Arts partnering awarded

25 October 2007

Arts partnering awarded

Rio Tinto has been recognised for its commitment to the arts, taking out a national 2007 Australian Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) award, following two wins at the State awards.

At a national ceremony in October, Rio Tinto Iron Ore and the Shire of Roebourne received AbaF's QantasLink Regional Award, for joint delivery of the Cossack Art Award for the past 15 years.

The Cossack Art Award is Australia's richest regional art competition, with total prize money of $65,000. It attracts more than 300 entries from artists around Australia, including many from the Pilbara region, and allows regional artists to exhibit in a nationally-recognised public forum.

At the State awards in September, the Better Beginnings partnership between the State Library of Western Australia and the Rio Tinto WA Future Fund was awarded the Toyota Community Award.

Better Beginnings is a universal early literacy programme that works with families to support literacy development in babies and children up to age three. The programme has reached almost 45,000 families in Western Australia, representing more than 81 per cent of babies born since the partnership was established in 2005.

In addition, Rio Tinto Iron Ore Principal Business Technologist Stuart Ball was awarded the KPMG AdviceBank Award for his volunteering contribution to Country Arts WA.

Stuart worked with Country Arts WA to review their IS&T requirements with a view to upgrading their legacy systems and infrastructure. A key outcome for Country Arts WA was a 40 per cent reduction in their ongoing IS&T support costs.

"Rio Tinto is very proud of our arts partnerships with the Shire of Roebourne and the State Library and of Stuart for his dedication to the arts through volunteering," said Rio Tinto Iron Ore Chief Executive Sam Walsh.

"We are delighted that each has been recognised by the Australian Business Arts Foundation in 2007 and look forward to working together to help build a more vibrant, healthy and sustainable arts community."