Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• "Nola Colefax and Annee Lawrence (1999) Signs of change : my autobiography and the history of Australian Theatre of the Deaf 1973-83. Deaf Resources Australia"
  "The story of a small group of people making theatre history in a little known Australian community. The book interweaves the personal history of Nola Colefax with the history, culture and development of the deaf community." More on Nola Colefax's contribution to Theatre of the Deaf at https://web.archive.org/web/20241113210108/https://deafinnsw.com/nola-colefax.
• "Amanda Cachia (2022) Curating Access: Disability Art Activism and Creative Accommodation. London: Routledge"
  Reads, in part "This book is an interdisciplinary collection of twenty-four essays which critically examine contemporary exhibitions and artistic practices that focus on conceptual and creative aspects of access."
• "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?"
• "Ruth Rentschler, Boram Lee, Ayse Collins, Jung Yoon (2023) ‘I am a professional dancer’: A case study of performing artists with disability. In Wyszomirski, M. J. & Chang, W. (Eds.), Building professionalism in the creative sector. Oxon: Routledge, 227-246"
  "The demand for professional recognition for artists with disability is growing. There is little research, however, on the ways in which disability arts are associated with professionalism. This study examines professionalization in disability arts by comparing it with the concept of professionalization in the arts generally. It identifies three components of professionalization in disability arts by means of a case study of an inclusive arts organization. This qualitative study entails 17 semi-structured interviews with artists, staff members, and other stakeholders both with and without disabilities."
• "Jung Hyoung Yoon, Caroline Ellison, Peggy Essl (2020). Shifting the perspective from ‘incapable’ to ‘capable’ for artists with cognitive disability; case studies in Australia and South Korea. Disability & Society, 36(3), 443–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2020.1751079"
  Reads, in part "This study examined four inclusive arts organisations in Australia and South Korea, providing creative services for artists living with cognitive disability, including autism, intellectual and mental disability. This research study focused on exploring what support inclusive arts organisations and society have provided for artists living with cognitive disability to pursue professional careers."
• "Boram Lee, Ruth Rentschler, and Shin-Eui Park (2022) Connect2Abilities: Staging Virtual Intercultural Collaboration during COVID-19 in Amanda Cachia ed. Curating Access: Disability Art Activism and Creative Accommodation. London: Routledge, 45-58"
  Reads, in part "As a pilot project, Restless Dance Theatre in Adelaide, Australia and SNU MUSIC in Seoul, Korea collaborated to create a digital performing arts piece entitled Dialogue for Six Strings."
• "Fayden D'Evie (2022) From Dust to Dust: Hallucinating the Absent Exhibition, in Amanda Cachia ed. Curating Access: Disability Art Activism and Creative Accommodation. London: Routledge, 87-98"
  Reads, in part "Over several months in 2018, I developed a hybrid artist-curatorial project for the Old Castlemaine Gaol, with the working title From Dust to Dust , which sought to invert the site’s association with the sensorial policing of bodies."
• "Jung Yoon (2021) Cultural strategy for people with disability in Australia. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 28(2), 187–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2021.1916003"
  Reads, in part "This paper analyses the first cultural strategy introduced in Australia for people with disability and its evaluation reports. For an in-depth understanding of the cultural strategy, it reviews the literature on disability in historical and socio-political contexts, and on human rights for people with disability. It also discusses three key recommendations identified from the evaluations of the cultural strategy: first, to develop an information hub for the arts and disability sector; second, to facilitate collaboration between Australian governments, including arts agencies and national disability support agencies; and third, to revisit and renew the existing cultural strategy"
• "Commonwealth of Australia (2017) “National Arts Disability Strategy Evaluation Report 2013–2015.” Canberra: Meeting of Cultural Ministers."
  Reads, in part "The second Evaluation Report was endorsed by cultural ministers in September 2017. It concludes that progress continues to be made against the Strategy. It also identifies that there have been significant changes to the arts and disability sector since the release of the Strategy in 2009 such as the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme."
• "Margaret Cooper (1999) The Australian Disability Rights Movement Lives. Disability & Society, 14(2), 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599926280"
  Reads, in part "The Australian Disability Rights Movement is surviving despite funding threats to advocacy programmes. The integral relationship of advocacy funding to the Australian Disability Rights Movement is outlined. A brief history of the Australian Disability Rights' Movement is given, and whether this is a new social movement, or not, is discussed. The role of Women With Disabilities Australia is outlined."
• "DADAA Inc and Arts Access Australia (2012) Art Works: Employment in the Arts for People with Disability.  http://www.dadaa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Art-Works-Full-Report-Web.pdf"
  Reads, in part "This document provides a short overview of the full Art Works report, which captures the results from national research into employment levels, barriers and strategies around employment in the arts for people with disability. The report was produced in response to one of the key focus areas of the National Arts and Disability Strategy, released in 2009."
• "Christopher Newall (1996). The Disability Rights Movement in Australia: A note from the trenches. Disability & Society, 11(3), 429–432. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599627705"
  Reads, in part “A recent visitor to Australia from the UK commented to me on their return ‘I looked in vain for the disability rights movement. Can you tell me where they are?’ In essence, the Australia disability rights movement is currently fragmented, predominantly organised around disease labels and seems to have lost ground, compared with the self-help initiatives fostered around the time of the International Year of the Disabled Persons in 1981.”
• "Gerard Goggin, Christopher Newell (2003). Digital disability: The social construction of disability in new media. Rowman and Littlefield."
  Media representation of and for the disabled has been recharged in recent years with the expansion of new media worldwide. Interactive digital communications--such as the Interact, new varieties of voice and text telephones, and digital broadcasting--have created a need for a more innovative understanding of new media and disability issues. This engaging analysis offers a global perspective on how people with disabilities are represented as users, consumers, viewers, or listeners of new media, by policymakers, corporations, programmers, and the disabled themselves.
• "Kath Duncan, Gerard Goggin, Christopher Newell (2005) ‘Don’t Talk about Me... Like I’m Not Here': Disability in Australian National Cinema. Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine.146/147, pp. 152-159. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.043842788583710"
  Reads, in part "Disability is a central cultural identity and category in Australia, but this is not often realized. We seek to make a contribution to conversations and critical analyses of disability in Australian culture through an exploration of a privileged national cultural form, namely film. The trope of disability looms large in late twentieth century Australian cinema, and yet cultural comment on these ‘disabled’ scripts and performances has not yet considered a disabilities studies perspective. Accordingly, in this article we combine our different perspectives on disability and film into an account of how specific films use disability. In particular, we analyse key films from the 1990s as examples of powerful displays of bodies and personhood." References a range of films, including Proof (Jocelyn Moorhouse, 1991), Romper Stomper (Geoffrey Wright, 1992), Bad Boy Bubby (Rolf de Heer, 1993), Muriel's Wedding (PJ Hogan, 1994), Shine (Scott Hicks, 1996), Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001), My One Legged Dream Lover (writer Kath Duncan with dir. Penny Fowler-Smith, Christine Oslen 1998), Pins and Needles (writer Genni Batterham with dir. Barbara Chobocky, 1979), Riding the Gale (Genni Batterham with dir, Hugh Piper, 1987), Dance Me to My Song (writer Heather Rose with dir. Rolf De Heer, 1998), Heather Rose Goes to Cannes (Chris Corin, 1999), Myself When Fourteen, (Ivor, Arthur and Corinne Cantrill 1989),Film of Circles, Squares, Triangles, Lines and Dots (Arthur and Corinne Cantrill 1981), Rainbow Diary (Arthur and Corinne Cantrill 1984), House Gang (Mandy smith, 1997), Quentin Crashes Big Brother (Quentin Kenihan, 2002), Quentin, World at My Wheels (Quentin Kenihan, 2000), Ability Trek (Jacob Baldwin 1998)
• "Ted Evans, Michelle Bellon, Brian Matthews (2017). Leisure as a human right: An exploration of people with disabilities’ perceptions of leisure, arts and recreation participation through Australian community access services. Annals of Leisure Research, 20(3), 331–348."
  Reads, in part "Community Access Services (CAS) are defined as ‘Services designed to provide opportunities for people with disability to gain and use their abilities to enjoy their full potential for social independence’ [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. 2015. Disability Services National Minimum Data Set Collection: Data Transmission and Technical Guide. Canberra: AIHW]. A notable absence of international research regarding leisure, arts and recreation through CAS exists. This study explores perceptions of people with disabilities on their participation in leisure, arts and recreation through Australian CAS."
• "Anthea Skinner, Grace Thompson, Katrina Skewes McFerran (2022). Professional Pathways for Musicians with Disability in Victoria, Australia. Musicology Australia, 44(1), 21–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/08145857.2022.2088930"
  Reads, in part "The work of disabled musicians has become the focus on of an increasingly large body of academic work; however, existing literature rarely provides details about the educational experiences of these musicians, or how disability impacted these experiences. This study interviewed eleven performing musicians living with disability in Australia to elucidate the barriers and enablers that they faced in their music educations and careers."
• "Anthea Skinner, Jess Kapuscinski-Evans (2021) Facilitate This! Reflections from Disabled Women in Popular Music. Journal of Popular Music Studies 1 June 2021; 33 (2): 3–14. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2021.33.2.3"
  Reads, in part "This article is a reflection by the authors on the impact that their identities as disabled women have had on their ongoing music careers. Skinner and Kapuscinski-Evans make up two-thirds of the Australian crip-folk trio, the Bearbrass Asylum Orchestra (the term “crip” is a cultural reappropriation of “cripple”). The Bearbrass Asylum Orchestra is a band that performs as part of the Disability Music Scene in Melbourne, Australia, using folk music to portray their experiences as people with disabilities. In this article Skinner and Kapuscinski-Evans discuss the formation of and philosophy behind the band, as well as the impact that growing up as disabled women had on their musical education, careers, and influences."
• "Anthea Skinner (2017) ‘I love my body’: Depictions of sex and romance in disability music culture. Sexualities. Volume 21, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460716688"
  Reads, in part "The international disability music scene is a thriving musical subculture consisting of performers self-identifying as disabled who use their performances to explore experiences of living with disability. As a genre predominantly written by, about and for people with disabilities, it provides a space for discourse about life with disability which is largely unmediated by governmental policy, political correctness or able-bodied facilitators. As such, it is a medium through which people with disability are free to express opinions about sex and romance rarely seen in mainstream media. This article examines the ways in which the topics of sexuality and romance are explored within disability music culture."
• "Maree Roche, Ben Whitburn (2019) Mate, You’re Crippin’ Us Out: Biopolitics of the Arts Curriculum in Australia and the Swinging Identities of Dis/abilities. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies.13(3). https://doi.org/10.3828/jlcds.2019.25"
  Reads, in part "The article explores arts curriculum in Australia as developed in the contexts of schooling, community organizations, and higher education for people with disabilities and mental health concerns. Motivated to explore whether or not students provided access to modified arts curriculum are engaging in education or receiving therapy, the aim is to address a dichotomy that is seemingly present in educational institutions, but extends well beyond the school gate and informs organizational responses to arts in the lives of people with disabilities. Resourced with the theoretical contributions of dis/ability studies for its concern for the biopolitics of disability, the authors weave personal experiences through the discussion of participation in arts throughout their lives. The article concludes with a theoretical discussion of how arts provision in the Australian context might develop the social and political value of art in the lives of people with dis/abilities and for all, on the basis that its educative value is emphasized over its therapeutic one."
• "Una Rey (2022) Art and sensoria: Whose disability? ArtLink, 42(2), pp.8–11."
  "SENSORIA: Access & Agency is ArtLink’s effort to affect this swell by providing a platform for divergent perspectives and nuanced articulations of being an artist. Whatever the prevailing conditions. It also invites a discussion within contemporary art discourse that is not driven by fear (of getting it wrong, of ‘the other’, of adding injury to trauma). Art is our place of intersectionality: if you’re reading ArtLink, you’re already on the margins, and quite possibly on the spectrum."
• "Anthony White, Anna Parlane (2019). Outsider Art in Australia: Artists' Voices versus Art-world Mythologies. Art and Australia, 56 (1), pp. 80-95."
  This article explores the questions: Have you ever come across the category 'outsider art'?... What do you think of that phrase in terms of a way of describing artwork?
• "David Throsby, Katya Petetskaya (2024) Artists as Workers: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia, Creative Australia, 2024."
  "Artists as Workers: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia, by David Throsby and Katya Petetskaya, is the seventh in a landmark study, carried out independently over the last four decades by Professor Throsby and colleagues at Macquarie University, with support from Creative Australia (previously the Australia Council for the Arts). Conducted at roughly six–year intervals, the series tracks the working conditions of artists, providing information about their artistic practice, income, career development and pathways, and their broader working lives. The latest survey was in the field late 2022 and early 2023 and examines activity in the 2021-22 financial year. This edition therefore captures the conditions for artists in the wake of COVID-19 and coincides with the Australian Government’s January 2023 announcement of its five-year national cultural policy Revive: A place for every story, a story for every place."
• "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."
• "Morwenna Collett, Gill Nicol (2024) Building Strong Foundations: Research on arts and disability needs and opportunities, Creative Australia, 2024."
  "This report is a summary of an arts and disability needs and audit conducted in 2023 for Creative Australia. Through desktop research and consultation with d/Deaf and disabled artists and creative workers, peak bodies and broader arts and cultural organisations, this research provides insights into needs and opportunities in the arts and disability ecology in Australia."
• "Katie Ellis, Gerard Goggin (2015). Disability media participation: Opportunities, obstacles and politics. Media International Australia, 154 (1), pp. 78-88."
  This article discusses participatory media from a critical disability perspective. It discusses the relative absence of explicit discussion and research on disability in the literatures on community, citizen and alternative media. By contrast, disability has emerged as an important element of participatory cultures and digital technologies. To explore disability participatory cultures, the article offers analysis of case studies, including disability blogs, ABC's Ramp Up website and crowd-funding platforms (such as Kickstarter).