LETTER

EXHIBITING, TEACHING, ARTS LAW

© Alison Schwabe

Ozquilt Network Newsletter Issue #29 September 1998

26 June 1998

I am one of the artists invited to be in 'Scintilla', an exhibition of miniature textiles which opens in Canberra during the 'Shift' Symposium and will be one of many exhibitions on in Canberra at that time. A total change of scale for me, resulting in 12 double sided free-standing panels linked by my wandering strips. These pieces are stencilled and machine embroidered renditions of roadscapes and different kinds of dwellings ranging from tent to apartment block. The work is entitled 'Songlines of the 4WDrover', and it says something about the way we move about our country and in the different ways we live in it. Patterns of human occupation and activity sort of thing. I look forward to seeing it in its place in the exhibition - I found the thematic blurb in the invitation rather full of artspeak gobbledygook which instead of being terrifically inspiring was rather difficult to deal with, to me anyway!

The seven and a half weeks I have just spent in the Northern Territory (NT) as an artist in residence for the Craft Council NT Katherine Division, with workshops in Darwin, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs was a wonderful experience. For the most part workshops were well attended, and everywhere I went people generously billeted me and in addition all did their best to ensure that I saw the best their areas had to offer in touristy and other experiences, including the warm hospitality which characterises the north. The people of Katherine are getting back on their feet after the extreme floods in late January - and indeed, it is very hard to find visible signs around town of just how high the water was. But everyone has their flood stories to tell, and those who have both homes and businesses damaged have had incredible difficulties to endure in getting back on their feet. Rebuilding and repair is still going on, and many people are still living somewhat temporarily.

Crafts people I came in contact with were amazed at the volumes of goods that were sent by sympathisers and wellwishers from around the country and overseas, with particular generosity from quilters and other textile artists everywhere. Truly, cartons and parcels were still arriving almost daily while I was there, and it was heartening to see just how carefully some people thought about their gifts, for example including scissors, cutters, mats, rulers and other haberdashery and thread along with quilting fabrics, assuming quilters would need everything to start again, as many did. Most of these things were given to people known to have lost much, some things kept for communal use at the Craft Council, and some fabric kept until people are ready to make quilts for others such as the hospice or for those who still need bedding, or for the odd quilt raffle.

Other communities further down the river have also received some of the goods sent to Katherine as they suffered great but less well-known losses too. There were many books sent, some suitable for the CCNT (Crafts Council Northern Territory) Katherine library, others, particularly the mountain of magazines, passed out to individuals and community groups to read and pass on. Even a few used but good sewing machines arrived. Jenny Maddern, the projects officer there, has been carefully sending out thank you notes and keeping lists of who sent stuff, and all will be listed on the back of a small commemorative quilt she and I whipped up one afternoon, and this will be placed somewhere like the tourist information centre or somewhere suitable so that it provides an ongoing, public thank you to those passing through. Incidentally, the quilt, approximately one meter square in a traditional pattern, is quilted in glossy silver representing water passing through the town, with a gas bottle motif here and there - this was the thing everyone said they noticed in the flood - the number of gas bottles bobbing around in the water, headed who knows where down the river to the sea perhaps?

One event at the end of my trip upset me, the more so probably because it was the end of a very busy and in some ways demanding few weeks, and I was looking forward to getting home to my own bed! After travelling through the night by bus from Tennant Creek, I arrived in Alice Springs very early the day before I was to teach the weekend workshop there. I talked to the project officer that morning and made arrangements to go over to the Craft Council to set up later that afternoon.

Just after lunch I had a message to call her, to be told that because two more people had dropped out leaving only four, they were cancelling. Before my brain went properly into gear I argued that it seemed unfair to bring me all the way to Alice Springs, only to cancel at the last minute, to which she replied "Well we did pay your bus fare" (from Tennant Creek). Now, I can take being cancelled - it happens occasionally, but she was clear that there was no way they were going to pay me anything more. I got off the phone, contacted the airline, and found I could leave two days early, the next day, at an upgrade cost of $230.

Then I got angry and called up dear Jenny Maddern, project officer in Katherine, knowing she'd have something to say and feeling sure she'd have the number of the Arts Law Centre of Australia to hand - for by this time I was sure in my mind that this was totally unreasonable and a breach of contract. The long and short of it was that she reminded them that my contract covered the time I was in Alice, too, and that it really would be better to go ahead despite their division making a loss - for they had failed to collect everyone's money and were in effect transferring the loss to me. And so the cancellation was reversed and it did go ahead. At the last minute another student came along so the class was five, and what a terrific group they were too - it would have been awful for them to have missed out because of their organisation's poor management.

The next day I quietly told the president of their group who was in the class, that if they had insisted on cancellation, my next stop was to have been the lawyer's office to discuss breach of contract and compensation. This clearly shocked her, she had no idea that arrangements made by fax and over the phone constituted their part of a contract over my whole visit.

One of my friends commented today that groups think they can do this because we are artists and work independently. Most teachers I know have had at least one unsavoury experience or have missed opportunities because arrangements have had to be cancelled or have fallen through unreasonably late. All of us out there offering teaching services understand that sometimes classes just don't fly - it becomes clear there's not the interest, and we find ourselves cancelled. If done in reasonable time before we have had to lock into non-refundable air tickets etc, that's not a problem.

But we do have to be on the ball with arrangements in contract form, and make sure that we at least have clear cancellation dates and clearly spelled out penalties for late cancellation in writing before signing an agreement to teach. And we all have to do this to make sure this kind of slipshod thinking dies out. It would be interesting to hear others' experiences. This one of mine came from an organisation I'd not expected to have any difficulty with. In this case I did not need to get on the phone to Arts Law of Australia, but in the three years I've been a member, I have called for their help twice on contract provisions, breach of the same contract, and breach of copyright. With their advice, I have been able to sort out each matter to my satisfaction without having to take legal action. The annual membership has more than paid for itself and I strongly recommend that any of us out there buying, selling, exhibiting, teaching or doing anything else in the textiles/visual arts field to look into the services provided and seriously consider joining.

© Alison Schwabe 1998