These best practice guidelines have been drawn from research undertaken for the project Best Practice for Artists and Publicly Funded Galleries. The project was a joint initiative of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and Museums Australia, and was funded by the Gordon Darling Foundation. The consultant for the project was Virginia Hollister. The research was undertaken in 2007.

The research focused on three specific areas: best practice for non-selling curated exhibitions; best practice where work is sold either from an exhibition or through a museum or gallery shop; and best practice in the form of a code of ethics for gallery staff.

The aims of the project were:

1. For artists: to provide an overview of five of the types of publicly funded galleries and the range of exhibition opportunities they offer, and a description of what best practice would be in dealings between artists and these galleries. In developing the guidelines the project aimed to assist artists to negotiate fair returns and conditions for exhibiting and selling work.
2. For galleries: to provide publicly funded galleries and their governing bodies with benchmarks for acceptable practice in their dealings with living Australian professional artists.Content Here.