Twelve talented interns are gearing up for exciting professional development internship roles with arts, screen and music organisations through the Createability program, aimed to support the creative industries overcome barriers to employment for practitioners with disability.

Congratulations to Annidette Pun, Sarah Korte, Dominique Carr, Rose Pascoe, Tonya Lee, Emily White, Anna del Rosario, Inez Playford, Amy Bauder, Liliko’i Schneiders and Leila Harris.

According to 2022 research from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 5.5 million Australians or 21.4% of the population identify as a person with disability. Participation in the arts as creators, volunteers and donors is higher for people with disability than people without disability, yet disability employment statistics in the creative industries reveal a different picture. The most recent economic study of professional artists in Australia (Throsby and Petetskaya 2024) found artists with disability experience unemployment at greater rates than artists without disability.

The Createability Internship Program opens doors for creative practitioners with disability or who are d/Deaf by facilitating paid internships in hands-on roles with leading arts, screen, music and cultural organisations. This year’s program has the largest cohort of interns and host organisations to date. The program has proven to be a profoundly career-enhancing and capacity-building initiative in previous years for the creative industries in NSW and is now the model for a national pilot scheme.

The 2025 Createability host organisations and interns are:

• ABC Children’s and Family team – Intern: Annidette Puni
• ABC Compass – Intern: Sarah Korte
• Community Broadcasting Association of Australia – Intern: name withheld
• Drama Queen – Intern: Dominique Carr
• Erth Visual & Physical Theatre Inc – Intern: Rose Pascoe
• Milk Crate Theatre – Intern: Tonya Lee
• Musica Viva Australia – Intern: Emily White
• Performance Space – Intern: Anna del Rosario
• Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) – Intern: Inez Playford
• Sprung Dance Theatre – Intern: Amy Bauder
• Sydney Theatre Company – Intern: Liliko’i Schneiders
• The House That Dan Built – Intern: Leila Harris

Interns build networks and skills to pursue long-term professional careers, while host organisations benefit from increased capacity and knowledge to create accessible pathways to employment.

The Createability Internship Program is delivered by Create NSW, Sound NSW and Screen NSW, in partnership with Accessible Arts.

Image Description: A group photo of 2025 Createability Interns and hosts. Photo supplied by Create NSW.