The Aboriginal Artists Agency and the Prominence of Indigenous Music and Dance in the Growth of the Australian Arts Industry

This article focuses on the formative role of the Aboriginal Artists Agency in building today’s global market for Australian Indigenous artists. From 1976 to 1986, the Agency worked with Australian Indigenous musicians and dancers to undertake many innovative recording and touring projects. This study addresses the Agency’s early innovations in encouraging and supporting the recording and touring aspirations of Australian Indigenous performers across a hitherto unexplored continuum of traditional and popular styles, as well as the Agency’s contributions to catalysing similar breadth in scholarly discourse. The study aims to demonstrate how the Agency’s ambitious program of recording and touring projects with a wide array of prolific Australian Indigenous artists contributed to generating new and diversified market demand for their talents and works both within Australia and internationally.