A NEW mentorship program will help First Nations artists take the next steps in launching a successful creative business.
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New England company 2 Rivers Pty Ltd, in partnership with Arts North West, is delivering the free virtual workshops for artists at all stages of development to boost their business skills.
The program begins on Monday, and managing director of 2 Rivers, Lorrayne Fishenden, said it will take emerging and entry level artists to the next level.
"It's taking them from creating artwork in their dining room to having them in exhibitions and having them in large markets," she said.
"One of the goals we've got is to have five of those artists be able to apply for SOUTHEAST Aboriginal Art Markets in Sydney.
"But it is about trying to get them into some of the bigger metro or regional galleries if that's where they want to go and it's giving them the skills and capacity to be able to do that."
The mentorship opportunities are run in partnership with the Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support program, and will be held over six sessions starting this week.
Ms Fishenden said more than 300 artists from across the New England North West work with 2 Rivers through their cultural programs every year.
"If we get 30 people that come in and we can make a difference to their practice and take their $30 painting and make it into a $100 painting then that's a win for us," she said.
"We cover the whole region -13 local government areas. It's quite a big footprint that we cover - 94,000 square kilometres."
The Indigenous artwork market is booming, not just in Australia but internationally.
In the North West it's also going strong, but Ms Fishenden said a steady flow of emerging artists are coming out of Moree in particular.
"We see drop offs and we see pick ups, we have some towns that have really solid numbers all the time like Moree because they have the TAFE course and they've always got really good numbers," she said.
"We've in this role since 2012 and our focus has most definitely been emerging artists, however the region has now grown and we have some that are moving from emerging to established.
"It's been great to watch that progression grow."
Those interested in the mentorship program can sign up at the Arts North West website.