Supplementary Agenda of Economic Development & Communications Committee Meeting

Item No. 10

Supplementary Agenda (Open Portion)

Economic Development & Communications Committee Meeting

Page 4

24/5/2018

REPORT TITLE: Hadley's Art Prize - Partnership Request

REPORT PROVIDED BY: Associate Director Communications and Marketing

1. Report Purpose and Community Benefit

1.1. The purpose of this report is to consider a request from the Hadley’s Art Prize for the City of Hobart to enter into a partnership to provide financial support on an ongoing basis for the People’s Choice Award.

2. Report Summary

2.1. A request has been received for the City of Hobart to partner with the Hadley’s Art Prize through financial support of the People’s Choice Award.

2.2. The Hadley’s Art Prize is presented by Hadley’s Orient Hotel and is an annual, acquisitive Australian landscape prize with the winning entry receiving a $100,000 prize. The winning entry is added to the permanent art collection at Hadley’s.

2.3. In addition to the Hadley’s Art Prize visitors to the exhibition are invited to vote for a People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award in 2017 was titled the ‘Mercury People’s Choice Award’ and the prize for the winning artist was $5,000.

2.4. The People’s Choice Award was popular during the 2017 exhibition however, following a review the organisers consider that there are opportunities to make more of the People’s Award through increased promotion and prize money.

2.5. Hadley’s Art Prize that has requested that the City of Hobart make an ongoing financial contribution of $10,000 per annum to the People’s Choice Award with the Mercury newspaper matching this amount by way of promotion for the award.

2.6. The Council makes a significant investment in cultural and art programs through the community Development Grants program and most recently the Council endorsed a new model for the City of Hobart Art Prize with the first exhibition being held in 2020 in partnership with TMAG.

2.6.1. The total investment by the City for the art prize, over a two year period, is $216,412 and the $235,000 per year via the Creative Hobart stream of the Community Development grants program.

3. Recommendation

That the Council declines to enter into a partnership agreement with Hadley’s Art Prize, as detailed in Attachment A to this report, to provide support for the People’s Choice Award at a cost of $10,000 per year, as it does not align with the Creative Hobart Strategy.

4. Background

4.1. The Hadley’s Art Prize is presented by Hadley’s Orient Hotel and is a commercial Prize which is held annually, with the winning entry receiving a $100,000 prize. The winning entry is added to the permanent art collection at Hadley’s.

4.2. The inaugural Hadley’s Art Prize was held in 2017 and sought to contribute to the Tasmanian and Australian art scene through the promotion of contemporary landscape artists. The 2017 theme for the Prize was ‘History and Place’ and entries were encouraged from emerging and indigenous artists.

4.3. There were 41 national finalists for the Prize in 2017 with eleven finalists being from Tasmania. The winner of the inaugural Prize was an indigenous artist from South Australia, Peter Mungkuri.

4.4. In addition to the Hadley’s Art Prize visitors to the exhibition were invited to vote for a People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award in 2017 was titled the ‘Mercury People’s Choice Award’ and the prize for the winning artist was $5,000.

4.4.1. The inaugural People’s Choice Award was won by South Australian artist Thom Buchanan.

4.5. The dates for the 2018 Hadley’s Art Prize are from 20 July to 25 August 2018. The People’s Choice Award will be a feature of the Prize again in 2018 and it is for this award that Hadley’s Art Prize is requesting support.

4.6. The People’s Choice Award was popular during the 2017 exhibition however, following a review the organisers consider that there are opportunities to make more of the People’s Award through increased promotion and prize money.

4.7. It has been suggested by Hadley’s Art Prize that the City of Hobart make an ongoing financial contribution of $10,000 per annum to the People’s Choice Award with the Mercury newspaper matching this amount by way of promotion for the award.

4.7.1. The contribution of the City and the Mercury would be recognised by naming the award “The City of Hobart and Mercury People’s Choice Award”.

4.8. The Council makes a significant investment in cultural and art programs through the community Development Grants program and most recently the Council endorsed a new model for the City of Hobart Art Prize with the first exhibition being held in 2020 in partnership with TMAG.

4.8.1. The total investment by the City for the art prize, over a two year period, is $216,412 and the $235,000 per annum via the Creative Hobart stream of the Community Development grants program.

4.8.2. The arts prize and Creative Hobart grant streams align strongly with the Creative Hobart Strategy which outlines nine core objectives as listed below and is focused on supporting, nurturing and guiding the development of arts and creative industries in Hobart:

1. Enhancing a sense of place

2. Activating public spaces

3. Activating Council facilities

4. Nurturing creativity

5. Investing in innovation

6. Celebrating excellence and diversity

7. Connecting creative people

8. Gathering and disseminating knowledge

9. Brokering connections.

4.9. While the Hadley’s Art Prize is held in Hobart it is a national prize open to Australian artists and does not align strongly with the Council’s Creative Hobart Strategy.

4.10. It is also noted that applications for the Creative Hobart grant streams are becoming more competitive each round. Applications are diverse with strong community benefit and all funds tend to be utilised in each grant round.

5. Proposal and Implementation

5.1. It is proposed that the Council declines the request from Hadley’s Art Prize to enter into a partnership, at the value of $10,000 per year, to support the People’s Choice Award.

5.1.1. The Council provides funding for cultural and art programs through the art prize and the Community Development grant program which are aligned to the Creative Hobart Strategy. The request from Hadley’s Art Prize for the Council to provide funding for the People’s Choice Award is not closely aligned with this Strategy.

5.1.2. Funding the People’s Choice Award may set a precedent or expectation for Council to provide funding for other commercial art competitions in the future.

6. Strategic Planning and Policy Considerations

6.1. It is noted that there was a resolution from the Council meeting held on 23 January 2017 that the Council develop a policy and criteria to enable consistency around the consideration of future sponsorship/partnership requests, this policy is currently being developed.

7. Financial Implications

7.1. Funding Source and Impact on Current Year Operating Result

7.1.1. There are no implications in the current financial year

7.2. Impact on Future Years’ Financial Result

7.2.1. If the Council was to approve the request from Hadley’s Art Prize the cost of $10,000 per year would be met through the Communications and Marketing budget function of the Annual Plan.

8. Legal, Risk and Legislative Considerations

8.1. There are no legal, risk or legislative considerations associated with this matter.

9. Marketing and Media

9.1. If the Council approves the request from Hadley’s Art Prize to enter into a sponsorship agreement to fund the People’s Choice Award the City of Hobart, together with the Mercury, any agreement would include naming rights for the Award and branding opportunities in line with the City of Hobart Grant and Partnership Acknowledgement Guidelines.

10. Delegation

10.1. This matter is delegated to the Council.

As signatory to this report, I certify that, pursuant to Section 55(1) of the Local Government Act 1993, I hold no interest, as referred to in Section 49 of the Local Government Act 1993, in matters contained in this report.

Umesh Ratnagobal

Associate Director Communications and Marketing

Date: 23 May 2018

File Reference: F18/48144

Attachment a: Hadley's Art Prize Request ⇩