Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• "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.
• "South Australian Film Corporation (2018) Disability Screen Strategy"
  Reads, in part "Launched in 2018 under the SAFC’s Delivering Diversity umbrella, FULL TILT is the SAFC’s initiative for an inclusive approach to skills development for screen content makers with disability, and a starting point for driving change across the industry to achieve greater inclusion for practitioners with disability to develop their craft."
• “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.”
• “Access Arts commissions a multi-arts project, Peter Vance performs the song ‘Welcome to My Day’ at the 1999 Wataboshi Festival in Japan”
  Peter Vance was asked by Access Arts to team up with Ant McKenna to compose a song. He then performed ‘Welcome to My Day’ at the 5th Asia Pacific Wataboshi Music Festival in Japan in 1999. Access Arts sent disposable cameras out to members across Queensland; each story became a collage in the State Library foyer as a day-in-the-life of each artist.
• “The Asia-Pacific Wataboshi festival comes to Brisbane”
  Hosted by Arts Access Qld, in 2003, the Asia-Pacific Wataboshi festival was brought to Brisbane with the aim to raise the profile of disability arts. David Helfgott was the ambassador.
• "Undercover Artist Festival Program 2021"
• Jeff Usher
• Peter Vance
• "Interview with Peter Vance"
  Peter Vance is a singer, songwriter, musician, performer, facilitator and disability arts advocate. Interview Summary: Peter Vance is a songwriter, performer, musician and singer. Peter suggested disability arts in the last 20 years has become more visible and popular reflecting a positive shift in how society views disability as part of the rich tapestry of human experience. This is reflected in how the arts now tell the stories of individuals with disabilities, not simply as artists with a disability, but as whole people whose varied experiences - visible and invisible - inform and enrich their creative expression. However, there are still challenges with funding and accessibility and ongoing struggles for recognition and support of disability art. Changes in how organisations operate to suit new funding such as the NDIS have potentially limited the spontaneity and personal touch that smaller, community-driven organizations once offered. Peter said it is essential to continue to push for better understanding, support, and visibility for people with all kinds of disabilities in every aspect of life, including the arts, to truly embrace inclusivity.
• "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.
• "Sydney Festival - StickybrickS MEDIA RELEASE - 2006"
  Sydney Festival - StickybrickS 2006 MEDIA RELEASE - Reads, in part "By 2002 Northcott was infamous once again as a seething pit of violent crime, multiple murders and suicides, with residents traumatised and Sydney’s media swarming, ready to pronounce this community a blot on an otherwise perfectly-good-inner-city-real-estate-investment-opportunity. Northcott residents, however, refused to be tarred with the same media brush and began working with national arts organisation Big hART writing, researching, filming, composing, performing, painting and photographing."
• “Arts Access Victoria – Annual Report 2001-02”
• “Arts Access Victoria – Annual Report 2002-03”
• Kat Worth
• “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),
• Jodee Mundy Collaborations
• "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
• “Tutti Arts 2018 Highlights”
  Tutti Arts 2018 Highlights – information about The Sisters of Invention , Sit Down Shutup and Watch Film Festival, Company AT, OzAsia Festival
• Jianna Georgiou
• Maddy Macera
• Eva Sifis
• Emma Butler
• David Doyle
• “Arts Access Victoria – Art For Everybody – Promotional Program”
• "Tutti Arts - Annual Report 2011"
  Tutti Arts Annual Report 2011 - includes Values, Artistic Director’s and President’s Report, Partnerships, Collaborations, and Programs, including Dance, Choral, Film and Outreach Programs, productions of ‘One’ and ‘Magic Flute,’ Financials, Artists and Staff