Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

The Australian Music Centre (AMC) is proud to launch its First Nations Cultural Policy for Represented Artists, which aims to provide safeguards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' cultural intellectual property rights in Australian music.

The AMC First Nations Cultural Policy for Represented Artists will act as a guide for music creators to appropriately acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' cultural intellectual property, languages, and knowledges used in all works. The document serves to protect cultural intellectual property where many such rights exist outside the scope of Australian and international copyright laws.

The policy will guide how musical works incorporating First Nations cultural intellectual property will be documented and archived within the AMC collection. Requisites for documentation of such works in the AMC collection will include: permissions from the representative authorities where possible; written acknowledgement of sources; cultural sensitivity statements; and appropriate use of terminology. The policy will be activated from 1 June 2023 for all musical works catalogued with the AMC, with specialist support offered to music creators and composers whose existing works may include First Nations cultural intellectual property.

The AMC is the first music organisation in Australia to adopt a First Nations cultural policy, and a global leader in its initiative.

The AMC First Nations Cultural Policy for Represented Artists is a significant undertaking, developed over 18 months of deep engagement with the First Nations community. As part of the process, 17 individuals were approached for consultation, including Australia's leading First Nations composers, performers, and industry experts from the Australia Council for the Arts, Moogahlin Performing Arts, and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO).

The document also cites resources from the Australia Council for the Arts, Art Law Centre of Australia, Reconciliation Australia, and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies as guides on protocol and terminology.

The AMC First Nations Cultural Policy for Represented Artists is the first of its kind in the Australian art music space and marks the organisation's ongoing efforts to formally recognise the cultural and musical contributions of First Nations peoples as well as protecting the cultural intellectual property of contemporary First Nations music creators.

Australian Music Centre CEO Catherine Haridy says, "This Cultural Policy is the outcome of many months of rigorous engagement and consultation with our First Nations communities. We are proud to take this crucial step to recognise and safeguard our First Peoples' deep enduring contributions to art music and provide clear guidance for our composers and creators".

The AMC Cultural Policy for Represented Artists can be downloaded here.

Join a Surrounding Sound session unpacking the AMC First Nations Cultural Policy on Thursday 11 May, 12:30pm AEST.
More info.