Enlighten has scrapped an unpaid mentorship program that drew criticism from the Canberra arts community last year, instead relying on contractors to create the artworks that will light up the city's most iconic buildings.Cultural Canberra director Adam Stankevicius confirmed the mentorship program would not go ahead in 2017, after condemnation from local artists about mentees working for "exposure" prompted a review in 2016.
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Instead, the images projected onto the buildings this year have been designed by contractors Electric Canvas.
While the six artists who participated in the program last year received a stipend, their primary remuneration was exposure, according to the job advertisement.
Although established artists were welcome to apply, one of the criteria stated successful participants would be "local or emerging in their career (including students)".At the time, artist and former You Are Here festival producer Yolande Norris said the program was symptomatic of a wider problem within the industry.
"It's just a shame for a festival of that size and reputation perpetuating the culture of not remunerating artists and that's disappointing," she said.
Canberra author Nigel Featherstone said the ACT government needed to lead by example and pay professional artists.
"Artists can't survive by exposure," he said.
However, Mr Stankevicius pointed to about 70 local artists who were paid for the services last year. This year, the festival will employ around 40 local artists.
Enlighten will partner with Singapore Airlines to promote the 2017 event in both Singapore and Wellington, destinations the carrier is now operating direct flights from Canberra to.
A spokesman for Singapore Airlines declined to detail the value of the three-year partnership but in a statement said the company looked forward to growing international visitor numbers to Canberra.
Enlighten will run from March 3 to 13. Tickets are on sale from February 1 through Ticketek.
Clarification: An earlier version of this article suggested Electric Canvas ran Enlighten. Enlighten is an ACT government event.
