Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• “Sydney Film Festival launches Screenability program in 2017”
  Sydney Film Festival launched its Screenability program in 2017. The international program was intended to offer a platform for screen practitioners with disability. Sofya Gollan was Screenability’s inaugural programmer and remained in the role until 2021.
• "A Month Of Mayhem"
  RealTime article on A Month of Mayhem, "A program of screenings, exhibitions, performances, seminars, and workshops by Deaf and colourblind artists for all audiences," presented by Access2Arts, in partnership with Adelaide Film Festival, Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT), Arts Access Australia, Unlimited UK, Tutti Arts, Sit Down Shut Up and Watch Film Festival
• Undercover Artist Festival
• "High Beam Festival Program 1998"
• "Undercover Artist Festival Program 2017"
  Undercover Artist Festival 2017, curated by Festival Director Harmonie Downes, including “Here we all are, assembled” by Kathryn Ash, “The Grumpy Cripple” by Thane Pullan, “Environment Moves Me” by Eleonora Ginardi, “Rock ‘n’ Country Blues Show” with Steve Sparrow, “Inside”, by Wielding Theatre, “Explorations” by Vulcana Women’s Circus, “Stories So True” by Ged Maybury, “Whiplash” by Scott Wings, “Hotel Pantelone” by Blue Roo Theatre Company, “Alone with the Keyboard Kat” with Jeff Usher, “Love Me” by Indelability Arts, “Just Dance” by InsideOutside Dance Ensemble, “Ambition Road” with David Truong, “Morgan Stern” by Company of Rogues, “Sing It Out” with Leah Cotterell, “Tribal Disco Ball” by Velvet Pesu and Tichawona Noble Mashawa, “Songs from the Vault” by Donna Dyson and Friends””, “Unmasterclass” by Back to Back Theatre, “What Does Your Artist Statement Say About You?” workshop with Dr Kari Sullivan, “Disability Voices and Mainstream Stages” panel facilitated by Morwenna Collett.
• "Shine - IMDB"
  Reads, in part "David Helfgott, a gifted pianist, struggles through childhood as his dysfunctional father abuses him and his siblings. Years later, he suffers a mental breakdown but manages to return as a legend."
• "IMDB Sparkles"
  Reads, in part "A 30-something-year-old Down syndrome woman leaves her past behind, and runs away from a small country town. Along her journey, she makes an unlikely friendship, teaching us all not to be afraid to celebrate who we are."
• "Jodee Mundy Collaborations - Imagined Touch - IMBD"
  Reads, in part, "When two Deafblind women asked a theatre director to help them make a show about being deaf and blind, never in their wildest dreams did they imagine it would become an award-winning show."
• "Interview with Kath Duncan"
  Kath Duncan is a writer, a director, a provocateur, a visual artist, a comedian, a producer, a journalist, a radio broadcaster and disability advocate. Interview Summary Kath Duncan is an experienced and prominent figure in the disability arts community with a passion for experimental performance arts, having witnessed the beginnings of the disability arts movement in Australia and participated in its evolution. Her art is inherently political, shaped by her unique perspective as a congenital amputee. Kath firmly believes in the inherent creative revolutions and endless inspiration within all impairments. Kath highlights the ongoing struggles within the disability arts sector, including high unemployment rates for disabled individuals, systemic barriers, and the need for disabled leadership in arts organizations. While cherishing the milestones and transformative experiences she's had, Kath calls for significant systemic changes, emphasizing the importance of team playing and collective work to support and grow the disabled artist community.
• Jodee Mundy Collaborations
• Eva Sifis
• David Doyle
• Emma Butler
• “Arts Access Victoria – Leading Change (2005-2009)"
  Arts Access Victoria - Leading Change (2005-2009) - During the mid to late 2000s, Arts Access Victoria (AAV) was recognised by Australia Council for the Arts as a key producer, supported the Deaf Arts Network (DAN), ran The Other Film Festival (TOFF),
• "Back to Back Theatre - Annual Report 2004"
  Back to Back Theatre Annual Report 2004 - Chair, General Manager, Artistic, and Ensemble reports, information about participating artists, Management Committee, and Financials, information about work, work in development, and Highlights, including touring ‘Cow’ to the Sydney Opera House, and developing Small Metal Objects, and POD residencies at the Awakenings Festival and other locations
• Restless Dance
• Restless Dance Company
• Restless Dance Theatre
• Jodee Mundy
• Madeleine Little
• South Australian Film Corporation
• "Bree Hadley, Eddie Paterson, Madeleine Little, Kath Duncan (2024) How Disability Performance Travels in Australia: The Reality Under the Rhetoric. In Czymoch, Christiane, Maguire Rossier, Kate, & Schmidt, Yvonne (Eds.) How Does Disability Performance Travel?: Access, Art, and Internationalization. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, pp. 62-76.”
  "The last three decades has witnessed the development of a distinct narrative about how disability performance has become a much celebrated component of the Australian theatre landscape. A central aspect of this narrative is the critical importance of festivals, events, and other industry initiatives that allow disabled performers to travel - both conceptually and corporeally - to meet and be mentored by other artists, and to present their work to new and more mainstream audiences, in new spaces and places, around the country, and around the world. In this chapter, we draw on historical data, collected as part of an AusStage ARC LIEF project designed to database information about disability drama, theatre, performance, and dance over the past 100 years, as well as the Last Avant Garde ARC Linkage project on disability performance in Australia, to unpack areas where the reality seems to challenge some of the dominant rhetoric."
• "Interview with Jeff Usher"
  Jeff Usher is a jazz and blues composer, arranger, pianist, vocalist, teacher, lecturer, and music consultant. Interview Summary Jeff Usher is a visually impaired Australian jazz musician with a rich history of playing music since childhood, influenced by a significant early encounter with the Jazz Action Society and key individuals like his high school music teacher Kathleen Kerr and his supportive family. Throughout his career, he has worked with a diverse range of musicians across many genres, including country, rock, and church music, and has expanded his repertoire to include political and spiritual themes, often infused with his synaesthetic experience of colour. Despite a broad professional experience, his engagement with the disability arts space developed over time, particularly through collaboration with other disabled artists, and he values working with good artists regardless of their backgrounds or disabilities. He is deeply committed to his craft, finding a balance between the aesthetic quality of his work and the joy it brings, both to himself and his audiences.
• Adelaide Film Festival
• Adelaide International Film Festival