Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• Australia Council
• Creative Australia
• Australia Council for the Arts
• “In 2014, the Australia Council introduces its first grant specifically for artists with disabilities”
  In 2014, the Australia Council introduces its first grant specifically for artists with disabilities. Then Australia Council CEO Tony Grybowski announced “the Artists with Disability Pilot Program; the Council’s Disability Action Plan for 2014-2016; and additional funding for Arts Access Australia to increase career development and employment opportunities for artists with disability.” The pilot program granted $300,000 to disabled artists to develop and present their work. Following this, the program was extended for another three years. The “million dollar investment” would “provide development grants of up to $25,000 and project grants of up to $50,000 for individuals and groups.” That same year, the Australia Council received its first ever grant application in Australian Sign Language (Auslan). However, in 2019, Australia Council ended its dedicated funding program for disabled artists and replaced it with the National Arts and Disability Awards.
• “Australia Council releases its first Disability Action Plan”
  In 1996, the Australia Council for the Arts released its first Disability Action Plan.
• Arts In Action
• Access2Arts
• Arts Access SA
• "Australia Council for the Arts (2022) Australia Council releases Towards Equity: a research overview of diversity in Australian arts."
  Reads, in part "The Australia Council for the Arts have released their critical new report Towards Equity: A research overview of diversity in Australia’s arts and cultural sector. This overview gathers published and unpublished data and research on representation within the arts and cultural sector in Australia."
• Arts Access Society Inc. (Victoria)
• Arts Access Victoria
• "Creative Australia (2024) releases 'Equity: Arts and Disability Associated Plan"
  Reads, in part "The Australia Council for the Arts have released their critical new report Towards Equity: A research overview of diversity in Australia’s arts and cultural sector. This overview gathers published and unpublished data and research on representation within the arts and cultural sector in Australia."
• Accessible Arts
• "Queensland Government releases Arts & Disability Plan 2024-2026"
  Reads, in part "The Queensland Government acknowledges the rights of people with disability to participate equally in the state’s cultural life and to have the opportunity to develop and use their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, as recognised in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability."
• Restless Dance
• Restless Dance Company
• Restless Dance Theatre
• Back to Back Theatre
• “Creative Australia releases reports on arts participation, including d/Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent artists and audiences”
  A series of reports about arts and disability in Australia published in the mid-to-late-2010s are summarised on the Creative Australia website. Sources for the summary include Connecting Australians: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey (June 2017), Making Art Work: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia (2017), Creating Pathways: Insights on support for artists with disability (2018), and Arts and Disability in Australia: Meeting of Cultural Ministers (2018). The overview of this research series demonstrates that disabled Australians’ participation in the arts had increased as access had grown, though equity for disabled artists, especially those with intersecting marginalised identities, continued to face barriers. It reports that work by disabled artists is innovative and transformative.
• Disability and Arts Disadvantage and the Arts Australia (DADAA)
• "Commonwealth of Australia (2024) Equity: the Arts and Disability Associated Plan"
  "Equity: the Arts and Disability Associated Plan (the Plan) was released on 14 November 2024. The Plan is a four-year roadmap of activities to build the foundations for equity for artists, arts workers and audiences with disability across Australia, with an $8.1 million investment in actions to drive change."
• DADAA Network
• DADAA National Network
• Arts Project Australia
• “Office of the Arts releases 'Creative Australia – National Cultural Policy' (2013) , is critiqued for its reference to 'tolerance' of disabled people”
  The national cultural policy ‘Creative Australia’ was published in 2013. It was critiqued for its lack of disability arts funding and its reference to 'tolerating' disabled people. As Arts Hub reported, “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.”