Download: Online

Digital Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) Online Workshop Series 

About the opportunity

Download: Online is a series of Zoom workshops for First Nations artists and arts workers at all career stages, who are engaging or wish to engage with digital practice and learn more about ICIP.

This is a program developed in partnership with Arts Law Centre of Australia to provide practical advice on how to manage and protect ICIP when working digitally.

Four online workshops will be held across May and early June. Workshops will be 2 hours in duration and will be grouped by art form area to provide tailored advice to attendees around IP and ICIP considerations and protections.

First Nations artists and arts workers are welcome to register for one or more workshops depending on art form area practice and interest. 

Date Art forms Time
Thursday 8 May 2025 Writing, storytelling, playwriting, literature 12 – 2pm AEST REGISTER
Thursday 15 May 2025 Theatre, dance, contemporary performance, CACD 12 – 2pm AEST REGISTER
Thursday 22 May 2025 Music 12 – 2pm AEST REGISTER
Thursday 5 June 2025 Visual arts, craft, digital arts 12 – 2pm AEST REGISTER

 

These online workshops complement a series of in-person workshops delivered nationally over the last 18 months. More details on upcoming workshops in South Australia and Northern Territory can be found here.

Workshops will cover:

  • Intellectual Property (IP) laws, including Australian copyright laws, and strategies to protect, use, and share copyright material in digital arts practice
  • Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), focusing on its protection within the Australian legal framework
  • protocols for working in digital arts practice, including industry standards and guidelines for collaborating with institutions, government, and businesses in Australia
  • techniques for managing and safeguarding ICIP across digital platforms, especially when creating, sharing, using, or selling digital artworks
  • strategies for managing and protecting rights through contracts and partnership arrangements, particularly in commissioned or funded projects, creative collaborations, and co-authorship
  • insights into current policy and legal developments regarding ICIP protections in Australia
  • guidance on accessing legal, consumer law, and licensing services, and understanding how organisations like Arts Law and other support or agent organisations can provide assistance.

This is an identified workshop for First Nations artists and arts workers.

  • Protocols for using First Nations Cultural and Intellectual Property in the Arts

More information on the First Nations Protocols is available here.

This program is generously supported by The Sun Foundation. 

This workshop series will be delivered by Arts Law Centre of Australia and Artists in the Black. 

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) refers to the rights of Indigenous peoples to protect their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and intellectual property. This encompasses a wide range of elements including but not limited to:  

  • Traditional knowledge: Practices, innovations, and wisdom developed by Indigenous communities over time.  
  • Cultural expressions: Art, music, dance, stories, symbols, and rituals that are integral to the cultural identity of Indigenous peoples.  
  • Genetic resources: Biological materials and their derivatives that hold cultural significance or traditional use.  
  • Cultural heritage: Tangible and intangible heritage, such as sacred sites, artifacts, languages, and oral traditions.  

ICIP aims to ensure that Indigenous communities have control over the use, representation, and dissemination of their cultural and intellectual property, safeguarding it from misuse or exploitation.  

No. First Nations artists and artworkers are welcome to register. You could, for example, be working as a curator, the general manager of an arts centre, in a role focused on digital archiving, in marketing for an arts organisation or as an independent artist. Your arts practice may or may not include work in digital. This workshop would also be suitable for those who are working directly in digital arts including gaming, AR/VR, AI and those with an interest in e-commerce. 

This workshop is open to those interested in digital arts practice and individuals who might already be using digital tools, platforms or approaches to creating work. You do not need to be actively using digital approaches in your work.

​​We use the term ‘digital’ broadly. Digital includes both online and other technologies that extend or impact on the creation, presentation and distribution of creative content.

​Importantly, we refer to digital as a way of doing things and a way of thinking: a digital mindset. We also use the term when referring to the technology that enables these actions.

​Digital is constantly evolving. The pace of change is speeding up, as are the expectations of arts audiences and consumers, so shifting from fixed and historical mindsets to a flexible, growth mindset and culture is how new opportunities will be identified and realised.​