The professional Australian contemporary arts sector is dynamic, diverse and multifaceted, but its lack of regulation and legislation, combined with increasingly precarious conditions makes work and practice unsustainable for many. NAVA’s Code of Practice for Visual Arts, Craft and Design sets out equitable, ethical and self-reflective standards, covering good practice approaches to working relationships, ethical standards of access and inclusion, and payment rates for artists and arts workers. Underpinned by an ethic of care, the revised Code reflects the contemporary practices and needs of artists and arts workers in Australia. A new section covering Principles, Ethics and Rights reflects the industry’s growing concern with issues of justice, access, fair work and representation. In this conversation, NAVA’s Tertiary Education Coordinator Andrée Ruggeri will be joined by an artist at the heart of developing the new Code to discuss ways in which this collective document provides not only a guide by and for the sector, but a blueprint for the formal recognition of art as a real job in Australia.