The inaugural Indigenous Arts Policy Forum was held in Melbourne, Australia on 7 October 2011, immediately following the 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture.

The forum was co-hosted by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts and IFACCA. It was attended by over 45 representatives of arts councils and ministries of culture, and other guests by invitation.

The forum provided the opportunity for experts on Indigenous arts policy to discuss policy, research and funding programs for supporting Indigenous artists and arts practice.   The forum also explored strategic priorities that could be pursued through research and the compilation of resources and case studies, as well as the feasibility of developing specific initiatives, including a potential ‘First Nations’ Arts Summit.

The focus questions for speakers and roundtable discussions were:

1.  What are the excellent Indigenous art and culture works in your country?
2.  What are your main challenges and opportunities in this field?
3.  What areas need attention or improvement?

In preparation for the forum, IFACCA had developed a discussion paper based largely on an analysis of responses to a survey carried out in early 2011 with IFACCA members.  The final research paper is available on the IFACCA Topic page for Indigenous Arts Policy: http://www.ifacca.org/topic/indigenous-arts-policy/