Items · Disability Arts History Australia

Reads, in part "There are five interrelated factors that support arts workers, arts organisations, and the arts sector at large to develop improved policy, protocol, and training practices."

Fiona Hanrahan

David King

Dave King

"Interview with Caroline Bowditch"

Caroline Bowditch is an Australian artistic director, leader, performer, presenter, instructor, disability advocate and was the CEO of Arts Access Victoria. Interview Summary Caroline Bowditch, the CEO and Artistic Director of Arts Access Victoria, shared her journey as a performance artist and her experiences working within the Disability Arts community, highlighting her creative process and the challenges faced by disabled artists in Australia. Despite significant support and successful projects in the UK, she expressed concern over the limited progression and exposure of Disability Arts in Australia, noting a lack of ambition and opportunity deterring artists from aiming for larger, mainstream stages. Bowditch emphasized the importance of integrating access as a core component of artistic work and changing the aesthetic by including diverse bodies and perspectives. She also discussed tackling intersectionality within Disability Arts, reflecting on her own experiences as a visibly disabled and queer woman, and contemplating the future of Disability Arts, the desire for cultural equity, and the impact of potential shifts in societal barriers.

"Arts Access Victoria established in 1973 and provides valuable resources and conferences throughout the decades"

In 1973, Judy Morton successfully applied for funding to start a 6-month pilot program and Arts Access Victoria was established the following year. However, due to lack of government funding and despite public appeal, programs were suspended in 1977. Fortunately, operation resumed in 1979 and AAV was formally constituted with a small School Commission fund as Arts Access Society Inc. Arts Access Victoria had both organisational and financial growth in the mid to late 1980s. This led to a diversification of arts projects and the beginning of long-term artistic programs which remain as the core programs of AAV. Arts workshops also began in regional Victoria during this time. In 1988, Arts Access was approached to run a national conference focusing on the arts and disability. Two years later, they convened P-art-ICIPATE '90 and subsequently published ‘P-art-ICIPATE '90: a conference report’. They also published ‘Inner Words Outer Spaces’, edited by Bev Roberts (1995), ‘Arts Alive: An Information Leaflet about the Ways the Arts Can Work for Older People’ (1995), ‘Accessible Theatresports’ (1996), and Bev Roberts's ‘Work Guide: How to Establish an Artist in Community Project’ (1996). In 1998, Arts Access (Victoria) assumed responsibility for its own financial management and administration. In 1999, Arts Access Victoria presented Verve!, a national symposium on arts and disability.

“Research project ‘Disability and the Performing Arts in Australia: The Last Avant Garde’ investigates the creative and aesthetic strategies of the Australian disability arts sector”

A research project beginning in 2016, ‘Disability and the Performing Arts in Australia: The Last Avant Garde,’ investigated the creative and aesthetic strategies of the Australian disability arts sector. The project sought to map “disability arts practice across the nation” by examining “the role of artistic experimentation,” “co-design[ing] accessible strategies,” and raising “critical recognition, employment and funding opportunities for artists.” The project team describes themselves as a collective “of deaf and disabled and non-disabled researcher artists, performers, writers, arts managers and theatre makers.” The work was the result of a collaboration between Arts Access Victoria, University of Melbourne, and University of Sydney. The Australia Research Council provided funding for the research.

"Accessible Arts - ACE Arts Creativity Expression - Dave King - Article: DADAA - Disability in the Arts/Disadvantage in the Arts- Iss5, Pg3"

Accessible Arts - ACE Arts Creativity Expression - Dave King - Article: DADAA - Disability in the Arts/Disadvantage in the Arts- Iss5, Pg3reads, in part "DISABILITY IN THE ARTS/DISADVANTAGED IN THE ARTS AUSTRALIA (DADAA) is a group of artists/art workers who represent the states and territories of Australia. Its members are representatives from those groups who work towards artistic empowerment and filling the creative needs of people with disabilities - that is to name a few, ACCESSIBLE ARTS and ARTS ACCESS. All the current members attended a meeting in July. They all work with people with disabilities and three have disabilities. The inaugural meeting was held in late 1990. This group was formed to facilitate and maintain a responsive external overview of the trends in the arts for those experiencing disadvantage or a disability."