural industry developments (particularly in art and music) have been promoted as arenas in which indigenous peoples are encouraged to express and enhance cultural values, as well as improve socio-economic conditions in remote communities.

National census and other employment data only partially illustrate the participation of indigenous people in the cultural industries, although it is clear from these that participation is uneven, both geographically, socially (particularly in terms of gender) and with regard to the distribution of monetary benefits. In-depth interviews, surveys and other field work in Australia¹s Northern Territory reveal that cultural industries participation is mediated by a politics of cultural production and consumption at a variety of spatial scales. This includes commodity chains for music and art production, within which indigenous people occupy particular positions (while being excluded from others such as distribution and marketing); the contested contours of intellectual property; and the politics of consumption, particularly perceptions of Œauthentic¹ Aboriginality amongst tourist audiences. Such factors impinge on the potential for cultural industry developments to facilitate meaningful economic and cultural outcomes for remote Aboriginal communities.