Assignment 2
SYDNEY BIENNALE CASE STUDY
SUMMARY
In February 2014, a group of artists including nine who were potential participants in the 2014 Sydney Biennale, threatened to boycott the event in protest at the actions of one of ITS sponsors, Transfield Holdings. This company owns 12% of Transfield Services which had won a Federal government contract to supply facilities to the Manus Island detention centre which houses people seeking asylum in Australia.
The founding governor of the Sydney Biennale was Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, the father of Luca Belgiorno-Nettis who was the Chairman of the Biennale at the time of the boycott threat. Transfield Holdings is a family company which contributed $600,000 to the Biennale in 2014 out of a budget of $10 million. The funding was delivered via the Transfield Foundation, a joint venture between Transfield Holdings and Transfield Services to deliver philanthropic support to the arts, education and resource management.
After receiving an open letter from artists asking the Sydney Biennale to cut ties with Transfield, the Board’s first response was to say that the Biennale couldn’t survive without Transfield’s sponsorship. As public discussion grew and some artists started to withdraw from the event, the Chairman resigned and the Board said that they wouldn’t accept any further sponsorship from Transfield Holdings.
TIMEFRAME– 2014
Date
Actors
Action
1961
Transfield Holdings
Franco Belgiorno-Nettis creates the Transfield Arts Prize, the premier art even in Australia at the time
1973
Transfield Holdings
Founding partner in the creation of the Sydney Biennale
6 February
Matthew Kiem, Sydney academic
Proposes that artists boycott the 2014 Biennale in response to Transfield Services’ role on Manus Island
18 February
Asylum seekers
Riots on Manus Island; one asylum seeker is killed
19 February
Artists
37 artists send an open letter to the Board of the Biennale asking it to cut ties with Transfield
21 February
Board
Released a response saying that it was their duty to act in the interests of the event and all its stakeholders and that without Transfield, the Biennale wouldn’t exist
5 March
Artists
Some artists withdraw from Biennale – the number had reached 9 by 5 March
7 March
Chairman
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis steps down from chairing the Sydney Biennale
7 March
Board
Biennale severs ties with Transfield “immediately” but this doesn’t affect 2014 sponsorship money which is still used to fund the 2014 Biennale
10 March
Biennale Artist’s Working Group
Makes implied threat that other arts organisations receiving sponsorship from Transfield may face boycott
13 March
Federal Arts Minister
Criticises Board’s decision; says its unreasonable to reject sponsorship on political grounds; writes to the Australia Council asking it to develop a policy that would prevent organisations from receiving government funding if they unreasonably refused or terminated sponsorship
13 March
Artists
Some artists change their Biennale art work to act as a protest against government asylum seeker policy but participate in the event
14 March
Acting Chairman
Says that Belgiorno-Nettis decided to end Transfield’s sponsorship in contradiction to the previous announcement which was that the Board had made the decision
19 March
Sydney Biennale
Opens and runs to 9 June
26 November
Sydney Biennale
New sponsorship announced to replace Transfield
On-line sources for articles on this case study include (but are not limited to):
ABC News
Arts Hub
Crikey
Daily Review
Sydney Morning Herald
The Australian
The Guardian
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