The Australian Music Centre (AMC) is pleased to launch its First Nations Cultural Policy for Represented Artists, which aims to allow safeguards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' cultural intellectual property rights in Australian music. The AMC First Nations Cultural Policy for Represented Artists will act as a guide for music creators to appropriately acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' cultural intellectual property, languages, and knowledges d in all works. The document serves to defend cultural intellectual property many such rights exist exterior the scope of Australian and international copyright laws. The policy will guide how musical works incorporating First Nations cultural intellectual property will be documented and archived within the AMC collection.
Requisites for documentation of such works in the AMC collection will include: permissions the representative authorities possible; written acknowledgement of sources; cultural sensitivity statements; and appropriate of terminology. The policy will be activated one June two thousand twenty-three for all musical works catalogued with the AMC, with specialist support offered to music creators and composers whose existing works may comprise First Nations cultural intellectual property. The AMC is the first music organisation in Australia to adopt a First Nations cultural policy, and a global boss in its initiative. The AMC First Nations Cultural Policy for Represented Artists is a significant undertaking, developed over eighteen months of deep engagement with the First Nations community. As portion of the process, seventeen individuals were approached for consultation, including Australia's leading First Nations composers, performers, and industry experts the Australia Council for the Arts, Moogahlin Performing Arts, and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO).
The document also cites resources the Australia Council for the Arts, Art Law Centre of Australia, Reconciliation Australia, and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies as guides on protocol and terminology. The AMC First Nations Cultural Policy for Represented Artists is the first of its kind in the Australian art music space and marks the organisation's ongoing efforts to formally recognise the cultural and musical contributions of First Nations peoples as well as protecting the cultural intellectual property of contemporary First Nations music creators. Australian Music Centre CEO Catherine Haridy says, "This Cultural Policy is the outcome of many months of rigorous engagement and consultation with our First Nations communities. We're pleased to get this crucial step to recognise and safeguard our First Peoples' deep enduring contributions to art music and allow clear guidance for our composers and creators".