Aboriginal art centres play a really important role in remote communities. They are a place for artists to work, to access supplies and to make money through their art. Art centres are a vital source of employment in communities, employing retail staff, screen printers, managers, tour guides, and much more. In remote Australia, where jobs are often scarce, income earned by one employee or artist usually goes on to support a large family network. Art centres are also often places of innovation – responding to tourism trends, isolation / remoteness, and the growing market for Indigenous art and textiles in creative ways (e.g. accessing online markets, looking at other tourist experiences such as cafes and tours, and hands on experiences such as textile printing). Sales of the products created at remote art centres are pivotal to their survival.

Magpie Goose purchases textiles directly from Aboriginal Art Centres. Since our launch in December 2016, Magpie Goose has channelled over $250,000 into Aboriginal art centres through textile purchase.

There are many communities that do not have the benefit of an art centre, but are home to passionate artists with lots of ideas and aspirations to create art. We work to support these artists and communities by facilitating textile design workshops. These workshops provide both skill development and income generation opportunities, as Magpie Goose works with these artists to license their designs for upcoming ranges. The artists are able to create in a new medium, receive income from the licensing of their designs, and gain widespread exposure through their collaboration with Magpie Goose.

In August 2017 Magpie Goose supported four artists (two from Borroloola, two from Urapunga) to participate in a textile design and screen-printing workshop in Katherine. This workshop resulted in the licensing of 12 designs. To date, we have paid over $10,000 in licensing fees to these artists, with more payments to come as their designs are incorporated into upcoming releases. We anticipate these artists will be generating income from this partnership throughout 2018 and beyond.

For two weeks in September 2017 our textile / screen printing consultant Millie Shorter trained five Katherine jobseekers in screen printing at Katherine Regional Arts. Magpie Goose engaged the five on a ‘payment per metre printed’ basis them to screen print hundreds of metres, enabling them to earn over $5000 collectively.

To date, we have engaged and paid thirteen models from Minyerri, Wadeye, Kalumburu and Katherine. We look forward to engaging more Aboriginal models from across remote Australia as we continue our journey of bringing these textiles to the world.

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In late 2017 Magpie Goose engaged three Aboriginal photographers from Kalumburu Photography Collective to shoot a look book for Magpie Goose. This was constructed as an enterprise learning project, with the photographers responding to a brief with an allocated budget. The project involved location scouting, recruiting and directing models, editing photos and supplying the final photos to Magpie Goose.

We look forward to undertaking more collaborations with Aboriginal photographers.