Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• "Interview with Jess Cochran"
  Jess Cochran (they/them) is an actor, model, writer and disability advocate. Interview Summary: Jess Cochran is a queer, non-binary, neurodivergent, performing artist, advocate, writer, and consumer consultant with a background in both physical and psychosocial disabilities. Their journey into the performing arts began accidentally with a role in the Awards winning Melbourne Fringe Festival production, Qualia, which opened doors to more local and international Awards-winning work in film and stage. Jess identifies proudly with their disabilities and considers their art both a personal expression and a political act aimed at highlighting the issues faced by the disability community. Jess’s work spans across writing, modelling, and various performance arts, and they wish to see an increase of disability arts representation in mainstream media with authentic casting, opportunities and improved accessibility for disabled performers. Jess is also passionate about highlighting intersectionality in disability arts.
• Julia McHale
• Josh Lennox
• John Tonso
• Jocelyn Lee
• Joceline Lee
• Jennifer Justice
• Jackie Saunders
• Grace Bell
• Eve Kitchener
• Carly Findlay
• Bryan Phillips
• Boram Lee
• Banjobe Hunt
• Angharad Butler-Rees
• Alice Green
• "Back to Back Theatre - You Tube - Small Metal Objects (2005), uploaded 2016"
  Back to Back Theatre YouTube - Small Metal Objects (2005) - reads, in part "An ingenious theatrical gem, small metal objects unfolds amid the pedestrian traffic against the backdrop of the city. On a raised seating bank with individual sets of headphones, the audience is wired in to an intensely personal drama being played out somewhere in the crowd."
• "Restless Dance - Past Shows 2012 - 2016"
  Restless Dance Website, information about past shows 2012-2016, captured 2020 – information about Debut 5: the dancers direct (five short works from Youth/Senior ensembles), In The Balance (at Adelaide Cabaret Festival) Touched (directed by Michelle Ryan with Youth ensemble), What’s a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (directed by Emma Stokes with the Senior ensemble), Naturally (directed by Michelle Ryan with Youth ensemble), Salt (touring work developed by Rob Tannion), Debut 4 – the dancers direct 2013 (short works by five company members), high voltage 2012 (short work directed by Lorcan Hopper, as part of Debut 3 – the dancers direct and toured to Port Moresby) and Howling Like A Wolf (creative via collaborations between Restless and Melbourne based Rawcus Theatre led by Kate Sulan).
• "Blue Roo Theatre Company - Productions"
  Blue Roo Theatre Company Productions 2009-2017, including Orpheus and Eurydice with Opera Queensland (2016), The Bulimba Opera with Opera Queensland (2015), a new touring Commedia dell’Arte production Hotel Pantelone (2015), a street theatre ensemble A Waddle of Ducks (2015), Song Circle with Opera Queensland (2014), parody, satire and music performance Darcy O and the Browbeat Factory (2013), small scale touring Commedia dell’Arte group production Capitano Pretends Again (2013), Flood Country (2012), The Last Night at the Grand (2011), Sugar Cane Ball (2010), and Lily Pilly Letters (2009)
• “National Arts and Disability Strategy is launched in 2009”
  In 2009, the National Arts and Disability Strategy was agreed on by Australian Cultural Minister’s Council. The strategy sought to improve access and participation in the arts and identified four priority areas: barriers to access and participation, supporting the creative practice of artists with disability, developing audiences for disability arts practice, and strengthening policy and planning within governments.
• “The 2010s sees numerous new disability performing arts companies established”
  The 2010s saw the establishment of several new disability performing arts companies and collectives, both professional and community-based, across the country: Beyond the Square (NSW, 2011), ‘stArts with a D’ Performance Ensemble (NT, 2011), Theatre on Wheels (VIC, 2011), Can You See Me? Theatre (NSW, 2012), Company AT (SA, 2012), Sprung!! Integrated Dance Theatre (NSW, 2013), Screech Arts (QLD, 2014), IndelibilityArts (QLD, 2015), AHA Ensemble (QLD, 2015), Murmuration (NSW, 2015), Raspberry Ripple (VIC, 2015), Deafferent Theatre (VIC, 2016).
• “ABC appoints Stella Young as editor of Ramp Up”
  In 2010, ABC announced the appointment of Stella Young as editor of its first (and short-lived) dedicated disability platform, ABC Ramp Up. Shawn Burns’s 2014 article in The Conversation laments the closure of the initiative and the loss of a vital platform for better disability representation in Australian media. The URL link to the Ramp Up page now opens with the following statement: “This website is no longer being updated but remains online as an archive of three and a half years of discussions and conversations regarding disability in Australia.”
• Flame Moloney
• Gary Juleff
• Paul Tuffin