Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - SHAPE UP!! Poster"
  Australian Theatre of the Deaf poster for show SHAPE UP! - reads, in part "Theatre of the Deaf's new production for Primary Schools looks at health issues - exercise, food, peer pressure - in response to current alarming statistics on the health of young Australians SHAPE UP! puts the fun into fitness and takes the junk out of food."
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - Schools Performances Promotional Brochure 1996"
  Australian Theatre of the Deaf Schools Performances Promotional Brochure 1996 - promoting shows Jukebox, Show and Tell, The Very First Day, and workshops in visual communication and visual theatre
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - The Unheard World of Jasper Lawson - Promotional Flyer"
  Promotional flyer for Australian Theatre of the Deaf show The Unheard World of Jasper Lawson - reads, in part "The play traces the life of one Jasper Lawson - a young man born in the country, in seemingly ideal circumstances, except for one fact: he is deaf."
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - Northern NSW - Program"
  Australian Theatre of the Deaf tour offering publich performances, schools performances, workshops to audiences in Tamworth, Orange, Dubbo, Bathurst, Moree, Armidale, Tweed Heads, Grafton, Glen Innes, Lismore, Kempsey, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Byron Bay, Wauchope
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - Jumping Off The Shelf - Promotional Flyer"
  Australian Theatre of the Deaf promotional flyer for MORE Jumping of the Shelf - reads, in part "Announcing ... the return of Theatre of the Deaf's visual storytelling feast - Jumping Off the Shelf - with an all-new, all-Australian selection of books! MORE Jumping Off the Shelf is about books, about reading, about having fun with storytelling. A simple, visual presentation of some of today's most popular children's books."
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - Interpretation - Promotional Flyer"
  Australian Theatre of the Deaf promotional flyer for show Interpretation – reads, in part “. In a deaf family whose parents have died in a car accident, 2 sisters struggle to define their own relationship. But it takes an outsider to ultimately interpret the parents' legacy. This is a psychological twister in two languages, English and Auslan.”
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - Face to Face - Invitation"
  Australian Theatre of The Deaf invitation to show Face to Face
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - Culture Shock - Promotional Flyer"
  Australian Theatre of the Deaf promotional flyer for show Culture Shock – reads, in part “Culture Shock grapples with issues of cultural conflict, taking a humorous look at three charters as they attempt to resolve their differences.”
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - Behind The Window - Promotion"
  Promotion for Australian Theatre of the Deaf performance Behind the Window and associated workshop - reads, in part "'Behind the Window' is based o the lives of three deaf people. It mirrors the personal experiences and unique culture of the deaf. What is it like in the world of silence? What are the daily comedies and tragedies in a deaf person's life? This simple presentation is dramatic with an overlying sense of humour, guaranteed to give an audience much to think about"
• Patrick Mitchell
• Nina Oyama
• Maria Hunter
• Harry Koponen
• Alexander Jones
• "The Australian Council for the Arts established in 1968"
  The Australian Council for the Arts was established in 1968. This came after a push during the late 1960s for better support of the arts in Australia. The Council replaced the Elizabethan Trust as Australia’s main arts body, although the Trust continued to receive funding from State governments. The Council was later given statutory authority in 1975 and called Australia Council. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is recognised as a key political supporter of the arts. The election of Whitlam (serving from December 1972 to November 1975) gave unprecedented and considerable attention and funding to an arts policy which would establish an Australian cultural identity raising international awareness. The Australian Council for the Arts received an unprecedented $14 million in funding in the 1973/74 budget. This was “more than double the allocation the bodies out of which it evolved had received the year before. The Council’s allocation was increased by a further 50 per cent in the 1974/75 Budget."
• "Australian Film Commission created"
  In 1975, the Australian Film Commission was created, providing grants for film and television projects.
• Australian Film Commission
• "Australian Theatre of The Deaf - Border Morning Mail"
  Letter from Theatre of the Deaf to Editor of the Border Mail regarding language use - Reads, in part “In a recent article in the your paper (The Silent Act, 16. 8. 85} members of Australia.' s Theatre of the Deaf were referred to as 'deaf and dumb'. It is a great shame that this archaic phrase is still so widely used, as it is both inaccurate and potentially insulting to members of the modern deaf community of Australia.”
• Jeremy Godwin
• Jenny Nicholls
• Jennifer Nicholls
• Brett Casey
• “The Australian Theatre of the Deaf established”
  In 1973, the Australian Theatre of the Deaf (ATOD) began as an amateur drama group. ATOD became a professional group in 1979 and staged many works during the decades to follow. Leading ATOD actors were interviewed in the 1990s for SBS about their work; snippets of a rehearsal were captured on film.
• “Screen Australia commissions the reports ‘Seeing Ourselves’ (2016) and ‘Seeing Ourselves 2’ (2023)”
  In 2016, Screen Australia commissioned a report "Seeing ourselves: Reflections on diversity in Australian TV drama". The report highlighted the lack of characters on TV with a disability. When characters with a disability were part of the story they were played by actors without a disability and were portrayed as either unemployed or retired. Screen Australia commissioned a follow-up report in 2023 called "Seeing Ourselves 2 - Diversity, equity and inclusion in Australian TV drama". This report shows that, while diversity is a global conversation and there is an increase of disability representation, it remained significantly lower than the actual disabled population.
• “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.”