Larger Than Live: Making Cultural Events Work For Everyone  

11:00am - 12:00pm

Suzanne Bull MBE - global leader in arts and disability advocacy and founder/CEO of influential UK arts and disability organisation Attitude Is Everything (AIE) – has been making live music more accessible for over 20 years. In this keynote session with Accessible Arts Interim CEO Morwenna Collett, Ms Bull details the ups and downs of her two decades of activism in the arts, the importance of an inclusive post-COVID recovery for the arts and cultural sector, the work AIE does with venues and festivals in particular, and how disability-led campaigning across the creative industries is the most effective way for bringing about meaningful and long-lasting change.

Moderator 

• Morwenna Collett | Diversity, access and inclusion consultant and Interim CEO, Accessible Arts 

Speaker 

• Suzanne Bull MBE | Founder, Attitude Is Everything
  

Stronger Together: Integrating Artists With Disability Into The Mainstream

1:00pm - 2:00pm

Limited opportunities, access restrictions, attitudinal barriers, and general lack of awareness have often excluded artists with disability from accessing professional opportunities in the mainstream sector. The organisations that have made diversity a priority have even stumbled in creating and holding space for people with disability in their programs, workshops, grants and other opportunities. As COVID considerations brought forward new, accessible ways of working, creating and presenting, the mainstream has been given a golden opportunity to embrace a whole new community of artists and arts workers with immense value to the sector. In this session, three professional arts practitioners with disability across various disciplines join programmers and producers from two of Australia’s leading cultural institutions to examine various approaches for making artists with disability and their work a bigger and more integral part of mainstream arts and culture. This session will include a sneak peek at a new Createability program from CreateNSW.

Moderator 

• Madeleine Little | Actor, theatre-maker and Festival Director, Undercover Artist Festival 

Panelists

• Fiona Winning | Head of Programming, Sydney Opera House
  
• Sarah Rowbottam | Creative Producer, Arts House
  
• Johanna Garvin | Filmmaker and Communications Officer, Create NSW
  
• Joshua Pether | Dancer, choreographer and performance artist 
  

Local Heroes: Innovative Approaches For Boosting Cultural Access & Inclusion In Communities & Neighbourhoods

1:00pm - 2:00pm

A big part of the post-COVID cultural recovery puzzle is getting people to engage with creative activities at the local and community level. This session explores how community arts organisations, local government, and cultural precinct workers can implement simple solutions to increase participation of artists and audiences with disability in cultural activities and community events. Join representatives from Sydney’s Inner West Council, Perth’s DADAA and Alice Springs’ Incite Arts as they explore new ways of connecting creativity and disability at the local level.

Moderator 

• Scott Howie | Artist, creative producer and Interim General Manager, Regional Arts Australia 

Panelists

• Julia Phillips | Disability Programs Inclusion Officer, Inner West Council
  
• Ricky Arnold | Client Services Director, DADAA
  
• Lauren Jones | Artist, Incite Arts
  
• Lizzie Trew | Artist, Incite Arts
  

Going The Distance: New Methods For Creative Collaborations

2:30pm - 3:30pm

COVID lockdowns and social distancing required artists from all over the world and right across the cultural spectrum to explore new ways of using digital technologies to collaborate and create new work. What does this mean for artists with disability in a post-COVID world? What kind of opportunities for local and international creative collaboration will emerge? This session explores innovative approaches to collaboration used during the pandemic by leading disability arts companies in South Australia and Korea (www.connect2abilities.com) as well as a disability-led collective of artists working across Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom (www.facebook.com/thedelugecollective).

Moderator 

• Caroline Bowditch | Writer, performer and CEO of Arts Access Victoria

Panelists

• Jeremy Hawkes | Visual Artist
  
• Sui Fong Yeung | Visual Artist
  
• Boram Lee | Senior Lecturer in Arts and Cultural Management, University of South Australia
  
• Michelle Ryan | Artistic Director, Restless Dance Theatre
  

Best Fest: Delivering Inclusive Festivals & Events

2:30pm - 3:30pm

As festivals and events come back post-COVID, there’s never been a better time to improve approaches to access and inclusion for artists and audiences with disability. The pandemic has shown how easily and quickly we can adapt to issues around health and safety, so how can festival and event producers apply these lessons to other areas of creative and commercial practice? How can the commissioning and programming processes for artists as well as the services and infrastructure for audiences provide better representation and participation? Join leaders in access and inclusion from some of Australia’s premier cultural festivals as they explore how to build back for everyone.

Moderator 

• Wendy Martin | Unlimited disability arts festival creator, former Artistic Director, Perth Festival, former Head of Performance & Dance, Southbank Centre and DADAA Board Director

Panelists

• Carly Findlay | Writer, speaker, disability advocate and Access and Inclusion Coordinator, Melbourne Fringe Festival
  
• Chris Tooher | Executive Director, Sydney Festival
  
• Wendy O’Neill | Creative Producer Access & Inclusion, Arts Centre Melbourne
  
• Ellie Murray-Yong | Community Engagement Manager, Perth Festival
  

NDIS & The Arts Workshop 

4:00pm - 5:00pm

If you’re an arts practitioner with disability or you work for an arts organisation and want to create more opportunities to involve arts practitioners with disability in your business, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) can provide lots of options for assistance. However, navigating the NDIS can sometimes be a challenge. Mallika Macleod is the Director of Client Services at Perth’s DADAA and an expert in NDIS and the arts. In this session, Mallika will be joined by two artists with disability who will guide you through some of the key support mechanisms that the NDIS provides and how artists and arts workers can best use the system and the funding it provides to empower the creativity and careers of people with disability. 

Facilitators

• Mallika Macleod | Client Services Director, DADAA
• Raf Gonzalez | Writer and multi-disciplinary artist

Access Rider Workshop

4:00pm - 5:00pm

We all know that artists and performers have show riders (blue M&Ms anyone?). However, if you’re an artist with disability, getting what you need in terms of access so you can perform can sometimes be a difficult process, especially when you have to constantly educate producers and venues. Well, the answer is: access riders! In this workshop, performer and disability advocate Hanna Cormick will team up with visual artist TextaQueen to provide a practical overview of how to put together an access rider, what to ask for and the kind of language to use. This is also a great session for producers and venue operators to learn about how to be more inclusive of people with disability when commissioning and programming.

Facilitators

• Hanna Cormick | Artist, performer and disability advocate
• TextaQueen | Visual Artist