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CHILD-ART PROTOCOLS
The Australia Council for the Arts has published a draft policy on the depiction of children in artworks, exhibitions, and publications, that receive Commonwealth government funding.
The development of the protocol was required by the government following the controversy that arose over an exhibition of works by photographer Bill Henson.
Council chief executive Kathy Keele said the draft protocol showed the council was committed to advising artists of their legal obligations and providing "sensitive and responsible steps" for artists who work with children.
Public comment on the draft is now invited and must be made by 27 November.
The final protocol will be released on New Year's Eve, 31 December, and be effective from 1 January 2009. To read the draft or to make comments got to www.australiacouncil.gov.au/protocolsconsultation.
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PORT FAIRY FOLK FESTIVAL
The organisers of the 33rd Port Fairy Folk Festival have released the program for the festival to be held next March. The program features 20 international acts and a further 100 local and national acts.
Overseas visitors include the bluegrass legend, Peter Rowan, blues and roots favourite Old Man Luedecke; Celtic musicians the Alan Kelly Quartet, Shooglenifty, Seamus Begley and Jim Murray; instrumentalists Preston Reed and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt; and the Red Stick Ramblers and The Beez.
Local performers include David Bridie, Eric Bogle and John Munro, John Williamson, Mark Seymour, Ross Wilson & The Urban Legends, Scared Weird Little Guys, The Audreys, Tripod, and the Waifs.
The Port Fairy Folk Festival runs 6-9 March, next year, and tickets are now on sale on the festival website at www.portfairyfolkfestival.com.
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DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
A Vietnamese-born writer, Nam Le, has won the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize for his debut collection of short stories, 'The Boat'.
Nam Le, who was raised in Melbourne, came to Australia with his parents as a three-month-old infant, in a refugee boat. He now works in New York, where he is the fiction editor of the Harvard Review.
The $140,000 Prize, sponsored by the University of Wales, is one of the highest paying literary awards and is intended to encourage creative talent in writers under the age of 30 whose work is published in the English language.
Nam Le has previously won the Pushcart Prize, the Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award, and fellowships from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the Fine Arts Work Centre in Provincetown and the Phillips Exeter Academy. Next year he will do a residency at the East Anglia University in the UK where he plans to work on his next book.
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PRINCIPAL AIDING HENSON'S MODELSEEKING CLEARED
The school principal who allowed photographer Bill Henson to seek young models in the grounds of Melbourne's St Kilda Park Primary School, some 15 months ago, has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Ms Knight's action caused a storm of controversy when it became public in a newspaper article, with Victorian Premier John Brumby labelling her actions "inappropriate".
But an Education Department inquiry found Sue Knight had not acted outside departmental guidelines.
The department review found Ms Knight was a high performing principal who was held in high regard by her peers.
However, the inquiry recommended schools develop and implement sets of guidelines for school visits by outsiders, and that the department develop specific protocols on adult talent scouts.
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'RECOIL' EXHIBITION
'ReCoil', an exhibition that explores the evolution of contemporary Indigenous fibre art has opened at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.
Organised by Artback NT, the works on display range from conventional baskets to quirky, two and three dimensional sculptures, and includes a smaller version of the Grass Toyota than won the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art award in 2005.
The making of coiled basketry was traditionally practiced by Aboriginal people of south-eastern Australia, and the technique was taken by missionaries to Arnhem Land many years ago. Today the technique is practiced throughout the remote regions of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia, and has both Indigenous and non-Indigenous practitioners.
'ReCoil: Change and Exchange in Coiled Fibre Art' is on at the National Museum of Australia until 14 June, 2009 before travelling to the Caloundra Regional Gallery and then the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. For more information about the exhibition visit: www.nma.gov.au.
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FIONA PARKER, NOW A MOTHER
Long time listeners to ARTS alive will remember producer and presenter Fiona Parker, who went on to become the voice that ABC radio listeners in western Victoria wake up to each morning.
We are delighted to report that Fiona has just become a mother, with the birth of Lloyd Parker Vandenberg on 5 November. Llyod weighed in at 6 pounds 11 ounces - funny how Australians have stuck with the old measure when it come to birth weights - and Fiona, baby Llyod and father Steve are all doing well.
Congratulations to all three.
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