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Speakers
Rafael Bonachela
Artistic Director, Sydney Dance Company
"Integrated Dance: Investment and Training"
Rafael Bonachela is the Artistic Director of Sydney Dance Company. He was appointed in November 2008, four months after the premiere of his commissioned work for the company, titled 360°, which had premiered to great acclaim at CarriageWorks in Sydney, July 2008. A choreographer committed to innovation, he is often described as one of the most intriguing and inventive choreographers working in the world today, moving seamlessly between the mainstream and avant-garde dance works. He has commissioned a number of works for Candoco Dance Company, the leading UK company of contemporary dancers with and without disability, in an exhilarating mix of extreme physicality, dramatic music and intense performance.
Linda Cardew
Project Director - Civic Place Project, Willoughby City Council
"Venue Access – Good Practice Models"
Linda Cardew has been the Project Director of Willoughby City Council's Chatswood Civic Place Project since its official commencement in 2000, and is responsible for the delivery of an iconic complex of public facilities that will service almost 800,000 residents in the northern Sydney region. Linda has an Honours degree in law, post graduate qualifications in urban estate management, a previous life as a violist in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and has sailed around the world by yacht. She has worked for 18 years across all levels of government and community sectors, largely in the areas of property and strategic policy development.
Philip Channells
Artistic Director, Restless Dance Theatre
Pre-Conference Dance Masterclasses @CarriageWorks and
"Integrated Dance: Investment and Training" and
"Restless Dance Theatre - Working towards excellence"
Philip Channells spent seven years working with Restless Dance Theatre as a dancer, workshop leader and assistant director. In recent years he has been working in the UK with a number of dance companies including Candoco, StopGAP and Corali. During his time in the UK he founded two companies: cargogreen and The Age of Unreason. He also directed the first Emerging Artist Residency at StopGAP, established the upstart emerging artist programme at Oval House and Sadler’s Wells, created several short works including, bon Annos, Precious Moments and meltdown with an integrated ensemble, and choreographed I can’t hear you, a pantomime for learning disabled dancers. He is currently working in London in collaboration with Kax Langley to co-direct and perform in The Fascination of Endurance.
Genevieve Clay
Writer/ Director
"Avoiding the Stereotype - Representation of people with a disability in Film and TV"
Genevieve Clay is an award winning writer/director who specifically deals with social justice themes within her work. She recently showcased her first feature documentary, made for Down syndrome NSW at the Sydney Opera House in October and also took out first prize at the 2009 Movie Extra Tropfest international film festival, earning her the accolade of youngest director to ever win Tropfest. Her latest short film Frances and Annie shot by acclaimed cinematographer Jules O’Loughlin ACS, made a successful debut at the 2009 Bondi Short film festival, winning Best Script. Genevieve has had experience in film and television, working for the ABC’s triple jtv, and the AFI award winning ‘Double the Fist’. She is about to spend a month in Brisbane shadowing award winning director Alister Grieson, on the feature film Sanctum, of which James Cameron is Executive Producer.
Samantha Connor
Artist / Western Australian Director, Physical Disability Australia
"Secret Lives of Artists with Disabilities"
Samantha Connor is a visual artist and a person with disability (limb girdle muscular dystrophy). She is a Scout Leader, mother, TAFE manager (disability) and Editor of a newspaper. Samantha recently received an artist grant for a visual art exhibition entitled Accidental Secrets.
Jamie Conroy
Manager, Response Art and Design
RAD: Access, Excellence & Practice
Jamie Conroy is an artist, trainer, support worker, and business manager, with over 25 years of experience in community arts and human services. Jamie is the Manager at Response Art and Design, he has been a tutor for Artstart, NSW Youth Arts and Skills Festival in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and has coordinated mural projects at Lismore Base Hospital and Café Sicilian Gosford.
Julian Crotti
Tutor & Artistic Associate, No Strings Attached
"Mentoring Strategies & Time: Allies for Excellence"
Julian Crotti graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in acting in 2001 and has been a tutor and artistic associate with No Strings Attached since 2004. Julian is passionate about the creation of new work. Since 2005, he has studied with Ros Warby (Australia), Phillippe Gaulier (France) and the performance artists in the Gob Squad (Nottingham, UK). He has performed with P.V.I. Collective (tts: route 21), Cocoloco (Womadelaide), Car Crash (Adelaide Feast Festival) and in two international tours of Tania Liedtke’s Twelfth Floor. In 2007, Julian conceived and directed the original Tom the Loneliest with Duncan Luke and performed as Tom in the 2008 second creative development showing and in the 2009 critically acclaimed full production in Adelaide and Melbourne. In October 2009, Julian will perform with Chunky Move in Black Marrow, commissioned by the Melbourne International Arts Festival.
Michael Donnelly
DEECDV Statewide Vision Resource Centre
"Do Touch the Art – A Museum & Galleries Perspective"
Michael Donnelly holds a Bachelor of Education in Art, City Art Institute (now College of Fine Arts, UNSW) and a Post Graduate Diploma of Fine Art in Painting, Victorian College of the Arts. From 1999 to 2009, Michael taught blind and low vision students at the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind in Victoria, which closed in December last year. He has also taught Art and Design in Catholic Secondary Colleges. Michael is currently contributing to the Support Skills Program of the Victorian DEECD Statewide Vision Resource Centre in Donvale. He has presented papers at the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment Conferences in 2003 and 2005. Michael has produced Meaningful Art for All Children, 2008, an illustrated manual for creating art with school students who are blind or have low vision; Do Touch the Sculptures - A walking tour of the public sculptures along Swanston Street and the Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne 2005 (a Tactile / Braille Tour Guide); and All My Own Work! Independent Artist or Co-active Collaborator - The fine line Art Teachers to the Blind and Vision Impaired tread, Australian Art Education Journal, Special Education Edition, 2003.
David Doyle
Executive of Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts WA
David Doyle initially cut his teeth in community arts practice in the early 1990’s, working with isolated rural women in country New South Wales. Alongside his practice as a community artist, David has spent the past 15 years working across Western Australia on the design and delivery of community cultural development programs for people with disabilities and mental illness. A graduate of Canberra School of Art, ANU and Edith Cowan University, David gained accreditation as a Partnership Broker through the UK based PBAS scheme in 2005 after being awarded a scholarship from Rio Tinto UK. He has served as a member of the Australia Council for the Arts , Arts and Health Strategy Committee and Community Partnerships Committee, Healthway’s Arts Advisory Community a Director and past Chairperson of Arts Access Australia. David is currently a Board member of Tura New Music and the Fremantle Foundation. David is the Executive of DADAA Inc., an arts organisation dedicated to social change that has been at the forefront of the Australian Arts and Disability movement for over 14 years. David is the editor of Proving the Practice, evidencing the effects of community arts on mental health, he has written widely on Arts and Health practices in Australia and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee for the UK based Arts and Health, an international journal for Research Policy and practice.
Kath Duncan
Media Producer, Researcher & Artist
"Arts & Disability - A Regional Perspective" and
"Intimate Encounters, Photographic Essay"
Kath Duncan is a multimedia producer, researcher, artist with 30 years experience in broadcasting, producing, presenting and teaching. Kath is a PhD in progress, holds advanced degrees in media production and creative writing, is building a body of work in paint and mixed media and writes for text, radio and her own pleasure. Duncan describes herself as an Out Proud Loud Freak Goddess, engaged in a lifelong learning project to leave a legacy of resistant images, texts, sounds and presentations.
Jo Dunbar
Dancer
"Integrated Dance: Investment and Training"
Jo Dunbar began her dance training in Australia with Company Chaos in 2000, a mixed ability dance group based in Lismore, NSW. She returned to London in 2001, where she began a scholarship with Laban on their Professional Diploma in Community Dance program. She continued her education there the following year on their MA course in European Dance Theatre Practice, from where she graduated with a distinction and a recommendation from City University of London. She then continued on to tour nationally and perform with U.K. companies such as Green Candle Dance and Wreckless Arts, as well as undertaking several choreographic and teaching projects. She is currently based in Adelaide, having performed with Restless Dance Theatre in their recent production of Bedroom Dancing, as a part of the come out 09 festival. At present she is choreographing Res.o.nate, a Deaf Can Dance production to be performed at the Confess conference in Brisbane 2009.
Kim Dunphy
Program Manager, Cultural Development Network
"Increasing opportunities for arts participation: Best practice for local government and community organisations"
Kim Dunphy is the Program Manager of the Cultural Development Network, Victoria, where she works to support creative communities across Victoria. Over the last few years, Cultural Development Network has undertaken an extensive program of public events and consultation with people with a disability and those who support them, as to how their participation in the arts can be maximised. Kim is also an experienced community artist, arts educator and dance therapist, and has written about her work in dance-movement with people who have an intellectual disability, in her book Freedom to Move: movement and dance for people with intellectual disabilities (Elsevier, 2003). In an earlier life, Kim was a community worker with Office of Intellectual Disability Services in Warrnambool, supporting clients with an intellectual disability to live independently in the community. She holds a BA, Grad Dip Movement & Dance, M. Ed, and is currently undertaking her PhD, exploring arts and social change.
Rachel Edward
Artist / Ensemble Member, Rawcus / Artistic Director, One Voice Theatre
"Your Excellence We Present Hunger"
Rachel Edward is a perfomer, writer, singer, director and devisor. She has been involved in the arts since 1990 and has written and performed in a number of short plays and has a passion for improvisation. She is currently the Artistic Director for One Voice Theatre, works with eight different groups running drama workshops for people with disabilities and runs an after school drama program for primary aged children, creatively known as After School Drama. She is determined to create new and vibrant work both for herself and with other artists.
Trisha Ferguson
Artist
"Disability Led Video & Animation Projects"
Trisha Ferguson is a gifted visual artist, percussionist and actor, with considerable experience in performance and exhibiting. She is a participant in the Tutti Ensemble Digitech program.
Sharon Flanagan
Artist
"Excellence – What is it anyway?"
Sharon Flanagan is an emerging Melbourne artist currently investigating new ways of working in the abstract form with what she terms “non-visual art”. Sharon has multiple sclerosis and is losing her visual capacity, she is exploring a methodology which will give her a continuum in her art making.
Gaye Fleming
Director, Many Hands / Arts Coordinator, Sunnyfield
"Arts Programming for People with a Disability: 3 Models Explored"
Gaye Fleming worked with the international charity Carousel (UK) for 7 years and brings a wealth of knowledge. In 2007 she ran Many Hands creative workshops, working as a freelance facilitator and a consultant to Sunnyfield. In July 2009 she became Sunnyfields Arts Coordinator overseeing nine Day Option Programs around NSW. 2009 highlights include working with artists that exhibited in AART.BBOX09; theatre production Travel Starting at the Bus Stop, Manly Arts Festival; creating the first disability film for 24/7 Film Festival, and Sunnyfield arts movie In Our Dreams. Gaye has a Diploma in Community Welfare.
Criena Gehrke
Senior Project Officer - Strategic Projects, Office for Disability, Department of Planning and Community Development, Victoria
"Whose business is it anyway? - Cross sectorial partnerships"
Criena Gehrke has worked with the Programs Unit of Creative New Zealand, as an artists’ agent and as the Artistic Coordinator for Queensland Theatre Company. Criena is a previous Executive Director of Arts Access Victoria. Under her leadership, Arts Access developed a range of key initiatives including The Other Film Festival and an Industry and Audience Development Program that worked in partnership with the arts and cultural sector to increase opportunities for people with a disability. For many years, Criena was a director of Arts Access Australia and she is currently a member of The Village Festival Board. She participates in peer assessment panels for Arts Victoria. In 2008, Criena was the recipient of the prestigious Harvard Club of Australia Scholarship attending the Strategic Perspectives in Not for Profit Management Short Course at Harvard Business School and researching US models of best practice in access to the arts. Currently at the Office for Disability, Criena has responsibility for the Victorian Arts and Disability Research Partnership Project.
Nick Gleeson
Community Development Officer, Vision Australia
"Ways of seeing differently"
Nick Gleeson is an athlete, accessibility advocate and global adventurer and has an enviable reputation for public speaking. He has the rare gift of being able to convey a serious message – that of overcoming the challenges of living with blindness – with warmth, humour and honesty. Nick holds a Bachelor of Art and his great passion is sport and adventure. Nick has represented Australia in athletics, racing in America, England and Hong Kong and played blind cricket for almost 20 seasons, representing Victoria, New South Wales and Australia. Nick put together an expedition named Blind Ambition to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Much of Nicks success as a speaker is his ability to bring his sporting and travel adventures to life. He connects with people of all backgrounds – in fact visiting rural communities as part of his Australia Day Ambassador duties is a highlight of his year. Importantly, Nick possesses a talent for making the audience’s comfortable and confident asking him questions about blindness.
Renée Goossens
Medical Researcher / Media / Teacher / Patron, Civic Place
"Venue Access – Good Practice Models"
Renée Goossens is a member of the Willoughby Council's Access Committee and a Patron of Civic Place. Her background is in medical research and media (editing, administration, translation for SBS) after training as a teacher at Westminster College, Oxford. Her experience is in caring for people with multiple physical and emotional disabilities. She brings practical knowledge as an arts practitioner, lecturer, NSW State Conservatorium of Music and Language Coach, Opera Australia. She was keynote speaker at the Gerontology Conference 2008 in Wollongong and speaker at the Parkinson’s Convention 2009. She is a published author in journals, newspapers and books as well as advisor on Pain Management involving Access, Music Therapy, Traditional and Complementary medical techniques.
Philip Griffin
Digitech Coordinator, Tutti Ensemble
"Disability Led Video & Animation Projects"
Philip Griffin is a musician and artist with experience in a range of traditional and new media. Philip currently coordinates the Digitech training program and has worked with the Tutti Ensemble since 2002, when he conducted their performances for the Adelaide Festival of My Life, My Love by Tutti Artistic Director Pat Rix. He holds a Bachelor of Music, Western Australia Conservatorium of Music, and a Graduate Diploma of Education, University of Adelaide.
Damien Griffis
Executive Officer, Aboriginal Disability Network
"Building a social network of Aboriginal people with a disability – Exploring art as a medium"
Damian Griffis is a leading advocate for the human rights of Aboriginal people with disability. In 2004/05 Damian undertook a major consultative project visiting Aboriginal communities across the state of New South Wales discussing the unmet needs of Aboriginal people with disability directly with Aboriginal people with disability and their carers culminating in the report entitled Telling It Like It Is. Damian is currently the Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Disability Network the new national peak organisation representing Aboriginal people with disability. Damian continues to represent the views of Aboriginal people with disability in a range of forums. Internationally he has been a lead advocate in the establishment of the Pacific Disability Forum which is a network of disabled people’s organisations from 13 Pacific Island nations.
Lesley Hall
CEO, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
"Art of Difference Festival: A Case Study"
Lesley Hall has worked in disability advocacy organisations since 1980. In 1986 she was engaged as a consultant with the United Nations in Bangkok to develop a resource manual on training and funding opportunities for people with disability as well as develop project proposals. She also has an extensive background in the arts having worked with Melbourne Workers Theatre, Opa Theatre Productions, the Little Big Tops and as Arts and Cultural Development Officer with the City of Darebin. She is presently employed as CEO of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations. Present membership of committees include Chair of Art of Difference, Vice Chair of Arts Access and member of the Victorian Ministerial Disability Advisory Council. Lesley has also had one of her plays read in rehearsed performance in Sydney.
Crusader Hillis
CEO, Gasworks Arts Park / Executive Producer, Art of Difference Festival
"Art of Difference Festival: A Case Study"
Crusader Hillis has over 20 years experience in the arts and business, having previously worked with Melbourne International Arts Festival as Marketing and Communications Manager. His experience before this includes a wide-ranging career in arts event programming, publishing, writing, editing, business and production management. Over the past 20 years, he has curated over 200 performance events in Melbourne and Sydney. He was co-founder of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, was for two years a member of the programming committee of Melbourne Writers’ Festival, served as a board member for the Victorian Writers Centre and is the Executive Producer of the Art of Difference Festival. He is currently a member of the Arts and Disability Access Network for the Victorian State Government, sits on the YAARTS Arts Advisory Panel for the City of Yarra, and KAGE physical theatre. With his partner Rowland Thomson he co-owns one of the world’s best queer bookshops, Hares & Hyenas.
Eilis Hughes
Senior Project Officer - Community Development, Department of Human Services, Disability Services, Victoria
"Whose business is it anyway? - Cross sectorial partnerships"
Eilis Hughes qualified as a genetic counsellor and undertook Masters research, University of Melbourne and Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, into the narrative styles of people living with intersex conditions. She went on to co-ordinate the Genetic Support Network of Victoria, a network of self-help and support groups for people with genetic conditions, where she developed skills in community building and an understanding of living with disability or chronic illness. There, she was an advocate for increased consumer participation in the services of Genetic Health Services Victoria. She also worked as a disability support worker in respite programs. Eilis then joined the MetroAccess program at Maribyrnong City Council, working with the local community to become more inclusive of people with a disability, winning a Local Government Professionals Award for Excellence for the Talking Taxis project. She now resources the Community Building Program for the Department of Human Services Disability Services Division.
Sue Hunt
Chief Executive, CarriageWorks
"Dedicated funding for artists with a disability – Is this the way forward?"
Sue Hunt is currently Chief Executive of CarriageWorks, the NSW government’s development, established to support and develop the small to medium contemporary arts sector. Before moving to CarriageWorks, Sue held the position of Director, Performing Arts at the Sydney Opera House. Sue held the position of General Manager Queensland Theatre Company (1999 - 2003) and was the General Manager at Geelong Performing Arts Centre in Victoria (1995 - 1999), after working with the Victoria State Opera as Technical Director for six years. In an extensive career in the Arts sector, Sue has also worked with a number of Australia's leading arts organisations including Victorian Arts Centre, Playbox and Melbourne Theatre Company. Sue was a member of the Victorian Council for the Arts, the Arts Minister's Peak Advisory Body from 1996-1999 and Chaired Arts Victoria’s Touring Panel. She has also held Board positions for several bodies including Back to Back Theatre, The Courthouse Youth Arts Project, Queensland Biennial Festival of Music, Youth Arts Queensland (Chair) and the Australian Theatre for Young People. She held the honorary position of President of the Australasia Performing Arts Centre Association and was a founding member of the Australian Presenter's Group, which facilitated touring around Australia. She was also a director of Brisbane Powerhouse until mid 2002. She was appointed to the performing arts committee of Asialink, and took over the role of Chair of that committee in late 2002 until the end of 2006. Sue is currently Vice-President of Live Performance Australia, the arts industry’s employers’ association, Chair of its Policy Committee, and a member of the Helpmann Award management committee. Beyond the Arts, Sue has a passion for the development of cohesive communities and undertook the Williamson Community Leadership Program (now Leadership Victoria) in 1999 and has fulfilled a number of community oriented roles since then.
Emma Johnston
Manager of Arts, Studio ARTES
"Arts Programming for People with a Disability: 3 Models Explored"
Emma Johnston holds a Fine Arts Degree, majoring in 2D drawing and painting and in 2001 graduated with an Honours Degree in plan and wildlife illustration. She has been awarded numerous art prizes including the Newcastle University Acquisitive Art prize – Works of Paper (1999) and the Maitland Regional Gallery Acquisitive Art prize – Flora & Fauna Illustration (1999) amongst others. Emma gained casual employment in the arts whilst at university demonstrating techniques in pastels and airbrushing as well as freelance work designing and painting menus/chalkboards. Emma has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions and has always been driven to follow a career in the Arts. In 2002 she began at Studio ARTES as a guest artist. She has now been employed for 7 years. Currently in the position of Arts Manager, she also continues to work as a practicing artist. At Studio ARTES Emma loves to nurture her students’ creativity. In turn, their work has become a wonderful inspiration for her own art practice.
Daniel Kojta
Artist
"Excellence – What is it anyway?"
Daniel Kojta is a curator and new media artist based in the Blue Mountains. His works engage the senses, often through an interactive experience within installations, sculptures, performances and video projections. Daniel finds that his situation of paraplegia delivers unending possibilities when explored through interactivity. Daniel has a history of practice within both Australian and international metropolitan galleries.
James Kurtze
Artist
"Disability Led Video & Animation Projects"
James Kurtze is a lover of all things technical. He enjoys creating complex mashups, videography and film-making. His major project with the Tutti Ensemble Digitech program has been creating a 19-minute documentary of a trip his family made to India to collect James’ new brother from an orphanage there.
Anne Kwasner
Program Art Tutor - Roomies Artspace Studio, Newtown Neighbourhood Centre
"Arts Programming for people with a disability: 3 models explored"
Anne Kwasner has been a practicing artist for 20 years focusing on printmaking but recently exploring ceramics. She recently returned to the National Art School where she is completing her Honours degree. Since 2002 Anne has worked on the Roomies Artspace Studio program part of the Boarding House Project operated by Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, where she has developed and implemented art workshops and practices. This included curating art work for group exhibition; co-ordination of art space, marketing and presentation of group art exhibit; organising of guest speakers, professional presenters and tutors; development of individuals work through active participation in festivals and art exhibitions. From 2001-03 Anne ran painting and drawing workshops for adults with and without disabilities and migrants. Anne presented to disability arts workers on “How to document and present an art exhibition” at Holroyd Council in 2003.
Dean La Spina
Artist / Weasel Surf
"RAD: Access Excellence & Practice"
Dean La Spina is a talented young artist who has Muscular Dystrophy. Dean studied art at High School and continues his artistic training and practice at Response Art and Design through screen printing processes and graphic design. His surf brand Weasel Surf has achieved growing sales since 2005.
Amy Laybutt
Senior Project Officer, Hunter Institute of Mental Health
"Avoiding the Stereotype - Representation of people with a disability in Film and TV"
Amy Laybutt holds an Honours degree is Psychology, University of Newcastle. Amy has worked in research at the University of Newcastle’s School of Behavioural Sciences and the Family Action Centre. Amy joined the Hunter Institute of Mental Health in 2006, working on a number of projects under the Mindframe National Media Initiative. Amy has represented the Institute at local and national conferences for journalism education, media and the mental health and suicide prevention sectors. Amy’s 15-year award-winning career in the music industry has allowed her to be involved in a variety of community, national and international arts events and projects. In recent years, Amy has been on the organising committee for the annual Rockin’ the Black Dog music festival in Newcastle and has performed or presented at many arts-related events, including Mental Health Week celebrations, the National Young Writers’ Festival and Canadian Music Week.
Duncan Luke
Artist
"Mentoring Strategies & Time: Allies for Excellence"
Duncan Luke has been a member of No Strings Attached since 1994 and identifies as a disabled artist with a moderate intellectual disability, bipolar illness and ankylosing spondylitis. Since 2004, Duncan has been a member of the No Strings Attached Men’s Ensemble, performing annually in workshop touring productions. In 2005, Duncan was an extra in Alex Frayne’s feature film Modern Love. In 2007, with Julian Crotti, he co-created the role of Tom in Tom the loneliest and performed as Tom in the 2008 second creative development showing and in the 2009 critically acclaimed full production in Adelaide and Melbourne.
Natalie McCarthy
Program Facilitator - Roomies Artspace Studio, Newtown Neighbourhood Centre
"Arts Programming for People with a Disability: 3 Models Explored"
Natalie McCarthy is a practicing artist who majors in painting. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, National Art School and has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions. In 2005/04/02 she was a finalist in the Brett Whiteley Travelling Scholarship Exhibition. In 2008 she completed the Diploma of Government, Project Management - Planning for Arts and Cultural Development. Since 2004 Natalie has worked on the Roomies Artspace Studio program part of the Boarding House Project operated by Newtown Neighbourhood Centre. Her roles include development and implementation of social, recreational and educational activities for two centre-based programs of the Boarding House Project; Curator and coordinator of marketing & presentation of Roomies artist’s exhibitions; Co-ordinator of Roomies Artspace Studio, art workshops and professional development.
Bruce Maguire
Policy and Project Officer - Disability Rights Unit, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
"Avatar in the Dreamhouse: The National Disability Strategy in Focus"
Bruce Maguire has been involved in the field of information access for people with a print disability for more than 20 years. He has been President of the Round table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities Inc., and Chair of the Australian Braille Authority, as well as serving on numerous national and international committees. He is currently a Policy and Project Officer in the Disability Rights Unit of the Australian Human Rights Commission, where he has primary responsibility for issues related to information access, such as access to the arts and cultural heritage, copyright, telecommunications, and software and website accessibility. Bruce has a keen interest in music and the arts. He studies the Japanese shakuhachi and ceramics, and has been recently been involved in developing two community art projects showcasing the artistic roles of braille. Bruce has a Masters Degree in Policy and Applied Social Research, and a Graduate Certificate in Jungian psychology.
Belinda Mason
Belinda Mason Photography
"Intimate Encounters, Photographic Essay"
Belinda Mason is a Sydney-based photographer who worked as a News Ltd Press photographer, before becoming a freelance. Since 1998 Belinda's work has focused on taboo social issues that explore the very personal and sometimes difficult subjects of grief, body image, identity and family. With the assistance of Accessible Arts and Visions of Australia, her work about sexuality and disability Intimate Encounters toured Australia extensively for seven years. This exhibition continues to tour internationally and has been shown in London, Barcelona, New York, Toronto and Auckland. Belinda is the 2008 winner of the The Moran Prize with her image entitled Four Generations. In 2008, Belinda was awarded most emotionally intense image at the CCP 2008 Kodak Salon and won the Perth 2008 PCP Iris Award. Images from her Maningrida series won her the 2008 Human Rights Award for Photography and the BHP Images of the Outback award for 2003/04. Belinda has been a speaker at the Melbourne Festival of Arts, International Festival of Photography in Sydney, Australian Centre of Photography and the Blowfish AIPP Conference, Sydney.
Paul Mately
Artist / Ensemble Member, Rawcus
"Your Excellence We Present Hunger"
Paul Mately is a graduate of the Ignition Theatre Training program, Australia’s first formal theatre training course for people with intellectual disabilities. He graduated from Ignition at North Melbourne Institute of TAFE in 2006 and completed a stage managing mentorship with Ignition at Preston TAFE in 2007. He has operated Front of House and performed with Platform Youth Theatre (2005). Paul's journey and experience with Downs Syndrome has been included in a documentary produced by GAP media that will soon to be aired on TV and at various Festivals. Paul is attending Bow Wow Festival and finishing Family Dog Circus. He has also been a facilitator for Family Dog Circus and has presented for the Ballarat Conference and Weave Dance Company. He currently performs with Weave Dance Theatre and Rawcus.
Duncan Meerding
Furniture Designer
"Practising As a Legally Blind Furniture Designer"
Duncan Meerding is a Furniture Designer from Hobart, Tasmania. He holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in History and Furniture Design, University of Tasmania. Duncan is vision impaired (legally blind) having lost central vision in 2005 at the age of 18. Using a range of adaptive techniques and technologies, Duncan has designed and made a range of different pieces through the furniture department at the School of Fine Art at the University of Tasmania. He is currently organising a solo exhibition themed around furniture and living, displaying in early 2010. Duncan received the Hobart College prizes for Design in Wood and Service to the College in 2004, was a finalist in the Design Centre Small objects competition 2008 and has exhibited at an exhibition titled Enhance in 2008. Duncan is an active member in the Hobart community around social justice and environmental issues, having partaken in public speaking at a number of events, including being the guest speaker at the Hobart College’s Annual Prize Giving evening in 2006.
Gaelle Mellis
Designer, Restless Dance Theatre
"Dedicated funding for artists with a disability – Is this the way forward?" and
"Integrated Dance: Investment and Training"
Gaelle Mellis has worked as a designer for theatre, dance and events for over twenty years. She is resident designer for Restless Dance Theatre, and has designed for companies including Australian Dance Theatre; Brink Productions; Adelaide Film Festival; State Theatre Co SA; Rambert Dance (UK) and Tanja Liedtke. She is a co-founder of performance company Ladykillers designing Lullaby, and its accompanying exhibition, their award winning production Cake, and recent productions The Pyjama Girl and Based on a True Story. Gaelle has received a 2004 Churchill Fellowship; 2002 Adelaide Critics Circle Individual Award; 2006 Adelaide Fringe Festival Award for Design; and a 2009 SA Screen Award for her production design on Necessary Games. Gaelle is a member of the Minister’s Disability Advisory Council SA and was recently appointed as a project officer for CAN SA’s Disability & Arts Transition Team. She is currently working on her own initiated performance project Take Up Thy Bed and Walk.
Kelly Milne
Occupational Therapist, Eastern Respite and Recreation
"The value of arts programs in disability services"
Kelly Milne is a disability service coordinator for Eastern Respite and Recreation located in Maroubra, Sydney. Kelly’s role includes the coordination of several school holiday programs and after school care services for children with a range of abilities. Kelly completed her degree in Occupational Therapy at the University of Sydney at the end of 2009, and is due to graduate in March. Her study led to an interest in the role of creative arts for people with disabilities, which resulted in her undertaking research in this area.
Gabrielle Mordy
Manager of Creative Events & Funding, Studio ARTES
"Arts Programming for People with a Disability: 3 Models Explored"
Gabrielle Mordy holds a Visual Arts degree, majoring in Textiles and Printmaking. In 2006 she graduated with a first Class Honours Degree in Anthropology awarded for her research thesis based on Studio ARTES, exploring the meaning of art making to adults with a disability within the organisation. Since 2006 Gabrielle has worked as an art teacher within Studio ARTES and has taught art to over one hundred members with a vast range of disabilities and ages. In addition Gabrielle has coordinated three annual weekend creative festivals for Studio ARTES. She also has experience as a curator and has organised three solo and group exhibitions of art created by members at Studio ARTES. In 2009 Gabrielle secured the inclusion of two Studio ARTES members in an international art book Hair published by Trunk. Along with Studio ARTES Gabrielle also works as a researcher into Outsider Art for the University of Sydney. Gabrielle’s passion is in assisting adults with a disability to tell their story and create art work they find meaningful.
Helen Nicholson
Education Officer - Public Programs, Powerhouse Museum
"Ways of seeing differently"
Helen Nicholson holds a BA (Hons 1), MPhilosohpy and is the Education Officer in Public Programs at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. She developed a suite of public programs for the current exhibition, Living in a sensory world: stories from people with blindness and low vision. Prior to commencing at the Powerhouse Museum in 2009 Helen created, developed and delivered numerous lectures, workshops, educational resources and overseas study tours for diverse audiences from a wide range of educational institutions, cultural organisations and publishers including: the University of Sydney, Astarte Resources, Academy of Decorative Arts and the NSW Department of Education. She also spent ten years working in Tasmanian schools for the Department of Health.
Melissa Noonan
CEO & Co-founder of Limbs 4 Life / Victorian Director, Physical Disability Australia
"Secret Lives of Artists with Disabilities"
Melissa Noonan is the CEO & co-founder of Limbs 4 Life, a not-for-profit organisation which provides information and support to amputees. Melissa’s life changed forever after she was involved in a multi-trauma accident. She is an above knee amputee. Melissa is passionate about devoting her time to the disability sector; panel selection member with The Other Film Festival, member of DHS Disability Consumer Advisory Committee and Ambassador of Manningham Promoting Character. Melissa’s studies include Disability Leadership in the Community.
Gerard O'Dwyer
Actor / "Best Male Actor" Tropfest 2009
Conference MC
Gerard O’Dwyer is a 25 yr old actor from Guildford, NSW. In 2009 he was awarded Best Male Actor at Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival for his role in the short film Be My Brother, which went on to win Best Film. This accolade has seen Gerard become an advocate and role model for people with a disability, speak at numerous functions, fundraisers and events across the country. Gerard had previously starred in his local high school’s musicals, The Lion King and Hair, and for the last six years has been a part of the acclaimed dance group The Merry Makers. Gerard has also featured in Up, Up & Away, a documentary produced by Down Syndrome NSW following the lives of several people with Down Syndrome. He has also been involved in a College of Fine Arts short film called The Memory of You and the Reflection of Me and two other short films, Everybody Loves My Girl and In Voice for Kino Kabaret. His most recent acting credit is on a government advertisement campaigning for people to become carers for people with a disability.
Ross Onley-Zerkel
Coordinator of Deaf Arts Network, Arts Access Victoria
"The Deaf Arts Network – Connecting People"
Ross Onley Zerkel is a community arts worker, hip hop dancer and actor. As a deaf person who is fluent in Auslan, his artistic process is very much about engaging with the deaf community through the arts. Ross is the Coordinator of the Deaf Arts Network (DAN) at Arts Access Victoria and has worked there since 2002. Ross has initiated and coordinated various DAN projects in collaboration with the Deaf community including Deaf Dan Dance, Street Art & Stencilling, Digital Storytelling, a Deaf visual arts exhibition, Think Tanks for the deaf community and conducted an extensive survey with deaf artists. He is also a co-founder of the Deaf Can Dance company and is currently a recipient of the Vodafone Australia’s World of Difference program. He is now employed full time at Deaf Arts Network to manage Deaf Can Dance with the aim to develop this dance group into a professional dance company. His acting experience includes: I Love U, an award winning film which has been shown in various festivals in Australia and worldwide (2002), a Toyota television commercial for Japan (2003), and Andrew Merlino’s Imitating Charlie (2008). He holds a Bachelor of Education.
Frank Panucci
Director - Community Partnerships, Australia Council for the Arts
"Dedicated funding for artists with a disability – Is this the way forward?"
Frank Panucci has worked in community and cultural development for over 20 years and held a range of senior positions in the government, community and general arts sector. Frank was involved in establishing and running Sydney’s first Italo-Australian community cultural development performance company, been a principal policy officer at the then NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission, a researcher for trade unions, General Manager of Carnivale, a cultural diversity arts festival, as well as managing the race Discrimination Unit at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission. He has also been an independent consultant on community and cultural issues. Frank has worked at the Australia Council for the Arts for diverse periods over the last 14 years and has been the Manager of the Council’s Multicultural Arts Policy, then of the Community Cultural Development Board. He returned to temporarily be manger of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board and then was asked to act as the Director of the Policy, Communications and Research Division of Council. Frank is now Director of the Community Partnerships Section a position he was appointed to December 2006. Frank has a number of articles published on cultural development and cultural diversity as well as the Italian community in Australia. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics, Sydney University.
Rick Randall
Artistic Director & Founder, The Other Film Festival
"Access is Always Access to an Experience"
Rick Randall is the Artistic Director and founder of The Other Film Festival, Australia’s only film festival dedicated to addressing issues of exclusion by screening contemporary cinema concerned with the lived experience of disability. The festival is also unique in that it delivers all festival patrons exceptional access to the immersive pleasures of film. Rick presents regularly at national and international conferences and festivals on the themes of disability representation, cinema access, community arts practice and inclusion. He has presented at the International People with Disabilities and Mass Media conference in Athens, at the Regenerating Community conference in Melbourne and recently delivered the keynote address at the World Disabled Peoples Arts and Culture Festival in Seoul. Rick is also a prolific documentary director and community filmmaker working with young people, residents of public housing, people with physical, intellectual and psychological disabilities, people in custodial settings, indigenous Australians and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Alison Richardson
Director, sliced bread attraction / Creative Programs Coordinator, Accessible Arts
"Avoiding the Stereotype - Representation of people with a disability in Film and TV"
Conference MC
Alison Richardson has worked extensively as a theatre director and tutor for community theatre companies; Powerhouse Youth Theatre, Shopfront Theatre, PACT Theatre and Australian Theatre For Young People. Due to Alison’s interest and passion for working with people with a disability in 2007 she established her own company sliced bread attraction which aims to create creative opportunities for people with a disability in all art forms. In 2008 she produced Bakehouse an inclusive arts event held at Carriageworks in Sydney- a week long event consisting of workshops, forums, film nights & satellite events. Alison currently works for Accessible Arts as the Creative Programs Coordinator for Western Sydney. She also currently works as the Community Producer for Milkcrate Theatre, a theatre company that works with the homeless and disadvantaged. In 2007 Alison was awarded the Australia Council for the Arts Young Leaders Award for her commitment to community arts.
Jacque Robinson
Company Manager, Rawcus
"Your Excellence We Present Hunger"
Jacque Robinson has over twenty years experience in the arts, cultural, community and business sectors and was a founding member of Melbourne Playback Theatre Company in 1981. She has worked as an artist in residence for Arts Access Victoria at Travencore Child & Family Clinic and Dandenong Psychiatric Hospital, Artistic Director for the Art of Difference Festival (2003) and the Little Houses Project (2004) for Gasworks Arts Park. Her other work includes Strategic Development consultant for Roomers Magazine (2004); Consultant for Vic Health paper on Community Arts, Mental Health, Young People and Placemaking (2007); Artist and consultant for Scope Victoria Leisure Action, and Maroondah City Council Your Vocie Project for inclusion of people with disabilities at Wyreena Arts Centre (2007), and former Director of Resources and Training for Volunteering Victoria. In 2009 she worked as a Community Engagement consultant for VBBRA for the Urban Design for the rebuilding of Marysville. Jacque currently works as Director of Cultural & Community Projects for consultancy company Village Well where she works with state and local government, private companies and community organisation on place making projects.
Sue Roff
Executive Director, Arts Project Australia
"Developing a Mainstream Audience"
Sue Roff has had a broad career in arts management. Prior to taking on the role of Executive Director at Arts Project Australia, a studio and gallery for artists with an intellectual disability, she was the National Manager Cultural Development at the Australia Business Arts Foundation, where she oversaw the professional development program for arts organisations and individual artists, a skilled volunteering program and partnering program for local councils. Sue has also been a corporate Community Relations Manager and Executive Officer of the RACV Foundation, and Sponsorship Manager at Melbourne Theatre Company. She is an experienced presenter and has delivered presentations and workshops across Australia for small groups and large conferences
Craig Rogers
Festival and Cultural Events Coordinator, Darebin City Council
"Venue Access – Good Practice Models"
Craig Rogers has over 10 years experience working as an event coordinator throughout Australia and overseas. Having worked as a festival director and coordinator, tour manager, theatre producer and stage manager, Craig has extensive experience working across various art forms. He was the founding member and company director of Absurd Productions, a theatre company for young people in Central Queensland and has worked with and run projects for companies such as Canadian Opera Company; Arts Queensland; Singapore Armed Forces Music and Dance Company; and Beef Australia. He has written various publications and has recently produced “Access Enabled” a guide to making festivals and events accessible for Darebin City Council.
PJ Rose
Artistic Director, No Strings Attached
"Mentoring Strategies & Time: Allies for Excellence"
PJ Rose is a theatre director, radio producer, community arts organiser and former university lecturer. She has worked in Nicaragua, Indonesia, the USA and Australia with youth and adults and elders in Indigenous, multi-cultural, multi-gender and disability communities. PJ has directed over 50 productions, including 25 premieres of new scripts, most with original music. From 1976-1987 she directed At the Foot of the Mountain (Minneapolis, USA). In 1988, she began traveling internationally, supporting herself by driving taxi cabs, looking for ways to reconcile apparently contradictory passions for feminist theatre, Indigenous politics, and musical comedy. She is currently the Artistic Director at No Strings Attached.
Adam Rozsa
Arts Development Officer, Arts Access Victoria
"RAW LAW – Accessible legal protocols for people with a disability"
Adam Rozsa is an Arts Development Officer with Arts Access Victoria. He coordinates a range of contemporary arts projects and strategic initiatives that support artists with disabilities engaging in the arts. Adam has worked for over ten years as a disability support worker and arts worker, is a graduate of Fine Arts at RMIT and is an Auslan speaker.
Tracie Sammut
Actress
"Avoiding the Stereotype - Representation of people with a disability in Film and TV"
Tracie Sammut is an actress who has appeared in All Saints, House Gang and most notably G.P. for which she was awarded a Logie. In 2007 Tracie also appeared in the feature film Clubland.
Judith Sears
Policy and Research - Arts and Disability Research Project, Arts Victoria
"Whose business is it anyway? - Cross sectorial partnerships"
Judith Sears graduated from the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts in 1989 and has worked in a variety of roles with theatre companies such as Black Swan (Perth), Burning House (Sydney), became a founding member of Soup Kitchen Theatre (Melbourne) and has worked with many companies in Victoria such as Anthill, La Mama, Playbox, and Melbourne Workers Theatre. From theatre, Judith then moved into the area of visual arts and video creation, working for Sista Girl Productions and City of Port Phillip Koori Unit as well as producing art shows for Optus Cable and 3CR Radio. Judith joined Arts Victoria in 2001 and has held various positions within the organisation. Her current positions is in Policy and Research working on the Victorian Governments Arts and Disability Research Project. Judith is the Project Manager of Arts Victoria’s Disability Action Plan 2009-2013 and in 2008 the Disability Action Plan group was awarded a Department for Premier and Cabinet Achievement Award.
Kate Sulan
Founding Artistic Director, Rawcus
"Your Excellence We Present Hunger"
Kate Sulan is the founding artistic director of Rawcus, an ensemble of performers with and without disabilities from Victoria. She has direct for companies such as Back to Back Theatre, the Women’s Circus, DVA Theatre Company and Outback Theatre. Kate has also worked as a dramturge with Stuck Pigs Squealing and the Malthouse Theatre. She has been an assistant director for Melbourne Theatre Company, Playbox and the State Theatre Company of South Australia where she received a Creative Fellowship. In 2002, Kate received an Ian Potter Cultural Trust Award to undertake an exchange with disability theatre companies in Europe. In 2005 Kate won the International Arts Festival Award for the Melbourne Fringe.
Clare Tizard
Richard Llewellyn Arts & Disability Trust Fund
"Dedicated funding for artists with a disability – Is this the way forward?"
Clare Tizard has been involved in the arts for over twenty years and is a trained performing arts teacher. For six years she worked as a community arts officer in Adelaide. She moved into the area of event management and worked at the South Australian Film Corporation, National Motor Museum, Art Gallery of South Australia, South Australia Museum and the Centenary of Federation. Since 2002 she has worked at Arts SA on a number of programs including the Community Arts Development, Australian Performing Arts Market and Industry Development programs. In 2007 she assisted in the development of the new Richard Llewellyn Arts and Disability Trust funding program and has overseen three funding rounds. Clare has been on the working group for the development of the national Arts and Disability Strategy since October 2007.
Sarah Tracton
Artist / Communications Manager, Arts Access Australia
"Access is Always Access to an Experience"
Sarah Tracton has broad experience in media and communications and is the recipient of the prestigious Churchill Fellowship Award, investigating cinema access for audiences with a disability internationally. Exploring the notion of a soundless existence, Sarah directed White Sound in response to losing her hearing in her early twenties. The film went on to screen at festivals worldwide and win numerous awards. Invited to present at the Emotions Pictures Documentary and Disability Film Festival in Athens and The Way We Live in Munich in 2009, Sarah gained invaluable insight into disability film festivals worldwide. She is frequently called upon to speak as an access advocate at schools and councils, delivering presentations at the 2009 Australian and NZ Deaf Educators Conference, Screen Australia and National Gallery of Australia. Sarah is currently the Communications Manager at Arts Access Australia and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, University of Technology, Sydney.
Jane Trengove
Artist
"Excellence – What is it anyway?"
Jane Trengove is a visual artist with a disability whose work is exhibited locally, interstate and overseas. Jane’s work engages the relevance of contemporary art in wider social and political debates, such as those concerning gender, sexuality and disability. In 2009 Jane participated in the exhibition Darwins Bastards at Verve Gallery, Sydney University.
Scott Trevelyan
Artist / Willowbank Studio
"The Practicing Artist Perspective: Too Bissi For Boredom or Loneliness"
Scott Trevelyan, master printmaker and art facilitator was the recipient of the Accessible Arts Bundanon Residency for 2008. Scott graduated from Southern Cross University, Lismore in 2007 with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and works with various print mediums such as etching and lino-block, to create works on paper and artist-books. In August 2002, Scott was involved in a serious motorcycle accident in which he acquired extensive injury. During his rehabilitation he became involved in BISSI (Brain Injury Support Service Incorporated) and began to promote art as a cathartic means of recovery to the support group. He has worked closely with both SCU and BISSI to construct an art studio at his property in Alstonvale, known as Willowbank Studio. This studio has been operating for two years and holds workshops for BISSI members. It has become a very successful resource that the North Coast Area Health, Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service also utilises to reintegrate clients into a social environment.
Anni Turnball
Curator, Design & Society, Powerhouse Museum
"Ways of seeing differently"
Anni Turnbull has worked as a curator on many exhibitions and their associated websites at the Powerhouse Museum. She has give paper at national and international conferences on museum interpretation, oral histories and Museums and social change. Anni’s post graduate degrees are in women’s studies and photography. The exhibitions Anni has worked on covered diverse communities. They have also examined changing attitudes to the environment, migration and disability. Putting peoples voices in exhibitions and reflecting communities in the Museum are some of her passions. Anni has been the museum curator linked with Living in a sensory World Stories from people with blindness or low vision; Anni has also recently curated Greening the Silver City: seeds of bush regeneration, a regional travelling exhibition showing the first bush regeneration in Australia in the 1930s located in Broken Hill.
Alex Varley
CEO, Media Access Australia
"Access Technology is Mainstream now!"
Alex Varley has been with Media Access Australia and its predecessor, the Australian Caption Centre, for 14 years. Prior to that he held senior roles at Sydney Theatre Company, Australian National Maritime Museum and BP Australia. He has a Bachelor of Business in marketing and post-graduate qualifications in town planning, which are surprisingly useful in the world of media access. Alex was the inaugural chair of the communications advocacy organisation Australian Communications Consumer Action Network Limited (ACCAN) and is a director of Australian Social Innovation Exchange Pty Ltd (ASIX).
Eleanor Winkler
Producer (Film & Theatre)
"Avoiding the Stereotype - Representation of people with a disability in Film and TV"
Eleanor Winkler is an award winning film and theatre producer who is committed to representing diversity on screen and stage. Her career in the Arts began in 2006 when she took the helm as General Manager of Western Sydney’s leading youth arts organisation Powerhouse Youth Theatre, and has worked fiercely since then to realise creative projects highlighting the diverse cultural landscape of Australia on all scales: from small street theatre performances to large scale site specific theatre pieces and feature films. Eleanor line produced award winning feature film Missing Water (2009 Sydney International Film Festival Official Selection; winner DigiSPAA 2009 Award) written and directed by Khoa Do. She also produced award winning short film Be My Brother, written and directed by Genevieve Clay, winner 2009 Movie Extra Tropfest Best Film. Currently, Eleanor is based at CuriousWorks producing a multimedia social enterprise project for young people in Western Sydney called Urban Stories.
Michael Winter
Writer
"Avoiding the Stereotype - Representation of people with a disability in Film and TV"
Michael Winter began his professional writing career on stage with the Rock Musical Effortless Way in 1986. He followed this with a series of radio plays called Police Radio Nemesis in the late '80's. Michael was also part of the original creative team on Blue Heelers, performing a number of roles over a nine-year period. Michael then worked on the creation of the series Water Rats. Other shows Michael has worked on include the serial Pacific Drive, sci-fi series UFO 2 and many others. Currently Michael has a feature film in development in the US and other television projects commissioned in both the UK and US. Michael has also been on the National Executive Council for the Australian Writers Guild and served as Chairperson for its NSW committee. Michael has also represented the Australian Writers' Guild on the National Media and Mental Health Group Committee and acted as Team Leader for the scriptwriters working group for Mindframe Stage and Screen.
Gareth Wreford
Executive Director, Arts Access Australia
"National Arts and Disability Strategy - Where to from here?" and
"Removing the Obstacles - Access & Heritage"
Gareth Wreford is Executive Director of Arts Access Australia, the national peak body for arts and disability. Gareth provides leadership and direction for the organisation to increase cultural participation by people with a disability through developing partnerships and influencing a diverse range of stakeholders across the arts, disability, mental health, ageing, employment and education portfolios. Gareth has previously worked in Audience and Market Development and Community Cultural Development for the Australia Council and holds qualifications in Accounting, Cultural Studies and Community Cultural Development.