Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• “Choose Art, the Australian accessible arts directory, is launched”
  The Australian accessible arts directory Choose Art was launched in 2019. It is an initiative of Arts Access Victoria, designed for and by Deaf and disabled people. Choose Art is a Commonwealth project supported by the Cultural Ministers of each State and Territory through Arts ACT; Arts Tasmania; Create NSW; Creative Victoria; Culture and Arts WA; Arts South Australia; Arts Queensland; Department of Tourism and Culture, NT and the Federal Minister through the Department of Communications and the Arts. Arts Access Victoria has created Choose Art in partnership with Arts Access Australia, Access2Arts, Access Arts, Accessible Arts, Arts Access Darwin, Belconnen Arts Centre, DADAA and Incite Arts.
• “Essay collection ‘Growing Up Disabled in Australia’ is published in 2021”
  In 2021, Carly Findlay edited a book ‘Growing Up Disabled in Australia,’ a collection of more than 40 Australian writers with disabilities sharing their lived experiences.
• “Auslan features intermittently on Australian television throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s”
  Auslan appeared intermittently on Australian television throughout the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Ana Maria Belo has curated a video compilation of scenes featuring Auslan. Belo calls it “a very brief history lesson on Deaf Actors on Australian Television before Social Media.” As she explains, “this is not a complete list of performances, but a nod to the actors who blazed a mighty trail for those of us who attempt to follow.”
• “Australia Council start development of Code of Conduct for Access in The Arts”
  Australia Council started development of Code of Conduct for Access in The Arts. Consultation took place in 2021-2022.
• “The Australian Government announced a National Autism Strategy in 2022”
  In 2022, a National Autism Strategy was announced by the Australian Government. The Department of Social Services note that the strategy developed out of a “comprehensive co-design process.” Its objectives relate to social inclusion; economic inclusion; diagnosis, services and supports; and health and mental health. The strategy puts forth a “vision for a safe and inclusive society for all Autistic people. One where we support and empower Autistic people to thrive, in all aspects of life.”
• “Bus Stop Films begins operation in 2009”
  Bus Stop Films began operations in 2009. In their own words, they “educate, create and advocate.” Their primary focus is teaching filmmaking to disabled adults, but they also offer workshops to others of marginalised identities. Bus Stop “makes films with, for and about people from diverse backgrounds and abilities.” Their website lists support workers in every Australian state and territory.
• "Bree Hadley (2015) Participation, politics and provocations: People with disabilities as non-conciliatory audiences. Participations: journal of audience and reception studies, 12(1), pp. 154-174.”
  "Disability has always had a prominent place on the theatrical stage. Throughout the C19th, C20th and C21st to date, disabled characters have been used to signify corruption, innocence or suffering, and, of course, as salutary examples of how to overcome such suffering. In the past three decades, the work of disability scholars, activists and artists has also provided opportunities for people with disabilities to produce their own plays, performances or installations challenging these stereotypes. Interestingly, though both the body of literature on theatre makers with disabilities and the body of literature on theatre audiences has grown apace over the past decade, there is still surprisingly little written on people with disabilities as theatre audiences. In this article, I draw on observations made during five years of practical, empirical and theoretical research into disability theatre to discuss how people with disabilities work as a distinctive sub-group of spectators, with distinctive spectatorial processes, modalities and preferences, within contemporary theatre audiences. I begin with the factors that make attending theatre difficult for people with disabilities. I note that people with disabilities respond to the challenges they face in attempting to become active audiences of contemporary theatre in three common ways. I then unpack what these spectatorial modalities teach us about people with disabilities as audiences, other marginalised groups as audiences, as well as about audiences, audiencing and the part audiences play in theatre practice more generally."
• "Bree Hadley, Clark Crystal (2017) Style, stage presence, and the poetic subversion of stereotypes: A case study of Blue Roo Theatre Company. Social Alternatives, 36(4), pp. 15-21."
  "In this article, we consider the work of Blue Roo Theatre Company (http://www.bluerootheatre.org.au/), a Brisbane-based theatre company which “creates contemporary performances lead by the artistry, experiences and imaginations of an ensemble of artists with diverse ability and impairment” (http://www.bluerootheatre.org.au/). Writing from a dual insider-outsider perspective – as a scholar of disability theatre and a creator of disability theatre in conversation – we discuss the work done in the training and rehearsal room in the lead up to Blue Roo Theatre Company’s performances, such as the company’s recent sell-out performance of Orpheus and Eurydice in collaboration with Opera Queensland at the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts, and the way it creates a distinctive performance style, poetics, stage presence, pleasure for the spectators who come along to witness the results of the work, and sense of community. We document moments in which facilitators, collaborators, co-creating artists, audiences and the media alike feel the physical, psychological, and aesthetic focus and force of voice, movement and character work by people with disabilities. We identify ways in which this stage presence can subvert dominant depictions of people with disabilities as innocent, childlike, or inspirational as significantly as the content of a show. In doing so, we provide insights into Blue Roo Theatre Company’s processes, and the aesthetic results it produces, and contribute to a growing body of commentary around disability theatre and performance, which – though increasingly well understood by those working in the form – clearly can still provide surprises for audiences and commentators anticipating conventional representations of people with disabilities onstage."
• "Katie Ellis, Gerard Goggin, Beth Haller, Rosemary Curtis ed. (2019) Routledge Companion to Disability and Media. London & New York: Routledge."
  Reads, in part "An authoritative and indispensable guide to disability and media, this thoughtfully curated collection features varied and provocative contributions from distinguished scholars globally, alongside next-generation research leaders."
• "Ayse Collins, Ruth Rentschler, Karen Williams, Fara Azmat (2022) Exploring barriers to social inclusion for disabled people: perspectives from the performing arts. Journal of Management & Organization. 2022;28(2):308-328. doi:10.1017/jmo.2021.48"
  Reads, in part "We answer the following research question: What are the barriers to social inclusion for disabled people in the arts?"
• "Queensland disability fact book for arts and cultural organisations - DADAA National Network and Australia Council (1998)"
  https://disabilityartshistoryaustralia.net/s/DAHA/item/9586
• "ArtsHub (2013) Cultural Policy fails people with disabilities-Arts Access Australia is running a campaign to get a better deal for people with disabilities from the National Cultural Policy. 20 Mar 2013, ArtsHub"
  Reads, in part "By now you will have heard that the National Cultural Policy offers little for Australians with a disability. Not only is there no funding for the National Arts and Disability Strategy, but instead, the policy calls for a culture of tolerance towards people with a disability."
• "Ellan A. Lincoln-Hyde (2018) Opera, Publicity, Disability : A Case Study of the Public Persona of Marjorie Lawrence, Master of Music/Musicology, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne"
  Reads, in part "This thesis is an investigation of the public life of the Australian dramatic soprano Marjorie Florence Lawrence (b. Deans Marsh, Victoria 1907 – d. Little Rock, Arkansas 1979). Lawrence, who begun her professional stage career in Monte Carlo in 1932, was permanently paralysed from the waist down in 1941 after contracting poliomyelitis (at the time better known as infantile paralysis, now commonly referred to as polio)."
• "NuunaRon Art Group"
  Webpage for First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group, with video introducing where Paul Constable Calcott introducing the group, reads in part "The NuunaRon Art Group operates the NuunaRon Hub on the sunshine coast, a welcoming and safe space for people to share stories of resilience and keeping strong via yarning, painting and creating art and be supported."
• "NuunaRon - Min Min Lights by Josh Lennox"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Min Min Lights' by Josh Lennox
• "NuunaRon - Rainbow Serpents by Eve Kitchener"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Rainbow Serpents' by Eve Kitchener
• "NuunaRon - Totums by Paula Wotton"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Totums' by Paula Wotton
• "NuunaRon - Wiradjuri Country by Eve Kitchener"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Wiradjuri Country' by Eve Kitchener
• "NuunaRon - Pleasant Dreams by Josh Lennox"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Pleasant Dreams' by Josh Lennox
• "NuunaRon - Untitled by Aunty Robyn Lennox"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - Untitled by Aunty Robyn Lennox
• "NuunaRon - Family Lines by Aunty Robyn Lennox"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Family Lines' by Aunty Robyn Lennox
• "NuunaRon - Dreaming by Aunty Alice Bonny"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Dreaming' by Aunty Alice Bonny
• "NuunaRon - Dragonfly by Bec Jones"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Dragonfly' by Bec Jones
• "NuunaRon - Elders Gathering by Paul Constable Calcott"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Elders Gathering' by Paul Constable Calcott
• "NuunaRon - Songlines by Paul Constable Calcott"
  First Peoples Disability Network NuunaRon Art Group - 'Songlines' by Paul Constable Calcott