The National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) is
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
's longest running Indigenous art award. Established in 1984 as the National Aboriginal Art Award by the
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) is the main museum in the Northern Territory. The museum is located in the inner Darwin suburb of Fannie Bay. The MAGNT is governed by the Board of the Museum and Art Gallery of the ...
in
Darwin, the annual award is commonly referred to as the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, the Telstra Award or Telstra Prize. It is open to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists working in all media.
the top prize is worth , and the total prize pool , making it as of August 2022 the richest art prize in the country.
History
The NATSIAA was established in 1984 as the National Aboriginal Art Award.
Telstra has sponsored the awards since 1992.
The
Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair began as a complement to NATSIAA, but is now a separate event under the umbrella of the
Darwin Festival
The Darwin Festival, founded as the Bougainvillea Festival in 1979 and named Festival of Darwin from 1996 to 2002, is an annual arts festival in Darwin, Northern Territory. It celebrates the multicultural aspects of the Northern Territory lifest ...
.
In 2000, the prize money for the main award was doubled from to . It was increased to in 2014, making it the largest prize for any Indigenous art award. In 2022, the main prize was doubled to , making it equivalent to Australia's richest art prize, the
Archibald Prize for portraiture. The total prize pool, at , makes it as of August 2022 the richest art prize in the country.
Each of the category awards tripled from to at the same time.
There have also been two travelling exhibitions, in 2000 and 2003, enabling up to 50 selected works to be shown in regional galleries around Australia.
Categories
there are six categories of awards as well as the main prize:
* Telstra Art Award ("The Big One") –
* Telstra General Painting Award
* Telstra Bark Painting Award
* Telstra Works on Paper Award
*
Wandjuk Marika 3D Memorial Award
* Telstra Multimedia Award
* Telstra Emerging Artist Award
List of winners
*
List of NATSIAA award winners
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
Australian Aboriginal art
Australian art awards
Organisations serving Indigenous Australians
Awards honoring indigenous people
Awards established in 1984
1984 establishments in Australia