Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan
Aug 2020 to Aug 2021
Photos of artworks by local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander artists on display at ColourSpace client sites. Ft: Jadah Pleitar (Pilbara), Alexandra Calamel (Boon wurrung), and Gregory Matthews (Manegin).
This document represents ColourSpace’s Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). As an organisation that operates predominantly in the art space, we recognise there is work we can to do to both support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities - for whom art is a powerful tool for cultural preservation and transmission - and educate the broader business and public community in their understanding and appreciation of art.
OUR BUSINESS
ColourSpace is a certified Australian arts social enterprise startup that's helping organisations create vibrant, engaging work and communal environments. We do this by providing art as a service (via a rental model) that makes changing art as easy as changing flowers, with fresh art changed regularly.
Our social enterprise sources all art from local emerging artists, and we direct 25% of the rental fee to them to support their creative practice, with a further 10% directed to arts programs for local disadvantaged and underprivileged communities. All art is also displayed for sale, creating parallel revenue streams for the artist.
The team utilises a custom-built portfolio platform that helps us manage and scale operations, reducing the need for costly storage and transport infrastructure, all whilst serving the needs of both artists and businesses.
ColourSpace is currently operating in Melbourne and Sydney, and hopes to help cities around the world change the way they engage with art. For the purposes of this Reflect RAP, it’s useful to contextualise that ColourSpace is a small and relatively young startup. As such, the scope of our reach and impact may not be as big, however as a social enterprise, it’s important for us to ‘bake in’ reconciliation as part of our
OUR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
Individuals
ColourSpace currently has a team of 4 passionate individuals, none of whom identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. However, 3 of us are from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and understand what it’s like to be in ‘minority’ positions, to be on the receiving end of racism, marginalisation, bias, and inequality.
We thus share an intrinsic empathy and support for overcoming racism, to stand up for all cultures including and especially the collective rights of First Australians, and to also be leaders within the Australian reconciliation movement.
At an individual level, we believe that education underpins meaningful support. In other words, for any action that we undertake in support of reconciliation, we have to understand the underlying rationale, motivation, and impact. For that to occur, as individuals, we have built (and continue to build) meaningful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, with leaders, influencers, and individuals. The knowledge and experience we’ve gained along the way is thus shared within the ColourSpace team, helping all of us improve the way we can support each other.
For example, in our journey thus far, ColourSpace has developed a close partnership with Alisha Geary, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneur who is the Founder of Umelore (www.umelore.com), a platform that helps Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists manage digital licences for their artwork. Alisha is one of our valued advisors who helps us expand our knowledge and education both the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the challenges experienced, and how we can meaningfully represent artists correctly.
At an organisational level, we’ve been able to refine our internal processes and online platforms as a result of that education. At an individual level, it’s enabled the team to better support and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. For example, our Founder Scott Ko continues to be involved with Indigenous Business Australia’s (IBA) ‘Accelerate with IBA’ program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs and startups.
As ColourSpace is a small organisation at this point in time, we are able to quickly share and disseminate learnings within the team at a personal level. We anticipate that more structured policies and support mechanisms will be added as we grow.
Organisation
The most direct impact ColourSpace at an organisational level is with the customers we work with, both prospective and active, given they are the beneficiaries of the service we provide.
Clients seek out ColourSpace for our art expertise, and many have approached ColourSpace with a request for art from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander artists. However, in our experience, these requests can sometimes be quite simplistic; even tokenistic. We are already using these opportunities as a way to educate and inform clients about the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, and about its representation of different cultures. Or in other words, we don’t simply want to display Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artwork just because clients ask for it; we want clients to genuinely understand the impact of the art they display.
At a more indirect level, ColourSpace also works with various channel partners in the delivery of our business, such as those in the construction, interior design, architecture, and intermediaries. We consider each of these a touch point that creates an opportunity for engagement, education, and reconciliation.
In practical terms, we will continue to improve and reflect our education throughout all ColourSpace collateral and touch points with clients, including but not limited to our website, educational material, and marketing materials.
Community
ColourSpace’s scope of influence extends directly to our community of artists (at present more than 200 in Victoria and New South Wales). Our business model builds in direct support for artists, from revenue share through to promotional support. We work hard to represent artists from all communities and from all walks of life, and it’s a fundamental pillar of ColourSpace that we meaningfully support all emerging artists. Within that, we also know our artists and the wider artistic community are already quite active and interested in reconciliation, thus we also see an opportunity for more potential engagement and support through meaningful events such as NAIDOC week and pop up exhibitions. Our final sphere of influence is the broader audience who view the art on display in offices, who follow us on social media, and who attend our events. These all represent meaningful opportunities for reconciliation, whether that’s standing up for the five critical dimensions of
OUR RAP
Art is at the core of ColourSpace. Art not only connects us to our senses, body and mind, but can play an important role in sparking imagination, emotions, empathy and action. Viewing inspiring art stimulates discussion and gives us an opportunity, as individuals and as a community, to reflect, relate and connect. Art can put us in the right place to be able to create and see new possibilities, and mitigate the numbing effect created by the glut of information we are faced with today, and motivate us to turn thinking into doing.
We can’t have art without artists, and we recognise the difficulties many artists face in trying to establish and maintain a career. As one of the oldest living cultures, we see the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the artists we represent and the stories we tell as vital. We recognise that we are in a position to give artists opportunities to exhibit and sell outside of the gallery system, meaning we have the potential to benefit many emerging artists.
In developing a Reconciliation Action Plan, our objective is two-fold:
1) To see our service benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists through fair and ethical representation. We hope to see artists outside of the gallery system given opportunities to create and exhibit their art and bring their work to new audiences, and we hope to see our portfolio reflect an authentic cross section of Australian Art.
2) To educate our audiences (both corporate and public) on what it means to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and artists, so that ColourSpace can be a trusted ally who can promote and share a deeper understanding of cultures, stories, and histories. In order to do this, we will:
● Build relationships with trusted industry groups and individuals who can offer guidance and feedback on appropriate ways of working with and representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists to inform our policies and procedures.
● Reach out to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and individual artists alike to build meaningful connections. We are already working closely with Baluk Arts (Mornington) and Art Yarramunua (St Kilda) on this, as well as with individual artists.
● Continue to find meaningful and relevant opportunities to have their work exhibited, sold and celebrated throughout our client venues. Beyond artist representation, we also strongly believe in the benefits of art creation in helping individuals and communities. That’s why our social enterprise also directs a portion of our art rental revenue to communities and organisations facing possible challenges within the Arts industry, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. The form of our support can come in both monetary and in-kind support, such as the provision of funding for materials for art programs, or paying for an art therapist to deliver therapy to individuals / communities.
Our partnerships / current activities
Organisationally, our reconciliation journey so far has involved obtaining Associate Membership through the Aboriginal Art Association of Australia (AAAA).
We have an active formal relationship with the Baluk Arts Centre in Mornington, Victoria (https://balukarts.org.au/). Not only have we helped audit and update their physical art portfolio, we are actively managing and displaying artworks from the Mornington community in our client sites. We are also working with Art Yarramunua on event-based ideas for corporate audiences, in particular as Stan Yarramunua - the owner - is keen to work with ColourSpace to expand their reach into major corporate clients.
Finally, we have also partnered with Umelore, a licensing platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists set up by an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneur: Alisha Geary. She both helps us from an advisory perspective, as well as helps us build our network of individual artists. The advisory support is returned in-kind from ColourSpace.
At an individual level, our Founder is also in active collaboration worked with Indigenous Business Australia (https://www.iba.gov.au/), and was a mentor in the 2019 Accelerator Program (https://www.acceleratewithiba.com/ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs. Through this, we’ve been able to support artists such as Miimi and Jiinda (https://miimiandjiinda.com/) in the evolution of their business.
Relationships
Action Deliverable Timeline Responsibility
1. Establish and strengthen mutually beneficial relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
stakeholders and organisations
● Based on existing partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders and organisations, develop and implement best practice and principles that support partnerships with
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders and organisations
Dec 2020 Executive Curator
● Identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders and organisations within our local area or sphere of influence
Dec 2020 Director
2. Build relationships through celebrating National Reconciliation Week (NRW).
● Circulate Reconciliation Australia’s NRW resources and reconciliation materials to our staff
Apr 2021 Business Development Manager
● Encourage and support staff and senior leaders to participate in at least one external event to recognise and celebrate NRW.
Apr 2021 Business Development Manager
● RAP Working Group members to participate in an external NRW event
May 2021 Business Development Manager
● Celebrate NRW via our online presence and social media May 2021 Business Development
Manager ● Communicate our commitment to reconciliation to all staff and
review how this is done at the end of the Reflect RAP
3. Promote reconciliation through our sphere of influence.
● Identify external stakeholders that our organisation can engage with on our reconciliation journey
Mar 2021 Director
● Identify RAP and other like-minded organisations that we could approach to collaborate with on our reconciliation journey.
Mar 2021 Director
4. Promote positive race relations through anti-discrimination strategies.
● Research best practice and policies in areas of race relations and anti-discrimination
Dec 2020 Business Development Manager
● Conduct a review of HR policies and procedures to identify existing ant-discrimination provisions and future needs.
Respect 5. Increase understanding,
value and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories, knowledge and rights through cultural learning.
● Review knowledge pool of resources, literature, and education as it pertains to ColourSpace (i.e. predominantly within the arts space, but more broadly as well)
Mar 2021 Business Development Manager
● Develop a business case for increasing understanding, value and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories, knowledge and rights within our organisation.
Dec 2020 Business Development Manager
● Conduct a review of cultural learning needs within our organisation. Jun 2021 Director
6. Demonstrate respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by observing cultural
protocols.
● Increase staff’s understanding of the purpose and significance behind cultural protocols, including Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country protocols.
Aug 2020 Director
● Develop an understanding of the local Traditional Owners or Custodians of the lands and waters within our organisation’s operational area.
Aug 2020 Business Development Manager
7. Build respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories by
● Raise awareness and share information amongst our staff about the meaning of NAIDOC Week.
Nov 2020, July 2021
Business Development Manager
● RAP Working Group to participate in an external NAIDOC Week event.
Nov 2020, July 2021
Business Development Manager
celebrating NAIDOC
Opportunities 8. Improve employment
outcomes by increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
recruitment, retention and professional development.
● Build understanding of current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staffing to inform future employment and professional development opportunities.
Jun 2021 Director
● Develop a business case for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment within our organisation.
Aug 2021 Director
9. Increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander supplier diversity to support improved economic and social outcomes.
● Develop a resource pool for procurement from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned businesses.
Dec 2020 Director
Governance 10. Establish and maintain
an effective RAP
Working Group (RWG) to drive governance of the RAP.
● Form a RAP Working Group to govern implementation. Aug 2020 Director
● Draft a Terms of Reference for the RWG Sep 2020 Director
● Establish Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation on
the RWG Aug 2020 Director
11. Provide appropriate support for effective implementation of RAP commitments.
● Define resource needs for RAP implementation. Aug 2020 Director
● Engage senior leaders in the delivery of RAP commitments. Aug 2020 Director
● Define appropriate systems and capability to track, measure and
report on RAP commitments. Aug 2020 Director
12. Build accountability and transparency through reporting RAP
achievements,
challenges and learnings both internally and externally.
● Complete and submit the annual RAP Impact Measurement Questionnaire to Reconciliation Australia.
30 Sep 2021 Director
13. Continue our
reconciliation journey by developing our next RAP.
● Register via Reconciliation Australia’s website to begin developing our next RAP.
31 May 2021