Disability Arts History Australia

Items

• "The first ACT DisAbility Arts Festival is held"
  In 2004, the first ever ACT DisAbility Arts Festival was held as part of International Day of DisAbility celebration.
• “Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) recognised as an independent organisation in 1995”
  Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) gained seed funding from the government in 1994 and was recognised as an independent organisation in 1995. The organisation shares a history with Disabled People’s International (Australia) (established 1983) and its National Women’s Network (established 1985).
• “Disabled People’s International (Australia) (DPIA) formed in 1983”
  The organisation Disabled People’s International (Australia) (DPIA) was formed in 1983. Thirteen disabled Australians who attended Disabled People’s International (DPI) first world assembly in Singapore in 1981, the International Year of the Disabled Person, returned home to set up the Australian branch two years later. The Women with Disabilities Australia online history reports that DPIA “from the outset, was dominated by disabled men. Only 3 of the 11 members of its governance structure were women, and there was no mention of women or gender in DPIA goals and objectives.” This led to the establishment of a women’s network within DPIA, known as the National Women’s Network (DPIA).
• “Demonstrators protest inadequate funding for disability support in Adelaide, 1992”
  On the 13th March, 1992, 100 demonstrators gathered in Adelaide to protest inadequate funding for disability support. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Housing and Community Services Brian Howe was “heckled” by the group outside an event at Jubilee Hall during a health care expo. Howe agreed later that year to “honour a federal government promise to expand the National Attendant Care Scheme,” that is, after another demonstration by 70 advocates outside Parliament House.
• “Advocates fight for accessible public transport”
  In 1994, Maurice Corcoran (a wheelchair user) lodged a complaint about the South Australian government ordering 50 new buses that were not accessible. The Australian Human Rights Commission successfully negotiated for all new buses to be fitted with ramps. Then, in 1999, a protest about the lack of public transport options for people with disability saw Citizens for Accessible Public Transport block traffic in Sydney’s city centre.
• “1993 welfare report includes people with disability as one of four foci”
  ‘Australia's Welfare 1993: Services and Assistance’ was the first biennial report to include information on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Statistics on people with disability was one of four main areas. https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/aa045df7-78e3-465e-b4b5-079b6ae6ace8/aw93.pdf?v=20230605150811&inline=true
• “Commonwealth Disability Strategy launched in December 1994”
  The Commonwealth Disability Strategy was launched in December 1994. The strategy was meant to ensure compliance by Commonwealth Departments with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (passed in 1992). The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House reports that “Results have been uneven, especially in employment, but the Act has made some breakthroughs on education and disability access in new buildings.”
• “Australian Caption Centre opened in 1982”
  The Australian Caption Centre was opened 13 September, 1982. A tour took place at the Australian Caption Centre in Sydney in the 1990s; the video (now available on YouTube) explains how the Centre worked. In 2005, the Centre sold its commercial operations including the captioning services to Red Bee Media and formed Media Access Australia.
• “Australia Council releases its first Disability Action Plan”
  In 1996, the Australia Council for the Arts released its first Disability Action Plan.
• “‘Arts and Disability: A Research Report’ published in 1995”
  In 1995, ‘Arts and Disability: A Research Report’ was published. Des Walsh and Juliet London were commissioned by the Australia Council to prepare the report. However, they found little information that was relevant to the theme of the report. In addition to a review of existing literature, they met with people involved in arts organisations, disability organisations and organisations dedicated to both, as well as funding bodies. Walsh and London outlined the different ways that disabled people interact with the arts: as artists, consumers, and through art therapy. They also recognised the “negative or unduly limiting notions attached to arts in relation to disability” (12). Overall, they found “no conclusive evidence […of a] widely shared, articulated concept of a ‘disability arts’ movement in Australia” at that time. The report was intended to inform meaningful policy going forward. They made recommendations related to buildings and physical barriers, leadership, education and training and action plans.
• “The Australian Government’s Creative Nation policy released in 1994”
  ‘Creative Nation’ was released in 1994. This was the first ever cultural policy formally developed by an Australian Government. Alongside a number of art forms, the policy included establishments like libraries in its definition of culture and pledged $250 million in funding to cultural organisations.
• “Arts Access Australia established”
  Arts Access Australia was established in 1992 as a national body for arts and disability with funding support from the Australian Council for the Arts.
• “House Gang debuts on SBS”
  In 1996, a comedy television series debuted on SBS called ‘House Gang’ featuring three actors with intellectual disabilities.
• “Salubrious Productions (QLD) established in 1999”
  Salubrious Productions (Queensland) was established in 1999. Salubrious is an agency for disabled artists, representing musicians, writers and composers, theatre performers and actors, visual artists, and technicians in the creative industries. The agency continues operation today. Their website describes them as follows: “Salubrious Productions is a Brisbane-based entertainment and production agency. We represent a core of more than 200 diverse acts and artists and draw further from a large network of professional artists throughout Queensland and Australia.”
• “The national tour of the exhibition BodySuits results in commissions and new opportunities for artists”
  A visual arts exhibition, BodySuits, toured nationally between 1997 and 1999. It was curated by Jane Trengove. This resulted in commissions and new opportunities for artists. Arts Access Victoria published a catalogue for the exhibition in 1997; the exhibition showed in Melbourne from 5 July - 2 August 1997 at 200 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy (a location now known as Gertrude Contemporary).
• “Melbourne venue guides published in the 1990s”
  Arts Access Victoria published the ‘Melbourne Venue Guide: A Description of Access for People with Disabilities to Some of Melbourne's Major Entertainment Venues’ in 1992. They published an updated guide in 1998: ‘The Vic Venue Guide: A Guide to Access and Facilities at Over 75 Victorian Entertainment, Sporting and Cultural Venues’. This updated guide was produced in conjunction with VicHealth and supported by Arts Victoria. The guide provided information about where to make bookings, parking and public transport, facilities and access for disabled patrons, and seating.
• “Incite Arts (NT) established in 1998”
  What would become Incite Arts (Northern Territory) was established in 1998, known at that time as the Alice Springs Youth Arts Group (ASYAG). “ASYAG was formed as a response to a locally identified need for a vehicle to express young people’s stories in a valid contemporary cultural context.” In 2004, the organisation adopted the name InCite Youth Arts Inc and was incorporated as a not-for-profit. The following year, they became the host and auspice of Arts Access Central Australia (AACA), an arts and disability committee. The organisation’s name was revised once again in 2013, becoming Incite Arts.
• “Fusion Theatre established in 1997”
  Fusion Theatre (Victoria) was established in 1997. "Since its beginnings as a drama group, Fusion has expanded into two main performance ensembles that make up the company. The ensemble members collaborate with professional theatre makers, guest performing artists and designers, to devise theatre performances based on the stories, imagination and ideas of all participants." Fusion Theatre’s ongoing association with Deakin University's Faculty of Arts and Education means that each year, Deakin’s theatre and drama students work with Fusion as artists, performers, assistants, and theatre technicians. Some alumni continue to be involved with the company.
• “Crossroad Arts (Queensland) founded in 1996”
  Crossroad Arts (Queensland) was founded in 1996 by Steve Mayer-Miller. "Crossroad Arts collaboratively develops opportunities for people who experience a disability, to access and participate in the arts".
• “Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts, Australia (DADAA), based in Western Australia, is established in 1994”
  The National Participate Conference, hosted by Arts Access Victoria in 1990, set the scene for the emergence of the DADAA network. This came after several years of conversations among Western Australian artists about starting an organisation; the organisation was officially established in 1994. “In 1986, a small group of artists with disability met to discuss starting their own WA-based arts organisation. It is from this meeting that DADAA slowly grew, from a pilot project it became an organisation in its own right in 1994: taking the name Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts, Australia – DADAA.”
• “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 Broughton Art Society is founded in 1965”
  The Broughton Art Society was established in 1965 by Ian Broughton (as The Arts Society for the Handicapped). Broughton, who had muscular dystrophy, was a resident at The Home for Incurables. BAS offers community-based art classes to adults living with disability.
• “Inaugural High Beam festival in 1998”
  High Beam was a biennial community-based disability arts festival. It was a joint initiative of SPARC Disability Foundation and Arts In Action (through the direction of Tony Doyle). (Arts in Action later became Arts Access SA.) The 10-day event was the first of its kind in the Southern hemisphere, attracting around 20,000 people at each festival. The festival showcased theatre, dance, comedy, and music. Some celebrity artists included Adam Hills and David Helfgott. The inaugural festival (1998) invited Swedish Disability Theatre Company Mooms Teatern to perform; the company also conducted workshops with a disability-led Australian theatre company, No Strings Attached. This first festival was also the site of Tutti's first public performance as a choir.
• “Tutti Arts is founded in Adelaide by Pat Rix in 1997”
  Tutti Arts was founded in Adelaide by Pat Rix in 1997. Initially a choir of people with and without disabilities, it quickly added a focus on visual arts. Tutti has since expanded to offer programs in dance, screen, music, acting, and visual arts, and its choir continues. Programs are on offer in Brighton, Port Adelaide, and in the Barossa Valley, for adults as well as kids and youth. Tutti has performed both nationally and internationally, and has taken part in significant co-productions. Tutti Arts and KickstARt 2 Choir presented Up and Away for the KickstART Festival in Vancouver, Canada in 2004. Tutti’s international performance of 'Between the Worlds' in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2007) was remounted as a coproduction with Interact Center for the Performing and Visual Arts. Tutti returned to Minneapolis in 2009 to perform ‘Northern Lights, Southern Cross,’ which they first performed in 2007 for Adelaide Fringe. It was a collaboration with Interact, which brought together Aboriginal, Native American and Disabled Artists from the Northern and Southern hemispheres “to explore personal, racial and environmental trauma.” In 2009, Tutti Ensemble performed with the State Opera of South Australia to present ‘The Shouting Fence’.
• “Queensland Advocacy Incorporated spearhead campaigns to close institutions”
  In 1989, when the Bjelke-Petersen-Ahern Government was coming to an end, the newly established Queensland Advocacy Incorporated was spearheading campaigns around the state to close down institutions and provide financing for individual help for individuals with disabilities.