Desart

Desart is a not-for-profit association located in the Northern Territory. It represents over thirty art centres across the Central Desert region. Art Centre members are community-based enterprises, owned and managed by local Aboriginal people. As a result, the governance structures of the art centres often differ to that of Desart.

Desart promotes local solutions to local problems by making sure their art centre members have effective control over their own affairs. For example, Desart has no authority to intervene or order that practices be changed if a member centre is performing poorly. They must be asked to assist by the centre itself.²Diane Smith, Pathways to Self-Determined Success in the Northern Territory, (The Aboriginal Governance and Management Program, Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the Northern Territory (APONT), 2005), 57.

This makes sure that people at the local level continue to have control over their governance.