| In 2017 a new Countess editorial group has been established and we will be designing a new website for Countess, we will continue to publish timely and in-depth posts about gender representation in the art-world as well as expanding the blog’s platform to include regular reviews and creative responses from artists and writers. One key goal of these changes is to ensure that intersectionality is accounted for (including LGBTQI, People of Colour and Indigenous artists) in our statistics. Related, is our expansion to include off-site exhibitions and happenings so as to recognise that a condition of oppression is often institutional omission, marginalisation and/or discrimination. Countess released the results of a year-long data collection study on gender equality in the Australian visual arts sector in 2016. The Countess Report established a benchmark to understand and gauge gender equality now and in the future and raised important questions about how gender bias impacts on our cultural landscape. We want to keep asking those questions.
PROPOSALS
We invite proposals to respond to the initial findings of the Countess Report in artistic, interpretative and analytical ways and encourage responses that address the gaps, fissures, shortcomings and complexities within these statistics. For example, in 2014 commercial galleries were showing 40% female artists and state museums were showing 34% female artists however the count for transgender or gender non-binary and POC women artists often sat at zero. In light of these discrepancies we want to publish a diverse range of responses that represent the multitude of perspectives on gender, identity and feminism that exist within the Australian (and globalised) art world. As such, we are looking for submissions that range anywhere from an interview, essay or review to stand-alone documentation photos of exhibitions. We are also accepting proposals of an artistic, poetic or conceptual nature. Along with the new website, we’re holding a launch and fundraising campaign at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art in late May in order to raise money to fund educational resources on gender equality in the visual arts in Australia for high school and tertiary students. These additions will ensure that Countess can capture and reflect our contemporary art environment more comprehensively and aid us in delving deeper into issues of gender equality and feminism along with the current exhibitions, events and debates that are inextricably connected to them.
KEY DATES
+ Content proposals due April 14 2017, 12 midnight.
+ Successful applicants advised late April.
+ Final content due May 12.
+ New website launched late May 23. PROPOSALS SHOULD INCLUDE
+ A 200 word proposal – (tell us about your planned project, artwork, essay, letter, conversation, video, sound, gif etc.)
+ A brief bio or CV (no longer than 200 words)
+ Some examples of your other work (web link preferable) (optional) TIPS FOR SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
+ We are interested in anything from an essay to a letter, to a website or a gif.
+ We are open to anything but if you’re unsure, please ask us questions!
+ All submissions should address, whether directly or indirectly, the ethos of Countess.
+ Please send all proposals or questions through to count.esses@gmail.com CUSTOM WEB PROPOSALS
+ Countess is an online environment. A combination of images, video, audio, animated gifs, animations (flash or edge animate) and hosted web fonts (with licenses) could be used to create rich media, including full screen background video/images, interactive buttons/animations, rollovers/hover states, transitions and animations.
+ Based on WordPress, we run off the following languages: HTML, JAVASCRIPT, JQUERY, CSS and PHP.
+ Any custom web contributions should be fully responsive and submissions should include a mock-up of the content and a statement about how the contribution will be achieved (ie. let us know about who will build it – e.g. the artist or an outside developer). **All accepted written submissions of over 500 words and works exclusive to Countess will be paid a fee for final content. Please send all proposals or questions through to: count.esses@gmail.com
With the subject title COUNTESS PROPOSAL. | 
