Feature... 10 Highlights / 10 Years
Brian Parkes celebrates 10 years as JamFactory’s CEO and reflects on 10 personal highlights from his time so far.
01 National Touring Exhibition Program
This highly acclaimed program, launched in 2013 has seen 92 presentations of 11 exhibitions across Australia to nearly 350,000 visitors in every Australian State and Territory has included the very successful annual JamFactory ICON exhibitions.
02 Financial performance and growth
JamFactory’s annual turnover has increased from around $3million to more than $4.5million – contributing to significant growth in income and employment within the South Australian craft and design sector.
‘JamFactory Icon 2019 Angela Valamanesh: About Being Here’. Photo: Grant Hancock.
Knifemaker, Barry Gardner in his JamFactory Seppeltsfield studio. Photo: Andre Castellucci.
03 JamFactory at Seppeltsfield
The satellite facility, incorporating studio spaces, a shop and a gallery, opened at the historic Seppeltsfield Winery in the Barossa Valley in 2013. It more than doubled JamFactory’s physical audience and enabled substantial growth in the businesses of the resident makers.
04 FUSE Glass Prize
Funded entirely through private support, the biennial FUSE Glass Prize was established in 2016 and is now the most highly regarded awards program for glass artists in our region and was recently expanded to include a separate glass artist residency.
05 Supporting First Nations artists
JamFactory has supported First Nations artists through residencies, workshops, exhibitions and retail sales. We have collaborated with many Aboriginal Art Centres on successful skills and product development initiatives and partnered with the Tarnanthi Festival since 2015.
06 Improved infrastructure
More than 100 artists and designers regularly utilise JamFactory’s facilities to create their own work. In 2010 the organisation was coming out of a long period of severely limited spending on infrastructure, which had been necessary to stabilise its financial position. Since then we have been able to invest more than $1.5million in significant upgrades to facilities and equipment, particularly in the Glass Studio.
Opening Night of JamFactory’s 2019 Tarnanthi exhibitions. Photo: Daniel Marks.
jam collection. Photo: Andy Nowell.
07 The jam collection
JamFactory recently launched an ambitious commercial collection under the new sub-brand jam – JamFactory Australian Made. The collection highlights connections between craft, design and industry and includes 11 lights, 11 furniture pieces and 25 home accessories.
08 Corporate and philanthropic support
A new role of Development Manager was created in 2012 and Development revenue has grown from less than $10K to around $300K per annum with a core group of dedicated donors referred to as the Medici Collective along with Major and Supporting Sponsors and most recently, a number of committed bequests.
09 National Reputation
We have worked to position JamFactory as the leading organisation in our field nationally, resulting in increased Commonwealth funding, commercial and philanthropic income from interstate and increasingly higher calibre applicants for our Associate program.
10 Successful Associates
Arguably the highlight that gives me the most joy is witnessing the success and trajectory of JamFactory’s Associates and alumni. Most of the 100 or so alumni who have been through JamFactory’s unique career development program over the past 10 years have established successful creative businesses and growing profiles.
JamFactory Glass Studio Associate, Ayano Yoshizumi. Photo: Daniel Marks.