Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• "Interview with Nick Hughes"
  Nick has worked as an actor, director, writer, artistic director, dramaturg and was the Company Manager for Restless Dance Theatre Interview Summary Nick Hughes is a retired arts administrator who has worked in various capacities within the arts industry, including as an actor, writer, stage manager, and notably as the company manager for Restless Dance Theatre. Nick gained degrees in drama, and sociology, and moved from the UK to Australia in 1973. During the interview, Nick reflects on his significant contributions to the arts and disability sectors. Despite being unfamiliar with disability arts in the beginning, Nick says he became deeply involved and committed to the field, valuing disability arts for the social and political aspects. Nick discusses witnessing first-hand the growth and development of individuals through creative expression. Throughout his career, Nick says he has seen the evolution and increasing recognition of disability arts as a legitimate and powerful art form capable of altering people’s perceptions and advocating for inclusivity and equality in society.
• Caroline Bowditch
• "Interview with Graham Wilfred Junior"
  Graham Wilfred Junior is a Yolngu man and artist with Incite Arts where he works with different mediums including filmmaking, writing, performing and music. Interview Summary Graham, an emerging artist with spina bifida whose father inspired his passion for art, has pursued various art forms including painting, music, and digital art, now calls Mparntwe/Alice Springs home, and is venturing into theatre and filmmaking. His digital artwork, through the creation of the indigemoji app, helps teach the Arrernte, the language of the First Nations people of Mparntwe/Alice Springs. He now seeks to expand his impact through acting and creating films. Graham's motivation is to both celebrate and inspire people with disability, aiming for recognition as an artist rather than focusing solely on his disability. Graham shares his journey with Incite Arts, highlighting his involvement in music workshops, acting classes and script development, emphasizing the importance of representation and empowerment for individuals with disability. Ultimately, he aims to document his experiences and create impactful performances that leave a legacy to encourage others to pick up where he leaves off, ensuring the continuity of artistic expression within his community.
• “Studio A – Inside Studio A – Promotional Flyer 2020”
  Information about project 2020, in which creative producer Amelia B created "Inside Studio A" as an ‘about’ video featuring the work of artists, including interviews with Mathew Calandra, Thom Roberts, Catherine McGuiness, Jaycee Kim, and Meagan Pelham. Photograph by Cybele Malinowski.
• "Interview with Gayle Kennedy"
• "Blue Roo Theatre Company - SongCircleReport"
  The Song Circle Evaluation Report (2014), written by Kirsty Martin, reads "In 2013 a creative partnership was formed between Blue Roo Theatre Company Inc. and Opera Queensland’s Open Stage. The Arts Queensland and Centacare Disability Services Queensland funded partnership resulted in ‘Song Circle’, a song-based production performed over three days at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane."
• "Accessible Arts - Annual Report 1992"
  Accessible Arts - Annual Report 1992 - Staff, Management Committee, and contents including BACKGROUND INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESSIBLE ARTS, ACCESSIBLE ARTS' AIMS, CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT, SECRETARY'S REPORT, CO-ORDINATOR'S REPORT, TREASURER'S REPORT & AUDITOR’S REPORT, A.C.E. MAGAZINE, establishment of a national body - DISABILITY IN THE ARTS, DISADVANTAGED IN THE ARTS, AUSTRALIA (DADAA)
• "DADAA Annual Report 2022-2023"
  DADAA Annual Report 2022-2023 – Chair’s and Executive Director’s Reports, People, Partners, Arts and Client Services, Projects including 4:48 Psychosis, Digital Art for Life, Exhibitions, Financials
• "Interview with Michèle Saint-Yves"
  Michèle Saint-Yves is a playwright, filmmaker, poet, and director. Interview Summary Michèle Saint-Yves’ background includes a colonial upbringing in Pacific territories, a Scottish boarding school education, and a complex personal journey of confronting her own inherent racism and colonial legacy, particularly through her writing. Her work as an artist with disability is deeply informed by her sense of otherness and focuses on creating inclusive performance-based work that challenges mainstream audiences and systems, aiming for transformative experiences that impact disability justice and community. Michèle actively embraced the social model of disability, which shifted her understanding of herself and her art, and has received recognition for her pioneering work with the prize-winning show "Clock for No Time." However, recognising the social model’s limitations, her current creative endeavours are concerned with 'access intimacy' and evaluating the lasting impact of her performances, in collaboration with other artists and through research grants.
• "Founder of the Victorian Association of Braille Writers and the Association for the Advancement of the Blind publishes her memoirs"
  In 1947, “Memoirs of Tilly Aston: Australia's Blind Poet Author and Philanthropist” was published. “Memoirs of Tilly Aston” is an autobiography by Mathilda Ann Aston who was the first blind person in Australia to go to university. Aston founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers and the Association for the Advancement of the Blind.
• “Australia Council grants funding for projects about disability or for disabled participants throughout the 1970s”
  The 1974/75 Australia Council annual report states $1,350 in funding granted to Spectrum Films (NSW) to "develop a screenplay for a feature film of the social pressures on a deaf mute”, as well as a $4,500 travel/study grant to Lloyd Nickson (QLD) "to attend summer schools in children's theatre and theatre for deaf children (USA and UK) for six months". In the same year, the Council reported Bryan Gracey as one of numerous individuals in receipt of Experimental Film funding for his short film ‘The World of a Blind Child’ (1975) about the emotional and physical difficulties 10-year-old Peter faces and how he navigates his disability. In the 1974/75 financial year, Australia Council’s crafts board awarded $1,288 to the Wheelchair and Disabled Association (NSW) for "Jewellery making tools and equipment". The 1979/1980 Australia Council annual report describes the following funding: "As in previous years, a grant was given to the Braille and Talking Book Library for its Braille Book of the Year.”
• “Australia Council praises NSW Theatre of the Deaf and provides some funding to the Deaf theatres throughout the 1970s”
  The 1976/77 Australia Council annual report stated: "The NSW Theatre of the Deaf is a significant achievement. The only funded organisation in Australia working in nonverbal theatre, its production of King Lear received widespread praise. This company is now accepted as operating in a legitimate area of theatre rather than performing mime works for the deaf. This offers wide scope for innovation." The Council’s 1977/78 annual report recorded that it granted funding to the NSW Theatre of the Deaf “towards salaries of artistic director, deaf director, and tutors’ fees in 1978” for $25,000; the “presentation of theatre pieces (mime, clowning, puppetry) in public performance” for $2,500, and “towards costs of a production in 1978” for $4,000. It also awarded $1,980 to Queensland Theatre of the Deaf “towards the cost of transporting company to Sydney for seminar with NSW Theatre of the Deaf”. Drama Resource Centre (Victoria) received $2,840 “to develop student theatre at Victoria School for Deaf Children” and $630 went to Children’s Activities Time Society (Western Australia) for the “cost of deaf mime artist, Rae Gibson, to undertake four week visit to Melbourne and Sydney to work with deaf artists”. The following annual report for 1978/79 recorded that the Council granted $25,000 to the NSW Theatre of the Deaf “towards salaries of artistic director, administrator and tutors” in 1979. The Council also awarded $1,800 to the Queensland Theatre of the Deaf towards a salary for Geoffrey Rush to work with the company in 1979. The 1979/1980 Australia Council annual report mentions funding “provided for a playwright-in-residence at the NSW Theatre of the Deaf.”
• “Salubrious Productions (QLD) established in 1999”
  Salubrious Productions (Queensland) was established in 1999. Salubrious is an agency for disabled artists, representing musicians, writers and composers, theatre performers and actors, visual artists, and technicians in the creative industries. The agency continues operation today. Their website describes them as follows: “Salubrious Productions is a Brisbane-based entertainment and production agency. We represent a core of more than 200 diverse acts and artists and draw further from a large network of professional artists throughout Queensland and Australia.”
• “Alan Marshall writes ‘I Can Jump Puddles’ in 1955”
  Alan Marshall wrote 'I Can Jump Puddles' in 1955., the first in a series of works about growing up with a disability. The subsquent books were 'This Is the Grass' (1962), 'In Mine Own Heart' (1963), and 'Hammers Over the Anvil' (1975). Marshall contracted polio at age six and became physically disabled.
• “Writeability (VIC) is established in 2012”
  The Writeability program was established in 2012, beginning as a partnership between Writers Victoria and Arts Access Victoria. "Writeability program supports writers with disability wanting to develop their skills and writing careers." It aims to remove barriers and provide information, resources, and fellowships so disabled writers can “tell their own stories in their own way”.
• “Arts Access Victoria – Annual Report 1998-99”
  Arts Access Annual Report 1998-1999 - Mission Statement, Chair’s message, Founder’s Message, Executive Director's Report, Artistic Program – Art Day South and Art Day West with projects – “Inside Out, Outside In” exhibition, “Through the Glass” documentary, “Good Dancer, Nice Dress” documentary, “Body Suits” Exhibition, “Dream Boxes” and performance of “Sweet Revenge”, EASE. Training and Professional Development, Public Relations, DADAA, Board, Staff and Volunteers, Financial Reports, Acknowledgements.
• “Arts Access Arts Access Artsider May 2014”
  Arts Access Arts Access Artsider May 2014 – “This issue of Artsider sources visual arts from the Supported Residential Services (SRS) Studios program” and “Much of the written material in this issue was sourced through Write-ability a partnership program between Arts Access Victoria and Writers Victoria” – discussion of outsider art being “in”, description of Arts Access Victoria, showcasing visual art and creative writing from 17 artists - Bruno Conci, Colin Ferris, David Smyth, Deb Lissek, Diane Chen, Dimitrios Jim Mouhtsis, Felicity Mimigiannis, Gavin Jackson, Giovanni Dimase, Jalal Merhi, Marco Sirolli, Maribel Steel, Pauline Matton, Peter Piwko, Robbie Weir, Sandy Jeffs, Theo Psathas
• “Arts Access Victoria - Arts Access Society Inc.- EASE Entertainment Access Service Newsletter April 1990”
  Arts Access Victoria EASE Entertainment Access Service Newsletter April 1990 - Venue notes for the Princess Theatre, 1990 Melbourne Theatre Company season
• “Arts Access Victoria - Arts Access Society Inc.- EASE Entertainment Access Service Newsletter August 1990”
  Arts Access Victoria EASE Entertainment Access Service Newsletter August 1990 - The Last Laugh Theatre venue notes
• “Arts Access Victoria - Arts Access Society Inc.- EASE Entertainment Access Service Newsletter February 1990”
  Arts Access Victoria EASE Entertainment Access Service Newsletter February 1990 - Venue notes for St Martins Youth Arts Centre, exhibitions at Museum Victoria, Melbourne Symphony concerts at Sidney Myer Music Bowl
• “Arts Access Victoria - Arts Access Society Inc.- EASE Entertainment Access Service Newsletter June 1990”
  Arts Access Victoria EASE Entertainment Access Service Newsletter June 1990 - Venue notes for the Meat Market Craft Centre
• “Arts Access Victoria - Arts Access Society Inc. - Access Newsletter Vol.1 August 1985”
  Arts Access Arts Access Society Access Newsletter Vol.1 August 1985 - The Wider ContextCrafts Research – Aardvark Project, Reaching Out conference in Washington DC, conference in Bellagio, Italy, Programme - "A Day in the Life of Parkville Psychiatric Unit” video, Community programmes including Reaching out Cartwheel – Access Arts QLD - 'Cast Off' production, project – “Fair Play”, Arts Access Committee - Melbourne Zoo programme, Activities
• "Writers Victoria profile postcards of Write-ability Fellows - Giovanni di Mase"
  Writers Victoria profile postcards of Write-ability Fellow Giovanni di Mase
• "Writers Victoria profile postcards of Write-ability Fellows - Heidi Everett"
  Writers Victoria profile postcards of Write-ability Fellow Heidi Everett
• "Writers Victoria profile postcards of Write-ability Fellows - Kate Wood"
  Writers Victoria profile postcards of Write-ability Fellow Kate Wood