Accessible Arts Monthly Newsletter
Newsletter :: September 2008
Major arts and disability events are occurring in the coming months, locally, nationally and internationally. This includes conferences, film festivals, exhibitions and forums that will entertain and inform people about access to the arts. We extend a warm welcome to International Speaker Betty Siegel who is in Australia to participate in some of these major events throughout September.
Accessible Arts News
David Gillham, Belmont Shopping Village,
2008.
AART.BOXX 08: Extending current discourses within contemporary art
Accessible Arts is proud to announce AART.BOXX 08 will be launched by Professor Colin Rhodes, Dean of Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. AART.BOXX is a three-week exhibition of works by emerging artists with a disability across all art forms. The opening night will be on Friday 17 October 2008 from 6pm to 8pm at the Tin Sheds Gallery, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, G04 – Wilkinson Building, 148 City Road, University of Sydney. The opening speeches will be Auslan interpreted. Wheelchair access is at the Wilkinson Building on street level. The Tin Sheds Gallery is located within walking distance of Redfern Station. Central station is the nearest accessible train station. All welcome.
David Gillham, Brumby's Belmont, 2008,
fibre tipped pen on paper with colliace.
Twenty-five artists from across Australia have been selected for AART.BOXX 09. A creative committee of young people with and without a disability selected this year’s artists. They have been meeting since March and are driving this year’s event. The exhibition will include Bye Bye You, a collaborative short film from the GETOUT collective, detailed drawings of vacant shopping centres created from memory by David Gillham and Makes Them Want to Hurt the Pain, a rap inspired audio track that deals with loss and rejection by Ana Nguyen. Public programs that link audiences, access and professional development to the AART.BOXX experience will be featured throughout the exhibition. This will include artist talks and accessible exhibition tours. AART.BOXX 08 is open from 18 October to 8 November 2008. For more information contact Josie Cavallaro, Arts Development Officer, tel: 02 9251 6499 (ext 4) or jcavallaro@aarts.net.au
International Speaker Betty Siegel to fill house at key event
Bookings for the forum Good Practice or the Goods Lift? Catalyst or chasm, with international speaker Betty Siegel are nearing capacity. This event is on Wednesday 3 September 2008 from 10am to 1pm at Raffertys Theatre, Parramatta Riverside Theatres, corner of Church and Market Streets, Parramatta. Betty Siegel, Director of Accessibility, from the Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts in Washington, will provide insight into how arts and disability programming can encourage arts organisations to incorporate access as part of their core business. Key arts workers will discuss inclusive leadership, innovation and impact through international exchange. Book quickly to secure a place and have questions answered at this exciting event. Contact Alison McLaren, Audience Development Officer, Accessible Arts tel: 02 9251 6499 ext 6 or amclaren@aarts.net.au. The Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, has assisted this project.
Register now for Disability Awareness and Access Training
Accessible Arts will present the final TAFE Accredited Disability Awareness and Access training for the year on Tuesday 28 October 2008 from 1pm to 5pm at the Accessible Arts Training Room, Pier 4, The Wharf, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay. Arts organisations, arts workers, and individuals will learn how to identify barriers faced by people with a disability when accessing venues and participating in cultural events. Identifying strategies for breaking down physical and attitudinal barriers, increasing access and increasing confidence when dealing with access issues for people with a disability will be included. Guest speakers will discuss their experiences on the day. This training offers a TAFE transcript on completion. Cost: $80.00. Registration deadline is 14 October 2008. For more information contact Jane Pollard, Training Manager, tel: 02 9251 6499 ext 3 or training.manager@aarts.net.au. Download booking form here.
Suzanne France as Elvis. Photo by Elica Kelly.
Western Sydney POW WOW offers cross-sector learning experience
Accessible Arts is presenting POW WOW, an arts and disability forum in Western Sydney that will offer a dynamic range of presentations and engage a lively panel discussion with key members from the Western Sydney arts, disability and local council sectors. The forum is on Wednesday 15 October 2008 from 9.30am to 1.30pm at Rafftertys Theatre, Parramatta Riverside Theatre, Corner Church & Market Streets, Parramatta.This event is FREE and is part of the Bakehouse festival. Artists, arts workers, disability service providers, arts organisations, and local councils will gain insight into accessible and inclusive arts programs and practices. Cheryle Yin-Lo from Cultural Connexions, an organisation specialising in linking people, communities and culture, is the guest facilitator at the forum. Speakers include Kate Baker from the Australia Council for the Arts, Naomi McCarthy, Manager of Public Programs, Penrith Regional Gallery & the Lewers Bequest and Claudia Chidiac, Artistic Director, Powerhouse Youth Theatre. Bookings are essential. RSVP & contact Jennifer Teo, Strategic Initiatives Co-ordinator for Western Sydney, tel: 9251 6499 (ext 7) Tues/Wed or jteo@aarts.net.au.
Tim Sharp at work.
Profile: Tim Sharp, Brisbane based artist
Tim Sharp, a Brisbane based artist, is amongst the 25 successful artists who will exhibit in this year's AART.BOXX. His work The Barbie Q was exhibited in 2007 and featured Laser Beak Man, a superhero character created by Tim, who travels through a twisted world. Since then, Tim has participated in five exhibitions including shows at the Roma Regional Gallery, Queensland and the Eternity Gallery at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra. "After participating in AART.BOXX last year, Tim gained confidence and it encouraged him to do more art," commented Judy Sharp, Tim's mother. Tim will also exhibit at the Atrium gallery at Tuggeranong Arts Centre in October and in Washington DC as part of Art Now for Autism, an online exhibition of art to benefit autism awareness. Tim is looking forward to meeting other artists and being involved in an artistic community at AART.BOXX 2008. He explains, “I like going to Sydney for AART.BOXX, it is fun and exciting. I like showing my art to new people and making new friends. People are very happy at AART.BOXX."
Marah Braye, CEO, Biennale of Sydney,
Cliff Jackson, Lord Mayor Clover Moore
and Sancha Donald, CEO, Accessible Arts
at the launch of the Biennale Lord Mayor
Community Access Day, 23 August 2008.
Audience Development Tip: Audio Description increases audience numbers at visual arts venues
On Saturday 23 August over 150 people attended selected arts venues including the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art, as part of the Biennale of Sydney Lord Mayor’s Community Access Day. Many of the participants attended as a result of professional live audio description being offered by Vision Australia volunteers, to compliment the experience of attending the exhibition. Cliff Jackson, a theatre enthusiast with a vision impairment, has been attending audio described theatre since it was introduced in Sydney in 2000. After attending the Biennale on Saturday he said, “It is extremely exciting to be attending this first audio described event at an art gallery. It’s the first step towards audio description being readily available at all exhibitions in Sydney.” The Art Gallery of NSW is planning to launch an audio description program later in 2008. This will expand upon their well established touch tours that include tactile experiences. For more information contact Alison McLaren, Audience Development, tel: 02 9251 6499 (ext 6) or amclaren@aarts.net.au.
Sector News
Vibrant new arts event in Sydney creates opportunities for all
The program for Bakehouse, a new inclusive arts event from 13 to 17 October 2008, has been revealed. A series of workshops will take place including filmmaking, stilt walking, break dancing, visual and physical theatre, art exhibitions, film nights and more. Bakehouse has been conceived by Alison Richardson, Artistic Director of sliced bread attraction, in partnership with CarriageWorks and the City of Sydney. “This event will create opportunities for people of all abilities, that embrace difference, create change and fill the gap that exists between the arts and people with disabilities,” Alison explains. “It’s an opportunity for people to do something different and get involved in an exciting series of workshops at Sydney’s bold new arts centre, CarriageWorks.” For more information and to view the full program of events and workshops visit www.slicedbreadattraction.org.au/bakehouse.
Carla Wherby awarded 2008 Mayoral Art
Prize for The Landscape of Auburn.
Artist with a disability re-emerges for Auburn Mayoral Art Prize
Carla Wherby, an artist with a disability, has been awarded the 2008 Mayoral Art Prize by Auburn Council, for her mixed media work entitled The Landscape of Auburn. Carla received $1,000 for the work and a month’s residency at Newington Armory artists’ studio. The work reflects Carla’s interest in refugee communities, an interest stimulated by living in Auburn, which has the largest refugee population in Australia. The materials used in the work including blue and red ink, newspapers and maps, are representative of this diversity. Carla graduated from the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, in the eighties and has only recently resumed her art practice. She is currently working on a series of drawings based on Afro-American jazz and blues entertainers and the discrimination they have faced historically.
Australian Theatre of the Deaf performance,
Arts Activated Conference, 2007.
Australian Theatre of the Deaf is looking for actors
Australian Theatre of the Deaf is a vibrant theatre company who perform main stage productions as well as school shows to over 18,000 children across Australia each year. Being an actor at ATOD involves Sydney based performances as well as touring opportunities throughout Perth, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Actors are required to perform shows and conduct drama workshops in schools and other venues including Q & A sessions after performances. Bumping sets in and out of venues, liaising between Company administration and schools and sharing responsibility for sets, costumes and props is also involved. Auditions will be held on Saturday 20 September 2008 at 245 Chalmers Street, Redfern. For more information contact Shauna Wolifson at Australian Theatre of the Deaf, tel: 02 9310 1255, tty: 02 9310 1205.
Amy Szostak, Untitled (Will you marry me?),
2005.
Without Borders: Outsider Art at Campbelltown
Campbelltown Arts Centre is showing Without Borders until 21 September 2008, an exhibition of 'outsider art' in a diversity of media from painting, sculpture, photography, books, film and television from Australia and New Zealand. This exhibition focuses on the artists' ability to create rich visual worlds based on popular culture, mythology and lived experience. Past and present studio artists from Arts Project Australia, Alvaro Alvarez and Leigh Blenkinsop are included in the exhibition as well as Vincents Art Workshop artist Colin Korovin from New Zealand. An education program throughout the duration of the exhibition includes free guided tours that will be of particular interest to visual arts and design students. Opening Saturday 30 August, 3pm. For more information contact Campbelltown Arts Centre tel: 02 44645 4100 or artscentre@campbelltown.nsw.gov.au.
New cinema by, with and about people with a disability from all corners of the globe
The Other Film Festival is on again, from 3 to 7 September 2008, in Melbourne, Victoria. Presented by Arts Access Victoria, this biennale event offers a diverse line-up of films that explore the many facets of disability with humour, verve and drama. The program also invites interaction with audience members via a range of guest speakers and lively forums. Festival Director, Rick Randall states, "This festival continues to provide exemplary access to the cinema. All films will be captioned and audio described, and all sessions and forums will be sign interpreted. We are dedicated to the pleasures of cinema for everyone." For more information and a copy of the program visit www.otherfilmfestival.com.
Inaugural Arts & Health Conference to set national agenda for Arts Access
An inaugural arts and health conference will take place on Monday 15 September 2008 at the Association for the Blind, 61 Kitchner Ave, Victoria Park, Perth, Western Australia. The conference is being coordinated by Arts Access Australia, the national peak body of State and Territory arts and disability organisations and DADAA, the Western Australia organisation for arts and disability. The conference will present keynote speakers from Australia and New Zealand who will highlight the breadth of arts and health practices underway in ageing and disability, mental health, health promotion, indigenous and remote arts and health practices. Gareth Wreford, Executive Director, Arts Access Australia explains “This inaugural arts and health conference will inform Arts Access Australia and the sector’s future directions.” For more information contact Gareth Wreford tel: 02 9518 0561 (Mon/Tue/Thur) or 0419 201 338 (Wed/Fri) or ed@artsaccessaustralia.org.
Regional Focus
Alison McLaren, Stephen O'Connell, Viv Cox,
Glen Simkus, Kirsten Jeffcoat, Val Gordon,
Nathalie Wade & Wade Haidinger.
Network forms after Accessible Arts ‘Speak Up’ in Goulburn
A new Goulburn based Disability Arts Network has formed following the Accessible Arts ‘Speak Up’ that took place at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery in August. “One of the strongest needs in the Goulburn community identified at the ‘Speak Up’, was for arts and disability organizations to network and liaise, especially on specific projects,” Goulburn Regional Art Gallery Director, Ms Cush said. The fourteen people who attended the ‘Speak Up’ created important links in the community between arts organizations, disability services, individual artists and audience members. An ongoing disability arts network will continue to strengthen these links between the arts and people with disabilities. It will meet every three months at varying arts institutions. The first one is scheduled for 10 November at 3pm at the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery. For more information contact Kirsten Jeffcoat tel: 02 4823 4442 or kirsten.jeffcoat@goulburn.nsw.gov.au.
Creative Business Management for Northern NSW Artists
Arts Northern Rivers are presenting a one day workshop, Making Money in the Creative Economy, from 9.00 am to 3.30 pm on Tuesday 16 September 2008, at the Bangalow Bowling Club. This workshop will deliver a practical guide to marketing and business growth for people in the creative industry sector, including hands on activities, case studies, and a seven-step business analysis. Participants will develop tools for creating a unique and sustainable business advantage. Cost $25.00 which includes morning tea and light lunch. The venue is wheelchair accessible. For more information contact Arts Northern Rivers tel: 02 6628 8120
International Focus
Claire Cunningham, DaDaFest International 08
International Arts and Disability Festival watershed event
DaDaFest International 08, now in its eighth year, is presenting artists and performers from around the world, from the 4 to 7 September 2008 in Liverpool, UK. The program offers cutting-edge live artworks, performance, Grand Opera, film premieres, aerial dance, puppets, street acts, irreverent comedy and racy burlesque. “This is a watershed event in the history of Deaf and Disabled Arts,” Artistic Director Garry Robson said. The festival is presented by North West Disability Arts Forum (NWDAF), a disability and Deaf arts agency based in Liverpool. The program includes an exhibition by Kevin Connolly, a photographer born without legs who uses a skateboard for transportation. He has recorded people’s reaction to him across 15 countries and 31 cities, with 32,000 photos that result in one stare. Claire Cunningham, the first and only artist with a disability to win a prestigious “Creative Scotland” award, will perform gravity-defying works gently exploring the possibilities of dance and flight in a body with perceived physical limitations.
Feedback
We invite feedback and suggestions from our readers. Share your experiences of attending any of the listed events or offer suggestions for future newsletter items. Email feedback to info@aarts.net.au.
Send us your news
Contributions to the newsletter are welcome and encouraged. Please send us your item by the 15th of the month, for the following month’s edition. Listings should include the title, date, location, a short (100 word) description plus all available contact details, access details and an image (JPEG or GIF format). Artsevents, opportunities or news that will be of interest to people with disabilities, their families, friends and carers and are accessible will be published. Email contributions to: info@aarts.net.au.