In December 2005, the redevelopment of Alice Springs Town Council’s new Civic Centre was completed. In line with its Public Art Policy, a public art work is to be developed and located at the redeveloped Civic Centre site.

Application process

Expressions of Interest - Stage 1

Stage 1 marks the first of a four stage process. The purpose of Stage 1 is to invite applications from local and interstate artists/ design teams from which a short list will be determined. Applications at the Stage 1 level close on Monday, 19 November, 2007.

Presentation - Stage 2

Committee members will meet on Wednesday, 28 November 2007 to determine a short list from the Expression of Interest applications. Short listed applicants will be notified by Thursday, 29 November 2007. All short listed applicants will be given the opportunity to meet with the Public Art Advisory Committee to discuss their project ideas further and answer questions the Committee may have. The presentation to the Committee will take place on Wednesday, 5 December 2007. Video conferencing will be made available, if required.

Final Submission - Stage 3

Applicants selected for the final stage of the process will be notified by Friday, 7 December 2007. A nominal payment of up to $3,000 will be given to assist applicants to develop a to-scale maquette, or diagrams/ detailed drawings/ 3D modelling of their project proposal. For submission at the Stage 3 level, the artist/team is to submit an itemised project budget that identifies all costs, including contingencies. Stage 3 submissions are due in by COB Monday, 28 January 2008.

Recommendations – Stage 4

The Public Art Advisory Committee will assess the Stage 3 applications and will submit their recommendations to the Alice Spring Town Council’s Corporate and Community Services Committee, who in turn will submit its recommendations to Council for its consideration. The successful applicant/s will be notified by Wednesday, 27 February 2008.

1.0 Alice Springs

Alice Springs is located in Central Australia in Arrernte Country, specifically Central Arrernte. It is situated between the Tanami and Simpson deserts with Adelaide as its closest capital city, which is 1500 kms away.

The three estate groups Mparntwe, Antulye and Irlpme make up the Native Title Holders of the Alice Springs’ area. These three groups have geographical divisions around Alice Springs and are the Native Title Holders for their particular areas.

The rich and diverse history of Alice Springs comprises its original Indigenous worlds, pioneering European and Afghan settlement since the mid 19th century and the arrival of many other cultural groups in the past 50 years.

The cultural complexity of the region and its remarkable arid zone natural environment attracts new settlers in pursuit of a unique variety of lifestyle and employment opportunities.

Tourism is one of Alice Springs’ primary industries, drawing many visitors from around the world eager to experience first hand the region’s dramatic landscapes, its distinctive cultures and languages and its flourishing art scene.

2.0 Public art work location – map and photos

Council would like to provide the creative opportunity for an art work that pays homage to Aboriginal country, to Alice Springs’ inhabitants and its visitors; and that positively contributes to the global attention that this town receives.

This Public Art project has the potential to create exciting opportunities and develop initiatives for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous established and emerging Artists, creative partnerships and teams. It provides an avenue for cultural maintenance, community representation, preservation, enjoyment and aesthetics.

The area for the art work will be the current chess set site. The chess set will be relocated at Council’s expense. The area is approximately 120 sq meters. A site map and photos of the site can be downloaded from the website at: www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/civic_centre_public_art. The present art pieces and monuments around the public art work site may be relocated or reintroduced within the new public art work.

3.0 Community consultation

Effective community consultation procedures are key to the success of this project. Engagement of the Alice Springs’ community in collaborative community processes will be an important determinant to the success of the project.

The Public Art Advisory Committee will advise on this process in accordance with Alice Springs Town Council’s Community Consultation Framework.

An Information Session with Committee members will be provided at the Alice Springs Town Council, in the Andy McNeill room, Todd Street, from 1 - 2.30pm on Friday, 26 October 2007. The Public Art Advisory Committee will present on particular areas of the application process and answer any questions from the public. Refreshments will be available.

4.0 The public art advisory committee

The Public Art Advisory Committee comprises two Aldermen, Directors from Technical Services and Corporate and Community Services, the Community Cultural Development Officer and local community representation from an Architect, a Community Cultural Development Officer, a Native Title Holder, an Art Organisation representative and an Arts N.T. Regional Officer.

5.0 Stage 1 - Expression of interest submissions

Submissions must include the following materials:

• A brief written outline of the artist's or group’s concept, proposed materials, site strategy and consultation methodology;
• Examples of consultations and methodologies conducted previously, no more than two;
• Current curriculum vitae, no more than three (3) pages;
• Examples of previous work in an electronic format such as CD/DVD, no more than ten (10) minutes long;
• Inclusion of photos or slides, of no more than ten (10) examples of previous works;
• Names and contact details of two referees
• Provision of a self-addressed, postage paid envelope for return of materials.

Please note:

• Artists are not required to provide detailed drawings in Stage 1 and are specifically requested not to forward models or maquettes.
• The Public Art Advisory Committee will assess the applications.
• There are no fees offered for the submission of an Expression of Interest at Stage 1 level.

6.0 Budget

The art work budget, excluding gst, is $250,000. This amount is subject to the approval of an NT Arts Grant application, which is determined 30 June, 2008.

Alice Springs Town Council currently has funding for 50% of the project. The successful Public Art Work application, assessed at the Stage 3 level, will be incorporated into Council’s March 15, 2008 Arts Grant submission.

The successful artist/ team, providing the NT Arts Grant is successful, will be responsible for the design and creation of the art work and its installation, including engineering, building permits, landscaping and authority requirements.

The artist/ team must submit an itemised project budget that identifies all costs, including contingencies. It must cover all disbursements, design, documentation, materials, manufacturing and the delivery to the site of the finished art work.

7. 0 Applicant/s selection criteria.

Applicants will be evaluated against the following selection criteria:

• Relevant experience and success in delivering similar public projects;
• Ability to work with complex cultural histories and different notions of sense of place and identity;
• Ability to develop artistic concepts based on community consultation;
• Proven understanding and ability to respond to urban context;
• Ability to work within budget;
• Ability to meet project timelines;
• Knowledge of health and safety issues in design and construction of art works for public spaces;
• Ability to ensure the public art work meets safety requirements and is structurally sound.

8.0 The artist/s/ design team responsibilities:

The successful applicant/s will be responsible for:

• Liaising with ASTC technical support team and the Community Cultural Development Officer on all aspects of the project;
• Documenting the project design and specifications;
• Supplying and funding all materials required for the project, including works safety requirements;
• Ensuring appropriate work site safety procedures are undertaken throughout the preparation and installation of the public art as recommended by NT WorkSafe;
• The fabrication and installation of the works;
• Completing the project within the timeframe provided;
• Contributing to marketing activities such as photo shoots, allowing use of concept drawings, providing artist statements and any other reasonable activity requested by Council to promote the project;
• Contributing to reporting at the conclusion of the commission;
• Liaising with key Council staff throughout the commission process;
• Attending Public Art Advisory Committee meetings when required;
• Providing Council with operating and maintenance instructions;
• Conducting a series of artist led workshops with local community groups and key stake holders, if and when appropriate;
• Regularly updating the Community Cultural Development Officer on project development;
• Provision of an integrated artist’s statement or interpretive sign as part of completed art work.

9.0 Alice springs town council’s responsibilities:

Council is responsible for:

• Monitoring the project through the Community Cultural Development Officer and Technical Services Officers;
• Providing the artist/ team with support through the ASTC technical support team, the Community Cultural Development Officer and the Public Art Advisory Committee;
• Providing timely approvals at any hold points;
• Overall Project Management and supervision of construction, if required;
• Drafting the Commission Agreement and Contract of Sale;
• Primary artist/team contact;
• Providing community contacts;
• Project marketing and reporting;
• Advising the artist/ team if in the future the art work needs to be relocated or intentionally modified, or destroyed;
• Facilitating community relationships as requested and is suitable;
• Engaging a structural engineer or other suitably qualified person to certify the design and the construction of the work, if necessary;
• Engaging suitably relevant consultants, eg, electrical engineer, hydraulic engineer, if necessary for the proposal;
• Setting up and documenting appropriate consultation procedures with the Alice Springs Community;
• Managing the budget for the project;
• Obtaining permits as necessary, may include development consent, building permit, and paying all fees.

10.0 Time line schedule

	Community Information Session	Friday 26 October, 2007
	Stage 1 Expressions of Interest applications close	Monday, 19 November 2007
	Stage 2 Short listed applicants contacted by phone.	By Thursday, 29 November 2007
	Presentation and discussion with the Public Art Advisory Committee	Wednesday, 5 December 2007
	Unsuccessful applicants notified in writing.	By Friday, 7 December 2007
	Stage 3 Final Stage applicants notified by phone	By Friday, 7 December 2007
	Final Stage applicants to develop a to-scale maquette, or diagrams/ detailed drawings/ 3D modelling of their project proposal.	Due COB Monday, 28 January 2008
	Stage 4 Recommendations to Corporate and Community Services Team, Forum and Council Meetings.	30 January – 25 February 2008
	Contact successful applicant Phone contact and mail sent	Wednesday, 27 February 2008
	Unsuccessful short listed applicants notified	By Friday, 7 March 2008

11.0 Ownership

The Public Art Work becomes the property of Alice Springs Town Council. Upon transfer of the works to Alice Springs Town Council, the artwork will be accessioned to Alice Springs Town Council’s Art Collection. A contract for this project will provide for the appropriate care and maintenance of the work, artist's copyright and acknowledgement.

12.0 Contractual arrangements

Should the artist be successful they will be engaged by Alice Springs Town Council and the payment schedule will be:

• 40% will be paid upon commissioning of the artist;
• 30% will be paid upon completion of the artwork;
• 30% will be paid upon acceptance of work by Council and the completion of the reporting requirements to Council.

13.0 Submitting an expression of interest

Expressions of Interest should be forwarded, in hard copy by 5pm Monday, 19 November, 2007.

To: Civic Centre Public Art Project
Attention: Jasmine Lance
Community Cultural Development Officer
PO Box 1071
Alice Springs Town Council NT 0871

Late, faxed or emailed submissions will not be considered. The Committee and Council’s decisions will be final and no further correspondence will be entered into.

14.0 Contact for further information

Applicants are encouraged to contact the Community Cultural Development Officer for further information in writing, by phone, email or fax.

Alice Springs Town Council
Attention: Jasmine Lance
Community Cultural Development Officer
Phone: (08) 89500 530
Fax: (08) 8953 0558

Email: jlance@astc.nt.gov.au

A. Conceptual notes

As Alice Springs has become home to people from diverse cultural backgrounds, one purpose of this public art work is to honour this rich community and its heritage. The aim of the project is to symbolize through an art form the promotion of respect, harmony and a sharing of knowledge.

It is imperative that the art work celebrates and fosters both diversity and unity. For the public art work to be a success, it is envisioned that it fosters pride and becomes a gathering place and eventually a landmark. It is intended that the art work provides the opportunity for community members and visitors to rest, or interact with one another.

Outlined below are areas identified by the Public Art Advisory Committee as important and desired components for the public art work.

A.i The function of the public art work

That it ensures, where possible:

• The operational cost be energy efficient; use solar energy; involve recycled water; be easy to maintain; be long lasting; and sustainable;
• Adherence to occupational health & safety requirements;
• Functional use of space, including interactive components;
• Accessibility to people of all ages and abilities;
• Resistance to vandalism;
• Night lighting;
• Accommodation of a time capsule in the footings of the art work.

A.The concept of the public art work

That it ensures, where possible:

• Incorporation of linguistic diversity; is culturally inclusive; identifies and reflects shared values and shared ownership of place;
• A statement of identity, pride and a sense of place;
• Historical relevance, significance and layered meaning;
• Presentation of outback Australia in a non-stereotypical way;
• An innovative and visionary art piece that is aesthetically timeless;
• Response to the desert/ arid land environment;
• Site specificity through an aesthetic relationship to the overall civic site and its immediate landscape;
• The trees in the area remain (preferred).

B. Yeperenye dreaming

Arrernte Country is the land of caterpillar dreaming. The mountain ranges that surround Central Arrernte are seen as the bodies of ayepearenye - caterpillars, whose beings are still recognized and protected by the Traditional Owners. In turn, it is understood that these caterpillars watch over and protect Central Arrernte and its inhabitants.

There are three caterpillars in Central Arrernte. They are ayepearenye, more commonly known as yeperenye; ntyarlke, more commonly known as, njalka; and utnerrengatye. These three caterpillars traverse the Arrernte Country and their movement creates the story lines that have contributed to both Arrernte’s history and its landscape. As these three caterpillars move beyond Central Arrernte and enter other Aboriginal countries, they become connected to the particular story lines of that country. The importance and meaning of the three Arrernte caterpillars is only known by certain Arrernte groups. These groups hold the information and share it only among their families.

C. Afghan settlement

The Afghan cameleers played a significant part in the development of Australian settlements. “They were first brought to Australia in the 1860s to accompany a new mode of transport considered suited to the harsh desert terrain. Horses and bullock teams had proved unsuccessful and camels, which needed experienced handlers, were introduced. The men who accompanied them were hardy, strong, independent ‘exotics’ with a vigorously determined tribal culture quite alien to that of the European colonists. They and their animals were able to make inroads into the very heart of Australia, where others had failed so often”. (Tin Mosques and Ghantowns, p.1, Stevens, 1989).

Some cameleers had made their way to Alice Springs before the railroad were making a living by carting materials and supplies between Alice Springs and the outlying stations using their camels. When the railroad reached Alice Springs in 1929, motorized transport was already operating across the centre of the continent carrying freight more efficiently and cheaply than camel strings. (ibid, p. 304).

“The Afghan graveyard occupies a section of the main Alice Springs cemetery. About thirty Afghans (including their families) are buried in rows of graves aligned north-south. Because Alice Springs was a later Afghan settlement, twenty-two graves have identifying headstones in the modern Western style. Eighteen of these are graves of men, most of whom died in the 1930s and 1940s. The most elaborate headstone is in the early European style (Victorian). It is the first grave in the first row, undated but carrying the name of Said Abdul HaSSAN (A Sayed, descendant of the Prophet), and its inscription is in Dari – the language of the educated in Afghanistan. PUshtu, the colloguial language of the tribesmen and peasant farmers from whom the bulk of the Afghans originated, has not been used at tall for inscriptions”. (ibid, p. 206).

D. European settlement

In 1871 the government surveyor William Whitfield Mills (Mills St) explored the MacDonnell Ranges during the Overland Telegraph Line construction and discovered and named the waterhole he found there Alice Springs. Mills named the pool after Mrs Alice Todd, wife of the Superintendent of Telegraphs. The waterhole became the site for the Alice Springs Telegraph Station (The History of Alice Springs Through Landmarks and Street Names; Petrick; 2005; p.3).

In 1888 the government surveyor David Lindsay surveyed the township of the Arrernte Country and named it Stuart, after John McDouall Stuart (Stuart Hwy). The first European to blaze the trail from S.A. across the centre of Australia to the north coast (ibid). With the arrival of the railway, the growth of Stuart increased and a new post office was opened in Stuart and called Alice Springs. This however caused confusion and consequently the town was gazetted Alice Springs in 1933 (ibid).

E. History of the Cvic Centre and corner site

There is no known Arrernte significance attached to the land of the Corner Site, the proposed locale for the public art work. The following information outlines the history of the site for the following community groups and inhabitants.

• In 1921, the Indian Cameleer, Saleh (Charlie) Sadadeen, “a magnanimous gracious gentleman who was liked by everyone”, (The History of Alice Springs Through Landmarks and Street Names; Petrick; 2005) acquired a lease of land, now the Civic Centre. On this land he grew a wide variety of fruit and vegetables and maintained a prayer shelter. He was noted for growing luscious watermelons, figs, grapes and all the citrus fruits. After his death in 1933, another retired cameleer Naby Buksh took of the land title until 1938. Later other Afghans took up leases. Among these were Goolam Rasool Nazar and Mujid, who was known for his large market garden of flowers and produce. (Alice Springs Collection Folder; Sept/Nov; 1968; p.13 and ASTC library: Alice Springs Collection, Folder: NT News, January 1997, Draft Media Release: Afghan heritage celebrated in Nishaan-e-Afghan Park).
• A mosque had been built near Satoor’s camp, the largest (and probably original) Afghan community there. Satoor’s camp was in the main Ghantown and is the site of the new Civic Centre. Date palms were planted near the mosque, two at its entrance, and there was a fruit orchard nearby with an orange grove and large shady pepper tree. The mosque was simple and basic, built from timber, with a thatched roof and open sides”, (Tin Mosques and Ghantowns, p. xx, Stevens, 1989).
• From 1935 – 75 the colourful Miss Olive Muriel Pink, anthropologist and conservationist at one time lived in Gregory Tce; approximately where the CATIA office is located. “Miss Pink was an advocate for Aboriginal rights and land rights… was an ardent conservationist” (p. 142) and an anthropologist among other skills. “Pink applied for a flora reserve area and in 1956 the Australian Arid Regions Native Flora Reserve was gazetted” (p.142) and Pink became the curator. When she died in at 91 in 1975, “the Government honoured Miss Pink by renaming the park the Olive Pink Flora Reserve… to recognize the area, not as a reserve, but as an accessible garden, which included 1800 native plants from Central Australia which grew within a 500km radius of Alice Springs” (p.143). On Gregory Terrace, Pink lived in a hut and grew grape vines for shade, was known for her many flowers and mandarin, lemon and orange trees. (The History of Alice Springs Through Landmarks and Street Names; Petrick; 2005)
• In 1942 the Civic Centre building was the Allied Works Council, formed early in the year to undertake all construction work required for the war effort, (Alice Springs: Its History and the People who made it; Donovan; 1988). A 1944 map in this book shows that during this period, the Corner Site where the public art work is to go was a tennis court.
• Also in 1942, the land that the current Civic Centre is on was named Colocag Park, though it was not gazetted. In a letter from the Regional Manager of the Dept of Lands, Planning and Environment, it was explained that COLOCAG was the abbreviation for “Commanding Officer Line of Communication Area G. However some correspondence indicates the original name was ‘COCALOC’ for ‘Commanding Officer Central Australian Lines of Communication’”, (ASTC library: Alice Springs Collection, Folder: NT News, January 1997, letter from W. Lindsay, dated 7 April 1999).
• The park was gazetted as the Alice Springs Civic Centre in 1965, (Alice Springs Town Council library: Alice Springs Collection, Folder: NT News, January 1997, Draft Media Release: Afghan heritage celebrated in Nishaan-e-Afghan Park).
• On 19 December 2001 the park was renamed Nishaan-e-Afghan Park in honour of the Afghan Cameleers who once lived and worked on the site, (ibid).