Winners of the State Arts Sponsorship Scheme Prestige Awards announced

2/3/99
Premier Richard Court tonight announced the winners of the State Arts Sponsorship Scheme Prestige Awards at the sixth Business and the Arts Dinner, co-hosted by Australian Capital Equity at the Perth Entertainment Centre.
The Minister for Arts Peter Foss established the scheme in 1993 to encourage and give recognition to corporate sector support for the arts.
There are two elements to the scheme - the Prestige Awards and general endorsements.
Over 100 companies, ranging from small, owner-operated businesses to WA's largest organisations, were endorsed as arts sponsors under the scheme. The value of the sponsorships provided by these companies totalled more that $2.5 million in cash and kind.
Winners of the Prestige Awards were Wesfarmers Limited, Australia Post, BP Australia Limited, Aherns/The West Australian/Singapore Airlines/Betts & Betts/Network 10 (Perth), and photographer Ashley de Prazer
"Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics' research into Business Sponsorship reveals that the arts and cultural activities are operating in a highly competitive environment vying for corporate support. Only 7.5 per cent of corporate sponsorships in Australia currently target the arts," Mr Foss said.
"The State Arts Sponsorship Scheme Prestige Awards, Endorsements and the Dinner were established to principally reward and acknowledge the support of the corporate sector, but also to encourage business to direct sponsorship towards the arts.
"This year's nominations have revealed some very creative and productive partnerships between the arts and the corporate sector in Western Australia. In many instances the relationships forged are based on long term commitments and demonstrate a strategic fit with corporate objectives and target markets.
"Each year it becomes harder to select only one winner in each category of the Prestige Awards. While congratulating all those companies nominated for awards, I would like to acknowledge all our business supporters and, of course, the arts organisations which have displayed initiative, innovation and increasing sophistication in forming and maintaining relationships with their sponsors."
In deciding the Prestige Award winners, the Minister considers:

• how innovative a sponsorship is;
• the value of the partnership created between the arts organisation and its sponsor
• the long-term benefits of the sponsorship for each partner;
• the extent to which it has created new audiences, or new opportunities for
• existing audiences, and new opportunities for the arts;
• the extent to which the sponsors have embraced the arts through their sponsorships; and -
• the new opportunities provided for the sponsor.

The winners of the Prestige Awards are:
Special Award for Innovation Wesfarmers Limited
The Premier acknowledged Wesfarmers for the range and innovation of its arts sponsorship portfolio, managed through the brand "Wesfarmers Arts" created in 1998. Special mention was given to Wesfarmers' sponsorship of the International Arts Space, Kellerberrin Australia, and the West Australian Ballet.
In July 1998 Wesfarmers commissioned independent research into the effectiveness of its sponsorship of the West Australian Ballet. As result of the findings of this research Wesfarmers Arts and the West Australian Ballet developed a free synopsis and cast list sheet available at every performance provided to the WA Ballet in addition to the sponsorship.
Wesfarmers Arts and the West Australian Ballet have worked collaboratively to develop a benefit which adds value to experiences of the ballet's audiences, meets the ballet's development plans and achieves Wesfarmers' aims for increasing the effectiveness of its sponsorships.
Wesfarmers Arts was instrumental in the foundation and early development of the highly innovative regional project, International Arts Space, Kellerberrin Australia (IASKA), which services regional communities at the micro level and encourages critical art dialogue at the global level through a program of international arts residencies.
Wesfarmers Arts' sponsorship financed the refurbishment of the IASKA building and will contribute to the artistic program and administrative costs, in a two-year sponsorship agreement. Wesfarmers Arts has added value to the sponsorship through its involvement in most aspects of the project's development, with representatives from Wesfarmers Arts, Corporate Solicitors Office and Group Accounting departments working with representatives from IASKA.
Other Western Australian companies supported directly by Wesfarmers Arts include the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Black Swan Theatre Company, UWA School of Music and CRAFTWEST Centre for Contemporary Art. Wesfarmers also sponsors national companies bringing arts product to Western Australia, including Bell Shakespeare Company, Musica Viva and Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Best industry initiative patron Australia Post

(Nominated by Art Co-ordinates)

Australia Post's human resource and management policies have focused on the need for the workplace to be conducive to the occupational health, well being and productivity of its workforce. Accordingly, management was keen that the visual effect of the workplace should reflect this policy and match the standards demanded of work practices and operations.
Australia Post commissioned visual arts consultancy Art Co-ordinates to develop, collect, document and install a collection of artworks by Western Australian artists which visually interlinked the workforce within the GPO Building to the end user of Australia Post's services, the general public. This presented new opportunities for Western Australian artists, as many works were commissioned specifically for Australia Post. In total, a budget of $96,250 was expended on Western Australian artists, providing new income for them, and exposing their work to a wider public.
Outstanding long-term commitment by a patron BP Australia Limited
BP has sponsored the festival since 1982, providing a total of $276,500 during that time.
Best cross promotional sponsorship
Aherns/The West Australian/Singapore Airlines/Betts & Betts/Network 10 (Perth) in partnership with the AWESOME Perth International Children's Festival and the City of Perth.
In return for major funding from the City of Perth, the AWESOME Festival undertook to develop ways to help promote the City of Perth car parks as family-friendly, accessible inner-city services. AWESOME promoted its opening event through a competition involving "spotting" of car registration numbers, which were listed in a weekly advertisement sponsored by The West Australian newspaper.
Owners of "spotted" cars could redeem an invitation for a young person and family to the opening event by showing their car registration papers at the Aherns City Store. The media and other coverage of the event also provided additional promotion for Singapore Airlines as a major festival sponsor.
In a separate but related promotion, the second series of AWESOME Smarter than Smoking trading cards included 40 collage images created by young people aged 10-12, which were promoted and distributed through a successful Healthway sponsorship. The original art works were displayed in an exhibition space in the Aherns City Store.
The AWESOME Festival then collaborated with Channel 10 to prepare a cross-promotional opportunity for Betts & Betts. Betts & Betts promoted the cards through a 15 second commercial on Channel 10 (and print media promotion in The West Magazine) and distributed 9,600 packs of the cards from the children's shoe department of all their metropolitan stores for the four-week period leading up to the festival. The campaign further developed AWESOME's opportunities for production of these cards as a viable income-generating strategy.
Betts & Betts had the opportunity to position itself as a responsible corporate citizen through the promotion of a powerful health message and gain an attractive promotional item to help increase customer visitation to its stores. Channel 10 was able to develop a cross-promotional project with one of its major clients (Betts & Betts) and increase its revenue raising potential. Aherns increased its store traffic through its involvement in this and other AWESOME activities. Again, Singapore Airlines, as a major sponsor of the Festival, also gained profile.
Outstanding individual patron Ashley de Prazer
Ashley de Prazer was nominated by Buzz Dance Theatre, the West Australian Ballet, Fieldworks, Steps Youth Dance Company, Ausdance WA, PICA, and the Loaded Company, for photographic and design services to the Western Australian dance community.
Nationally recognised as one of Australia's leading dance photographers, Ashley
de Prazer has been working with the dance community since 1985, contributing his time and photographic materials to provide publicity and production photography to a range of companies.
This in-kind support has been valued at approximately $24,000 for 1998. It is estimated that Ashley de Prazer's support has totalled approximately $70,000 over the past four years.
The Minister also acknowledged the Major State Arts Patrons, companies which have contributed $100,000 or more in any one year. The following companies were named as Major Patrons for the first time in 1998:
Alcoa Australia Limited, Australia Post, Channel Seven Perth, Golden West Network (GWN), Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd, Heytesbury Pty Ltd, South Sea Pearl Consortium, Transperth, and Woodside Energy Ltd.
Media Contact: Chris Morris 9321 2222
For more information contact Mary Wright, Senior Project Officer, ArtsWA on 9224 7331