The Australian Indigenous Communications Association (AICA) is the

peak body A peak organisation or peak body is an Australian term for an advocacy group or trade association, an association of industries or groups with allied interests. They are generally established for the purposes of developing Standardization, standar ...

for Australia's

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

broadcasters. It is the successor to the National Indigenous Media Association of Australia (NIMAA).

History

AICA, founded in 2003, is the third of a series of peak national representative bodies created to represent Indigenous media producers in Australia. The first of these was the National Aboriginal and Islander Broadcasting Association (NAIBA), which was mainly an advocacy body, operating from 1982 to 1985 until federal funding dried up. The National Indigenous Media Association of Australia (NIMAA) was established in 1992, with its membership spanning urban, regional and remote community broadcasters and

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

producers across the country. It created policy relating to a variety of Indigenous media, including film, advertising, print, radio and television. In 1994, members included broadcasting entities in around 80 remote Indigenous communities and about 50 additional community groups which broadcast on local radio across the country. NIMAA encouraged and provided support to Indigenous broadcasters to use new technology in production such as video-conferencing and digital video editing, while incorporating their own cultural protocols. NIMAA ceased operations in 2001, at which time an Indigenous Communication Consultative Committee was set up in order to participate in the lobbying process for a national Indigenous broadcasting service. The

Indigenous Remote Communications Association First Nations Media Australia (FNMA), formerly Indigenous Remote Communications Association (IRCA), is the national peak body for Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander not-for-profit broadcasting, media and communications. The Indige ...

(IRCA, now First Nations Media Australia) was set up in October 2001, to allow voices in remote communities to have their say in the discussions. In 2003 the Australian Indigenous Communications Association was launched, in the same year that the federal government split the powers of the

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) (1990–2005) was the Australian Government body through which Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were formally involved in the processes of government affecting ...

(ATSIC). In 2004 the independent

Indigenous Community Television Indigenous Community Television (ICTV) is an Australian free-to-view digital television channel on the Viewer Access Satellite Television service. It broadcasts television programs produced by, and for, Indigenous Australians in remote communit ...

(ICTV) service was established to serve the needs of remote communities, but was taken off air in July 2007 when the government decided to establish the new

National Indigenous Television National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the half-hourly nightly ''NITV News'' ...

(NITV) service.

Description

AICA aims to represent all Indigenous people and organisations in

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

and

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...

, including print, film, television, online and radio. It develops national policy and represents the interests of 130 Indigenous media outlets all around Australia, including in remote areas, as well as individual members.

Governance and funding

AICA is governed by a board of nationally elected representatives, who include experts from each of the mediums, a remote sector representative and four executive office members. the AICA received the bulk of its funds from the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

through the

Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

AICA membership portal
Indigenous Australian radio Community radio stations in Australia Community radio organizations Organizations established in 2003 2003 establishments in Australia

History

Description

Governance and funding

See also

References

External links