Menu
Program
Accessible Arts presents the second national Arts Activated Conference: Arts – Access – Excellence, bringing together leading thinkers, artists, advocates, practitioners and producers to create dialogue about and showcase examples of excellence in arts and disability. Presentations, workshops, panels and performance from Australia and overseas bring into focus innovation, process and practice across a diversity of art forms.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Download
Conference Program (PDF, 680KB)
Conference Program (Word, 1.2MB)
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Keynote Speaker
Jenny Sealey, MBE
UK based artist
Artistic Director Graeae Theatre Company
Artistic Advisor to Unlimited
Jenny went to Middlesex Poly on the BA Performing Arts course, majoring in dance and choreography. In 1986 she was a founder member of the Common Ground Sign Dance Company and the now defunct London Disability Arts Forum, and worked as an actor with Graeae Theatre, Theatre Centre, Half Moon and Red Ladder.
Jenny has been the Artistic Director of Graeae Theatre for over ten years, the UK’s leading disabled led theatre company. She has directed numerous awarding winning productions throughout this time. Jenny is also the Artistic Advisor to Unlimited, the UK’s largest ever cultural disability program, forming a major component of the Cultural Olympiad for London’s 2012 Olympics.
Within these roles, Jenny has become a high profile voice for arts and disability and has attracted significant media coverage. Importantly, her role as Artistic Advisor to Unlimited provides an opportunity to demonstrate the crossover of arts and disability into broader cultural life. This includes the roles of creativity and access in sports and diversity. The 2009 Queen’s Honours awarded Jenny an MBE for her service to Disability Arts in the UK.
International Speakers
Rachel Gadsden, UK
UK Visual Artist
"Breaking Barriers: disability and excellence"
(Presenting via Pre-recorded Interview)
Rachel Gadsden has an MA in Fine Art and is a contemporary British visual artist, with a disability, who exhibits internationally and works across mainstream and disability art sectors. In 1999, Rachel exhibited at the Dostoyevsky Museum, St Petersburg, Russia. “Wasteland” was awarded the most popular painting prize in the Hunting Art Competition 2003; subsequent awards have included an Arts Admin Award 2004, Dada Visual Artist of the Year 2005, Shrewsbury International Painting Prize 2006, Holton Lee International Disability Arts Prize 2007, Momentum Arts Council UK and Dada-South Bursary 2009. In 2007 Rachel was appointed Historic Royal Palaces first Artist in Residence at Hampton Court Palace and has recently been appointed the first artist to work with Parliamentary Outreach for the Breaking Barriers Exhibition. Rachel was commissioned to create artworks for the Beijing - London Paralympics Handover Ceremony September 2008 and is working on Paralympics art projects for London 2012.
Rebecca Fawcett, UK
Cultural Program Manager Parliamentary Outreach
"Breaking Barriers: disability and excellence"
Rebecca Fawcett has worked in the UK cultural sector for nine years developing and delivering arts and heritage programmes that engage young people and adults with or without disability. Previous roles include working at the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, the National Trust and Historic Royal Palaces where Rebecca was the education lead for the interpretation of Hampton Court Palace as part of the Henry VIII celebrations in 2009. As Cultural Program Manager for Parliamentary Outreach at the Houses of Parliament, Rebecca is currently responsible for the cultural programme of adult engagement about the work, history and processes of the UK Parliament. Rebecca has a MA in History of Art, MA in Medieval and Tudor Studies and a Postgraduate Diploma in Museum Studies specialising in education.
Tony McCaffrey, NZ
Artistic Director Different Light Theatre Company
"Is it normal any different?"
Tony McCaffrey studied English and Linguistics at Cambridge University and Theatre Arts in Paris and has worked as an actor, writer and director in Cambridge, London, Paris, Istanbul, Denver, and for the last ten years in Christchurch, New Zealand. He established Different Light Theatre Company with a production of The Night Season and as Artistic Director has devised and directed four mixed ability performances for the Body Festival and toured Ship of Fools to the Awakenings Festival in Australia. In 2008, Different Light performed Frankenstein’s Children at the Body Festival in Christchurch, for the first time employing on stage only actors categorized as having disabilities. Different Light has also recently received two amounts of funding from Creative New Zealand to workshop and devise The Sunnyside Project, a large-scale work based on research into the recently demolished Sunnyside Mental Hospital in Christchurch. Tony is currently working on a Ph D at University of Canterbury on ‘The Politics and Aesthetics of (Intellectual) Disability Performance.’ He has presented papers from this Ph D at Columbia University, New York, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Steinhardt School, New York University and at the Society for Disability Studies Conference in Tucson, Arizona.
Majella Flanagan, UK
Coordinator Any Bright Ideas
"Disability Arts – An Arts History Perspective"
(Presenting via Skype)
Majella Flanagan has trained and worked in the community arts since graduating from Middlesex University, UK in 1991. She has worked as arts administrator, arts facilitator and researcher in the UK and USA. Majella was awarded a Millennium Fellowship for research on mental health arts centres in New Zealand and US (2000). She also trained as an artist and costume making in TV and film. Her exhibitions have been at various events in Ireland, UK and USA. Majella has completed an MA in Disability Arts Movement, studying the attitudes and aspirations of disability arts practitioners working in Ireland and Great Britain. Findings from the MA were presented at the recent Present Difference conference. This was held in January at Manchester Metropolitan University in conjunction with BBC Northwest and the Cultural Disability Studies Research Network. Majella is the Coordinator of the community arts organistion Any Bright Ideas.
Sue Williams, UK
Senior Officer - Diversity (Disability), Arts Council UK
"Disability Arts & Quality"
Sue Williams is currently Senior Officer, Diversity (Disability) for Arts Council England. Based in the Head Office she is responsible for leading nationally on Arts Council England’s disability equality scheme and associated strategies. Originally trained as a painter Sue has worked in the arts for 19 years developing opportunities for disabled people to access and participate in the arts and has specifically concentrated on all aspects of training professional development and education. Prior to working at Arts Council England Sue has worked in a variety of organisations including working on a project exploring access to the Art and Design curriculum at University of the Arts London, and the provision of artist support at Art Link West Midlands. She continues to draw and paint and maintain a connection with arts practise.