About the Speakers

Digby Webster – Artist

Digby Webster is a multidisciplinary artist based in Sydney’s Inner West, celebrated for his vibrant visual language, collaborative spirit and commitment to inclusive arts practice. Working across painting, drawing, fashion, ceramics, murals, and performance, his diverse practice explores identity, accessibility, and creative connection.

Known for his bold use of colour and expressive mark-making, Webster has exhibited widely in both solo and group shows across Australia. Highlights include Butterfly Effect at 107 Green Square (2022), Daydream with Neil Tomkins at Studio Gallery Cheltenham, and Make Your Mark with Georgia Norton Lodge at the Museum of Sydney. His work is also visible in public spaces, including murals created through Inner West Council’s Perfect Match program.

A founding artist at Front Up Studios, Webster is an advocate for inclusive creativity, facilitating workshops with institutions such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art. He has also contributed to award-winning short films, including The Interviewer and Heartbreak and Beauty, as both performer and production designer with Bus Stop Films.

Currently, Webster is serving as VJ (Visual Jockey) for ‘The Adventures of Peacock, Chicken and the Pony They Rode Upon’ — a family-friendly, intergalactic theatre production blending puppetry, original music, and multimedia. Created by Second Echo Ensemble in collaboration with Midnight Feast Theatre Company, the show celebrates diversity, creativity, and self-acceptance, and is presented as part of SEE’s 20th Anniversary Season at the Sydney Opera House.

A two-time finalist in the Archibald Prize, Webster has undertaken residencies at Bundanon and Hill End. His work has toured internationally with the BiG-i Art Project and is held in major collections including Artbank and the Australia Council for the Arts. He continues to push boundaries through projects that fuse visual art with performance, fashion, and storytelling — always with the goal of bringing joy, challenging perceptions, and expanding the visibility of artists with disability

Ava Lacoon – Artist

Ava Lacoon (she/they) is a Queer, Disabled, Crip, Anglo-Asian, (forever) emerging writer, curator and arts worker living on Sovereign Gadigal Land. Her practice is shaped by the expansive methodologies of Anti-colonial, Queer and Crip Studies and focuses on facilitating spaces that enable community connection and chase the horizon of potentiality.

She recently Guest Edited ‘Hyphen’ – Artlink’s Warlati/ Summer Issue. They won the Kudos Emerging Writer Award in 2024 and have been published by Artlink, Memo and the National Gallery of Australia. Ava is a participant in Accessible Arts and Diversity Arts 2025 Ripple: Disability and Culturally Diverse Internship Program.

Kate Matthews – Creative Producer

Kate Matthews is a passionate arts producer with extensive experience across local government, national institutions, and not-for-profit sectors in Sydney and Canberra. She is dedicated to inclusive, dynamic and accessible arts programming that empowers creative communities, activates public space and strengthens the cultural sector.

A strong advocate for embedding access at every stage of the process, Kate champions approaches that ensure everyone can engage meaningfully with the arts. As a practicing artist, she speaks both the language of government and that of a creative, approaching producing as an act of translation between these two realms.

Katrina Liberiou – MC

As Assistant Curator for the University Art Collection at Chau Chak Wing Museum, Katrina Liberiou assists with programming, acquisitions, research and exhibitions. Previously, she worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in its exhibitions team from 1998–2004 and from 2004–09 at the Biennale of Sydney as Exhibition Manager.

Katrina’s research interests include international and Australian contemporary art with a particular interest in photography, performance and installation. For her Master of Philosophy in Art History, Katrina has been researching the life and work of artist Lily Greenham. She curated the exhibitions ‘Coppice’ Verge Gallery (March–April 2016) and ‘Barbara Campbell: ex avibus’ at the University Art Gallery and Macleay Museum (May–August 2015).

Accessible Arts is proudly supported by Create NSW and this Hybrid Event Series has been made possible with support from the City of Sydney, Chau Chak Wing Museum and Livecrowd.

ENDS

Image description: A photo of the panellists and MC laughing together. From left to right: Ava Lacoon, Kate Matthews, Digby Webster and Katrina Liberiou. Photo by Rob Studdert.