Accessible Arts / arts + disability NSW

Taking the Lead

Festival First Night sets the stage for access

The 2012 Sydney Festival will take over Sydney from 7 to 29 January and the Festival program is offering a range of access initiatives to make every effort to ensure as broad an audience as possible attend. The Festival program is available in alternative formats including mp3, large print word document and an online interactive brochure. Captioning and audio description are available at a range of theatre performances. A direct access phone line and email for easy booking is available. Accessible viewing areas for people with disability are available at the free outdoor events including the Festival First Night concerts in The Domain and the Parramatta Opening Party. Designated wheelchair spaces where available will be sold at the lowest price in the house for paid performances. Sancha Donald, CEO Accessible Arts said, “It’s excellent to see Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu opening The Domain stage at the Festival First Night, this is my pick, its free, its accessible and Gurrumul is one of Australia’s great music talents.”

Building bridges to the Arts

Mary Smith, a visual artist based in the Redfern area, talked to Accessible Arts about how Weave Arts Centre helped her start painting, leading to one of her art works being chosen by Sydney Opera House for the cover of their new Reconciliation Action Plan, launched earlier in 2011. Mary, a woman of the Yorta Yorta and Warrajaree clans, was born in Walwa, Victoria and left home at the age of 14 with her sister, settling in Sydney and having a family of her own. Now over forty years later, Mary has discovered her talent and passion for art making. For the last two years she has attended Weave Arts Centre, going to the studio most days of the week to paint and make ceramics. “Having my artwork chosen by Sydney Opera House for their Reconciliation Action Plan means the world to me. It was a shock when I found out that my artwork would represent the way forward for Sydney Opera House to offer programs designed to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.” Read more: Feature

Concourse leading place for conference

Sydney’s newest entertainment destination, The Concourse in Chatswood, will host Accessible Arts’ third Arts Activated National Conference in October 2012. This new cultural hub, many years in the planning and with considerable consultation with the disability sector and with Accessible Arts, is a leading example of accessibility within a world-class Arts centre. “We chose this venue to reflect the theme of our next conference Desire and Destination. We want people to have a practical interactive experience of access at the conference, to focus on the cultural destination we are moving towards for people with disability participating in the Arts,” said Amanda Tink, Conference Convenor and Training Coordinator at Accessible Arts. “We believe this destination is a collective desire within Australian cultural life, and the conference will offer practical outcomes for people to take away to support this desire.” The third Arts Activated National Conference will be held on 30 and 31 October 2012.

Connecting Communities begins across the North Coast

Julie Barratt, the Accessible Arts Officer North Coast has announced the launch of Accessible Arts' Connecting Communities project. A group show of works by artists with disability and local entertainment will take place at the Connecting Communities exhibition, Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina on Saturday 11 February 2012 from 2 to 4 pm. The Connecting Communities project is designed to assist in the establishment of new arts and disability networks and to support existing opportunities for people with disability to fully experience and participate in the arts across the broader North Coast region. The project is currently calling for expressions of interest to form two steering committees to advise on forums, events, access and workshops that will take place across 13 council regions from Kempsey to Tweed. Artists with a disability, practitioners from the arts and disability sector and representatives from local government and arts venues are encouraged to participate. Read more about the Connecting Communities.

Creative Inclusive

Auslan tour, Framing Gravity, Sydney College of the Arts,
2011.

National profile for artists and access

Framing Gravity, the 2011 AART.BOXX exhibition presented by Accessible Arts, was held at Sydney College of the Arts over two weeks in October 2011. The exhibition was attended by 570 people and a range of public programs were well attended including artist talks and art making workshops. Artist talks included performance, text and verbal presentations by Kevin Meagher, Scott Trevelyan, Georgia Cranko and Clarrice Collien. John Demos developed his artwork titled Creation in the gallery throughout the exhibition, building on the work most days. Approximately 200 people attended the launch of Framing Gravity, raising the national profile of artists with disability as well as highlighting accessibility for audiences in the visual and performing arts. This year’s exhibition included captioning on all video works; catalogues and room sheets in Braille; and audio described and Auslan tours. A gallery of images from the artist talks and the opening night is now available online.

Cafe La Vida, Blind Vision, Powerhouse Youth Theatre,
2011.

Small grants for artists go a long way

Don't DIS my ABILITY, the NSW Government’s celebration for International Day of People with a disability, presented by Ageing, Disability & Homecare was held at the Australian Museum this year on Friday 2 December 2011. Delineate projects, supported by small grants from ADHC and devolved by Accessible Arts, were highlighted at the celebration, to congratulate the range of inclusive projects in progress across the state. Renata Halusek, producer and actor from Beyond Vision, presented a showing of work from Café La Vida, a theatre piece in its first stage of development. “Delineate helped us because every one of our members were able to take the time to develop further, there are no words to explain the feeling you have, when you have the chance to do what you’re not ordinarily able to do. Then you grow. We are proud recipients of a second grant and I can see how much have we have grown. Delineate uncovers the hidden talent.” Read more: AARTS news.

Sunnyfield policy fosters artistic merit

Ten representatives from Disability Services joined the Accessible Arts Creative Programs meeting on 3 November 2011. Service providers and artists discussed policy development, including the consultation surrounding the development of the National Cultural Policy. The meeting was hosted by Sunnyfield Independence, based in French's Forest, who presented their recent activities in digital filmmaking and visual arts. Their film Red Day at the Cake Factory produced in partnership with Manly Youth Council in 2010, was shown at Framing Gravity, Accessible Arts’ national biennale art exhibition. This film is among a range of works and performances the service is producing as part of its vibrant arts program. In opening the Framing Gravity exhibition Glen Barkley, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Arts highly commended Red Day at the Cake Factory. Gaye Fleming, Community Cultural and Arts Coordinator, is the driving force behind developing the cultural activities for Sunnyfield. She discussed her process and rationale for developing a Community, Cultural and Arts Program Policy for Sunnyfield at the Creative Programs group. This policy articulates Sunnyfield's vision of cultural and artistic experience for the people they support. Read more: AARTS news.

Younger audiences engage with tactile tours

Students from Halinda School travelled from Whalan in Western Sydney to participate in the Tactile Tours - Access program at this year’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition. Visiting the exhibition for the first time, Assistant Principal Anne Bennett is enthusiatisic about attending the exhibtion as a regular event on the Halinda school calendar. Accessible Arts focused on engaging children with disability at this year’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition made possible through generous funding received from the St George Foundation and the Waverley Council. Students from Wairoa School in Bondi also participated and returned to their art room to create their own works of art. Dominic Northey Sproule (pictured), a student and keen photographer, recorded the excursion on his camera for Wairoa. Accessible Arts will continue to reach into the community with new initiatives made possibile by growing corporate and philanthropic support in 2012. In the past year philanthropic support through online donations has increased by 25 percent and we thank our supporters.

Events and Opportunities

• Inclusive Dance Classes for Children - Reach For The Stars Entertainment special needs dance program for students with low–moderate support needs.

• Rewriting the Score - Western Advocate covers recent residency for musicians who experience disability at Orange Regional Conservatorium.

• Northern Rivers Portrait Prize 2012 - The Northern Rivers Portrait Prize is a painting and drawing prize open to artists whose artwork depicts a person from the Northern Rivers.

• Cultivate grants announced - recipients of the first professional development grants for artists with disability devolved by Arts Access Australia.

• Don't DIS my ABILITY - 100 events are held throughout November and December to celebrate the diversity and ability of people with a disability plus blog and social media networking.

Feedback

We invite feedback and suggestions from our readers. Share your experiences of attending any of the listed events or offer suggestions for future newsletter items. Email feedback to info@aarts.net.au.

Send us your news

Contributions to the newsletter are welcome and encouraged. Listings should include the title, date, location, a short description (100 words), plus all available contact details, access details and an image (jpeg or gif format). Arts events, opportunities or news that will be of interest to people with disability, their families, friends and carers and are accessible will be published. Email contributions to info@aarts.net.au.