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Creative Programs
Newsletter :: April 2008
Image: Great Britain by
Tony Heaton Accessible Arts is delighted to announce the launch of our new website. We hope you like the new look and welcome any feedback. In this months newsletter we celebrate the successes of Alison Richardson (Accessible Arts Western Sydney, Creative Programs Coordinator) and Belinda Mason (photographer), who have both won awards for their work in the arts. Updates on past, current and future projects at Accessible Arts are outlined and a selection of accessible performances, courses and grants, across all art forms, are featured.
Accessible Arts News
Image: Alison Richardson
Alison Richardson receives Young Leaders Award
Alison Richardson, Creative Programs Coordinator at the Western Sydney office of Accessible Arts, has received the Young Leaders Award for 2007 from the Australia Council for the Arts. This award acknowledges outstanding leadership and contribution to the advancement of community arts and culture. It celebrates the achievements of three young Australian artists and arts workers, who work with communities to produce art that addresses social issues. Alison has shown outstanding commitment to creating arts opportunities for young people, migrant, refugee and the disability communities over the last ten years. She founded the theatre company sliced bread attraction in 2006 with the vision of bringing innovative creative opportunities to people with a disability and has worked at Accessible Arts for the last fifteen months developing creative programs in Western Sydney. Congratulations Alison, from the team at Accessible Arts.
Image: Old school house in Batemans Bay
transformed into the T.O.S.H Art Gallery
Speak Up on the South Coast
Accessible Arts is going on the road to catch up with regional communities and is holding its first consultation in Moruya on Friday 16 May, from 11am to 3pm with lunch included. Individuals and organisations from the surrounding communities including Batemans Bay and Bega are invited to share ideas that express the unique needs of their communities. This pilot consultation will act as a model for further meetings planned throughout regional NSW, dependant on Accessible Arts securing funding for the initiative. This will enable the voices from both regional arts and disability sectors to be heard by policy and decision makers based in metropolitan areas of NSW. To RSVP for the Moruya consultation or for further information contact Alision McLaren, Audience Development Officer, tel: 02 9251 6499 ext 6, fax: 02 9251 6422, email: amclaren@aarts.net.au. Please outline any access requirements when booking your place.
Image: AART.BOXX Committee come
together for first meeting
AART.BOXX Committee come together for first meeting
A new committee for Accessible Arts annual AART.BOXX exhibition has been formed. The committee brings together creative and pro-active minds committed to building on the success of previous exhibitions. It comprises of ten young artists, arts workers and advocates with and without a disability, including Jonathan Brent, photographer and previous AART.BOXX artist and Canberra based artist Ruth O’Brien. After the first meeting of the committee, Josie Cavallaro commented, “As facilitator of the committee, it is exciting to embark on this dynamic journey that will see AART.BOXX become not only an opportunity to showcase the works of young artists, but also a project supported and driven by young creative people with and without a disability”. For more information contact Josie Cavallaro, Arts Development Officer, tel: 9251 6499 ext 4, email: jcavallaro@aarts.net.au.
Image: Peter Tregilgas, Christopher
Wainwright, Jacqui O’Reilly and Ruth Blakely
at the Disability Arts Australia booth at APAM
in Adelaide
Disability Arts Australia on display at APAM
Accessible Arts joined with Art Access SA and Arts Access Victoria to go on display at the exhibition site of the 2008 Australian Performing Arts Market in Adelaide during February. Delegates from around the world approached the Disability Arts Australia booth during the weeklong event, where information on nine performing arts companies from the disability and arts sector was available. From NSW, the Sydney Street Choir, Atypical Theatre and the Australian Theatre of the Deaf where represented. In total sixty-two performing arts companies attended the event to showcase their productions to more than 150 leading international and 250 Australian presenters, producers and promoters. The arts market coincided with the Adelaide Fringe, the Adelaide Banks Festival and High Beam Global, the international disability arts festival.
Audience Development Tip of the Month - Accessing Sydney Writers’ Festival
Sydney Writers’ Festival will be held from 19 to 25 of May and the program will be released on 5 April in The Sydney Morning Herald. With over 300 events, the Festival encompasses a diversity of topics and caters to a wide range of interests including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, journalism, film, music and more. Events are held at the Festival’s main precinct at Walsh Bay as well as at venues across the city and in Sydney’s western suburbs and regional NSW. Many of the events are free. For the first time, the free buses linking Circular Quay to Walsh Bay will be wheelchair accessible vehicles. The buses will be picking people up outside the Galleria Shops on George Street in Circular Quay and dropping people off at the Sydney Writers’ Festival precinct at Walsh Bay. Circular Quay train station is an accessible station. Check the Sydney Transport Infoline website. Most Sydney Writers’ Festival venues are accessible and some are fitted with hearing loops. For further access information go to Sydney Writers’ Festival website.
Sector News
Image: ‘The Yearning’ by Belinda Mason,
Intimate Encounters, 2006.
Belinda Mason wins first prize in the Moran Contemporary Photographic Award
The Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, Australia’s richest photography award, has been awarded to Belinda Mason for her image Four Generations. To create the winning work she digitally merged four nude photographs, of herself, her grandmother, mother and son. The work was chosen from more than 3000 entries. Belinda is known for her work on taboo social issues that explore the very personal and sometimes difficult subjects of grief, body image, identity and family. This was reflected in her work, Intimate Encounters, an exhibition on disability and sexuality. With the assistance of Accessible Arts, the work was exhibited between 2001 and 2006 in over thirty galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and London.
CreateBiz – Business Assistance Programs
The Australia Council for the Arts has a comprehensive grants section on their website including information about the resource CreateBiz. This resource is to help artists identify government support programs to develop business practices. It provides state-by-state and national lists of business, research, innovation and export programs that may assist artists to access new sources of income. Support available in NSW ranges from Aboriginal business mentor programs to home-based business development programs. Artists seeking government funding for an export program or to commercialise a product may find CreateBiz a useful first point of research.
New Accessible Audio Description Website
Media Access Australia has launched a new-look innovative audio description website www.audiodescription.com.au. This website has been developed with the blind and visually impaired in mind. It offers a comprehensive view of what is happening in audio description both in Australia and the rest of the world. It also features an arts page with information about audio description in Museums & Galleries, Music and Theatre and lists audio described DVDs. The new site will be a catalyst for other organisations to consider accessibility when designing their online material.
Image: Pine Street Accessible Ceramic
Program
Pine Street Accessible Ceramic Program – Enroll Now
Places are currently available in the Pine Street Accessible Ceramic program, held every Tuesday from 11am to 2pm. This program is free and is open to people with intellectual or physical disabilities. The classes take place in the Ceramic Studio at 64 Pine Street, Chippendale. The program has been running since 2003 and offers students the chance to work on a wide range of hand-built ceramic projects. Platers, bowls, boxes and figurative sculpture are some of the objects made with individual projects welcomed. Classes run right through the year, breaking only for the Christmas and New Year holiday period. Visits to observe the class are welcome to see if it is what students are looking for. For more information or to book a visit, contact Phillip Relf, tel: 9245-1504 or email: prelf@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au.
Physical Theatre for Young People with intellectual disabilities
The National Institute of Dramatic Art’s Autumn Program is offering a two-day workshop for young people with intellectual disabilities between 12-18 years old, exploring characterization and physical theatre. Participants will devise a performance based on the heroic journey in real life and on stage. It will be at the Kensington Campus on Saturday 19 to Sunday 20 April, from 10am to 4pm. An ongoing drama class throughout term two will explore physical theatre and the body’s innate ability to communicate from 11 May to 22 June, 7 Sundays, from12.00 to 1.30 pm. Everyone is welcome to access NIDA through their Open Program, which offers part-time courses, short courses, youth classes, master classes, seminars and productions. For bookings contact NIDA Open Program, ph: 02 9697 7626.
Image: Accessible Arts Gallery Space
Call Out for Emerging Artists with a disability
Volunteer Curator Arthur Chan is calling for emerging artists with a disability or nominations from facilitators to be part of a new project. The project will include a series of one night only art launches that will open exhibitions that continue online and also invite new interest in the artist’s work. The exhibition From Michael – the works of Michael Kagan, held at the Accessible Arts gallery space in December 2007, piloted the project. The success of this exhibition resulted in a new social and professional circle of people supporting Michael’s work and broadened his networks in the arts sector. It is envisaged that future projects will also receive similar positive outcomes. For further information about the application process contact Arthur Chan at arthur_azure@hotmail.com or visit the online gallery. Applications close 1 May 2008.
Regional Focus
Lismore presents Auslan Interpreted production of Peter Pan
The Northern Rivers Conservatorium Arts Centre is proud to present an Auslan interpretated production of Peter Pan. Written by James M Barrie, Peter Pan is the story about the boy who never wanted to grow up. This faithful retelling of the classic story, directed by Michael Sharmon and music composed by Wendy Turner, is suitable for all ages. The Auslan interpreted performance will take place on the 4 April at 7 pm at the Italo Club, Barrow Lane, Lismore and tickets can be purchased by calling (02) 6621 2266.
Call Out for Young Film Makers in Regional NSW and Western Sydney
Grants are being offered by The Young Film Makers Fund (YFF), for people aged between 18 and 35 who live in regional NSW or Western Sydney and who have a story to tell onscreen or online. Creative teams with at least one member of the team having little or no previous paid film or television creative experience are encouraged to apply. Successful applicants receive grants of up to $30,000 for production and/or post-production. YFF was established in 1995 to support new and emerging filmmakers in NSW. The Fund provides a unique opportunity for young talent to break into the highly competitive film and television industry. Application closing date is 14 April 2008. For more information email yff@fto.nsw.gov.au
International Focus
International Media Access Conference call for papers
The 7th International Conference and Exhibition on Language Transfer in Audiovisual Media will be held from 29 to 31 October, 2008 in Berlin, Germany. This well-regarded international conference on media access issues attracts a range of international experts. The International Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 has formed a partnership with the conference. Audio description and captioning have become major themes at past conferences. Themes for this year’s conference include ‘New Media, Content and Accessibility’ and ‘Access to the Media for Specific Audiences’. Proposals for pre-conference workshops are now being accepted. Deadline for submitting proposals is 16 May 2008.
Feedback
We invite you to comment on any of the items in this month’snewsletter, share your experiences of attending any of the listedevents in April or offer suggestions for future newsletter items. Email your comments 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 availablecontact details, access details and an image (JPEG or GIF format). Artsevents, opportunities or news that will be of interest to people withdisabilities, their families, friends and carers and are accessiblewill be published. Email contributions to: info@aarts.net.au.