It's a human trait prevalent all over the world but sometimes I wonder if we are being overly proprietorial.

I particularly notice it here on local radio.

Some singer songwriter newly discovered, who might have grown up somewhere in the vicinity, will often elicit the question "can we claim her as our own?"

Place of birth will be a decider of course, but sometimes it seems enough to have attended a local school for a year or two or stayed for a while in the area with a distant aunt.

Could this result in queue jumping when it comes to claiming Novocastrian status I wonder?

I guess that might depend on how successful someone is.

Sometimes though I think we are a little uncertain about what constitutes success.

Is it measured in the number of records sold?

Does it depend on ongoing television appearances or lead roles in films?

As a visual artist, perhaps a major award such as the Archibald?

Or is it enough just to sustain an artistic career with a following?

With the rise of the global digital market knowing exactly where someone is from or where their work is created is largely irrelevant.

There could very well be highly successful creative practitioners living in our midst whose support base of thousands is on the other side of the world.

How would we know? And is it important?

What is important, I'm sure every artist would agree, is having people champion their creative journey.

I recently came across a quote from Dale Frank, one of the Hunter's most successful and prolific artists.

This was said following Frank's donation of 85 of his works valued at over $4million to the National Gallery in 2014.

"Over the time of my career, there has always been, on occasions, the right word of encouragement, an overly intelligent joke quietly shared, a humility, and the occasional support through a rare purchase when the funds allowed," he said.

"The outcome of any conversation was never 'a sale', rather the outcome was a belief that there was passion for art, for contemporary art."

This endorsement Frank is referencing is from the National Gallery.

It suggests significant recognition had already been achieved.

None the less it emphasises the importance of continued encouragement at every stage of an artist's career even when 'success' has been reached.

With this in mind, perhaps we should consider being more supportive of our creative individuals. Not just at the early stages of their careers but through all of the endless ups and downs.

This in turn would no doubt lead to a greater sense of gratitude from artists.

We would no longer need to desperately grasp at some tenuous link to an artist as one of our own.

They would be the ones making the claim of belonging to us and deliver a proud endorsement for our region.