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
For a custom paper on the above task, place your order now!
What We Offer:
• On-time delivery guarantee
• PhD-level writers
• Automatic plagiarism check
• 100% money-back guarantee
• 100% Privacy and Confidentiality
• High Quality custom-written papers
