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National Arts and Disability Strategy Survey

June 2010 Professional Development Forum Report

Maleny Regional Raw Arts Festival

Butterflies Theatre Group Toowoomba

Emerald Community Participation Service Workshops

Salaam Project

Access Arts Creative Partnerships

National Arts and Disability Strategy Survey   

What Is It And What Does It Mean To You?

Deadline – Friday 16 July

http://www.surveymonkey.com/NADS

In October 2009, the Cultural Ministers Council of all nine state, territory and federal arts ministers, released the National Arts and Disability Strategy. The Strategy addresses the rights of people with a disability to have access to, and full participation in, arts and cultural activities in Australia.

The National Arts and Disability Strategy was developed by the Cultural Ministers Council after a national public consultation process with over 100 responses in addition to input from peak bodies including Arts Access Australia.

The Ministers have agreed on four priority areas for action. These are:

• Addressing barriers to access and participation;
• Supporting artistic and cultural practice amongst those with a disability;
• Developing audiences for disability arts companies and individual artists; and
• Improving policy development and planning within governments.

The Strategy is also intended to align with the:

• National Disability Strategy
• Fourth National Mental Health Plan
• National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy

In addition, in 2010, Australia is developing its first national arts curriculum.

To read the full document in a range of formats follow this link to the Cultural Ministers Council web page:

http://www.cmc.gov.au/working_groups/national_arts_and_disability_strategy.

Now what?

Now that the Strategy has been created it is vital that you share your views on the most important priorities for governments to strengthen, fund and support.

We have created the survey below for the purpose of collecting your response to priorities outlined in the document and so that you can let the government know what you want this Strategy to do for you.

Who Should Fill in the Survey?

• Artists
• People with a disability, mental health issue or who are deaf
• Art and cultural workers
• Art and cultural organisations
• Disability organisations
• Mental Health organisations
• Ageing organisations
• Employment services
• Community organisations
• Families and carers

If you can spend a little time (15 mins) filling out the survey Arts Access Australia and our state and territory members will be better able to support you and provide government with your ideas and comments.

If you would like to receive this survey in an alternative format or record your responses via an interview, please contact Arts Access Victoria at info@artsaccess.com.au or phone 03 9699 8299.

Click here to commence the Survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/NADS.

June 2010 Professional Development Forum Report   

The following presentation by Emma Bennison, Access Arts’ Executive Officer was delivered on 15 June 2010 at an Access Arts Professional Development Forum. It provides an overview of the organisation’s plans and direction over the next three years.

Firstly I’d like to welcome you all here tonight. I’d like to thank you for coming whether you are here in the room, or whether you have joined us via Skype. We are committed to broadening the options for communicating with members, those living in regional qld and those who find it difficult to attend forums in person for various other reasons. We want to harness technology to make the experience available to those for whom it hasn’t been in the past. We want to hear from all of you, not just those with the loudest voices and not just those who live in Brisbane.

Tonight I want to take you through our plans for the next three years, not in a detailed way, hopefully not in a way that is painful and makes you hope never to see another business plan in your lifetime, but in a way that inspires you to be part of what we hope will be a really exciting journey, one which enables all Queenslanders the freedom to participate, create and work in the arts. (which also happens to be our vision for the plan.)

Access Arts has experienced significant change throughout our 27 year history and no doubt will continue to be characterised by change. Over the past 12 months we have relocated to this building where we are co-located with the QAC. We have also experienced significant staff changes which have been challenging for all involved.

We have taken this opportunity to revisit our mission, vision and values to reflect on and learn from what we have stood for in the past and what we want to deliver in the future. We have a strong track record of delivering numerous projects, programs and performances very successfully and often simultaneously, but what we need to do now is to focus our energies on those which meet the needs of the maximum number of members and are delivered in partnership with other arts and cultural organisations. We need to effectively utilise our resources, our history, our reputation to garner further partnerships, financial and in-kind support. We need to understand the needs, interests and aspirations of individual members, artists, arts workers and the sector and build a future in which we are resourced to meet those expectations.

In December last year we conducted a survey to find out about how members currently engage with Access Arts and what barriers exist to their participation both in our programs and arts and culture generally. We were unsurprised to learn that 37 percent of respondents did not attend workshops due to the cost of getting there and transport issues and 43 percent due to the timing of workshops. Most felt that it would be useful for Access Arts to concentrate more of its effort on working with arts and cultural organisations to improve access and participation rates by people experiencing disability or disadvantage.

So now I would like to tell you about our mission. It’s not new, it’s not mind-blowing, it doesn’t take uss away from our core business, it doesn’t mean we’ll be doing things all that differently. What it does mean is that we have a strong focus, a strong intention to ensure we are staying on mission, that we are not drifting off it to some other area without considering whether it is in the best interest of our members and by that I mean a significant number of them. It also enables us to maintain the flexibility to take up unexpected opportunities as they arise.

We are focusing on our mission, To enhance opportunities by removing barriers to engagement with the arts. So how will we do it. We will continue to offer our community workshop program. We will continue to ensure that our programs include adequate support and accessibility for all participants. We will seek funding to trial new ways of working with members to access workshops and programs in their local communities with support from Access Arts to remove the barriers created by lack of transport and increase choices.

We will continue to partner with regional Queensland communities by invitation and within our resources to increase opportunities for arts and cultural participation. One of the ways we will do this is through a partnership with Flying Arts who are very keen to increase their offerings for people experiencing disability or disadvantage, another is through our co-location with QAC, and a third is through an ongoing partnership with the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health.

We will continue to deliver professional development programs and look for opportunities to further expand them into regional Queensland. We will continue to deliver visual arts programs both here in Brisbane and to regional members.

We will do more to increase opportunities for arts and cultural participation in the broader sector. For example, we will provide regular disability awareness training sessions and access audits to arts and cultural organisations.

We will spend more time on organisational reflection. By that I mean that we are going to spend more time evaluating what we do and being very honest about what is working well and what is not working so well, and we are going to share that with our sister organisations in other states and with the sector generally. We know that there are many, many stories of people experiencing disability or disadvantage being creative in their local communities. We are committed to being a vehicle for sharing those stories with the broader community and raising awareness of the contribution of artists experiencing disability or disadvantage by doing so.

We, like most arts and cultural organisations and not-for-profits, have a very major financial challenge to overcome and hence we have already commenced the work of developing a strong donor base to help us to ensure long-term stability for the organisation. We understand that for many of our members the cost of even getting to a workshop or event is prohibitive. We also understand that for many of you there are significant disability-related costs, medical costs, housing costs and so on that you incur. So we are not expecting you to donate if it is not financially possible for you to do so. But you may know of others who are passionate about the work we do because they have seen how it benefits you, or you may know of others who have never heard of Access Arts, but who love art, love music, love creativity, so you may like to tell them about this program. Ultimately, our goal is to obtain 50% of our revenue from non-Government sources by 2013. This is an ambitious goal, but one we feel is necessary as we grapple with increasing rental and running costs.

Any of you who have worked with Access Arts for any length of time will know that we could not survive without the support of our volunteers. As well as offering them employment opportunities as they arise, we want to explore other opportunities to value their contribution. This leads me into perhaps the most significant contribution we will make over the next three years.

We will continue to employ skilled administrators, artists, arts and cultural workers experiencing disability or disadvantage and work to empower the Queensland arts and cultural sector to do the same. I want to share with you a story which I hope will reinforce how important this area of our work is.

When I came to Access Arts, I had previously worked in various other administrative roles in government and in the arts sector. I had thought many times about working for Access Arts, but the opportunity had never presented itself. It was not that I wouldn’t have had the skills or abilities required, it was not that I didn’t have the passion required, it was not that I didn’t have the motivation required, it was just that the opportunity hadn’t presented itself. What created that opportunity was very simple, an organisational shift in terms of attitudinal and physical access. I am not in any way meaning to imply that people with disabilities had not previously been employed within the organisation, of course they had. But the organisation moved into a phase, led by the former director who himself has a disability which explicitly enabled and created opportunities for employment of people experiencing disability or disadvantage like myself. This occurred because those in management roles made it clear that they were comfortable with and passionate about employing people with disabilities. So I personally understand the incredible empowerment I felt at having someone believe in me enough to give me an opportunity. I understand that what we need to do now as an organisation is to share those experiences and learnings, that knowledge of how simply by understanding that skilled individuals who experience disability or disadvantage are out there and have the capacity to fill positions at all levels. That with relatively minor adjustments generally speaking, people experiencing disability or disadvantage can make really significant contributions to the Queensland arts and cultural sector. We need to inspire the sector, to work with them to understand that this does not have to be difficult, that their fears are unfounded and that we can support the process. We need to inspire managers, artistic directors, festival directors and so on to recognise the opportunity they have to benefit from what people experiencing disability or disadvantage can offer in terms of diversifying the workforce and therefore diversifying the creative process.

So we have created Diversity Pays, a three-year project which will provide work placements, sector forums and research and evaluation of current employment of people experiencing disability or disadvantage.

During the life of this business plan, AAI will reach a number of significant milestones including its 30th anniversary and the hosting of the Asia Pacific Wataboshi Music Festival in Cairns in 2013. By 2013, people experiencing disability or disadvantage will enjoy the same opportunities to participate in locally-based workshops and events as their peers. The Queensland arts and cultural sector will be empowered and resourced to provide access for people experiencing disability or disadvantage to their products, services and employment opportunities. Through focused project delivery, effective evaluation methodologies and partnerships, diverse revenue streams and solid infrastructure, AAI will also be well positioned to further strengthen delivery of arts and cultural programs to regional communities.

In conclusion, undoubtedly the most important lesson which we have learned is this. Access Arts does not survive as a result of who its staff are, though it benefits enormously from the contributions of all staff, past, present and future. It does not exist because of bricks and mortar, though the placement of the organisation is crucial in ensuring that it is accessible and in determining how it is viewed by the community. It thrives because of you, our members, whatever your art-form interest, wherever you live and whatever your ambition, your creative journeys are our reason for being. We thank you for sharing your creativity with us and we welcome your feedback and suggestions as we move forward. This plan is very much an ongoing process which will evolve as a result of your contributions. We look forward to working with you towards a future in which all Queenslanders are free to participate, create and work in the arts.

Maleny Regional Raw Arts Festival   

About the Festival

The Maleny Regional Raw Arts Festival (M.R.R.A.F) will be held between June 11th and June 13th 2009. It was developed through a collaboration of like minded people who value artistic expression as an essential component of any community. The festival aims to provide a suitable avenue for young people, aged between 11 and 25 years, to express themselves creatively. Working in groups is fun so we encourage group entries.

The theme of the festival for 2009 is ‘Past Present and Future’. The theme complements the celebrations of the Q150 project this year. We believe that young people are building on their past and will be the future of Australia. It seems important that they have opportunities to creatively express their hopes, dreams and even their fears to the wider community.

At this stage the M.R.R.A.F encompasses the media of short film (5 minutes or less), contemporary and traditional photography, and promotional posters. People may enter in three age groups (11-14, 15-17, and 18-25 years).

The Festival is supported by the Maleny Community Centre which will also be the venue for the exhibitions and film showing. It is also affiliated with S.C.R.U.F.F.Y (Sunshine Coast Regional Underground Film Festival of Youth). Our short films will also be shown and promoted by S.C.R.U.F.F.Y. All film entries in M.R.R.A.F will also be entitled to enter S.C.R.U.F.F.Y. More than $4000 in prize money for M.R.R.A.F has been raised by the Maleny community.

Proceeds from this year’s festival will be donated to the Maleny Community Centre Building Fund Appeal.

More information and Entry Forms are available from malenyrawart@gmail.com or by phoning 07 549998416

Entries for short films, photography and posters events close on 28th May

The M.R.R.A.F. logo was developed over a two day workshop with year 12 students at Maleny State High School

Butterflies Theatre Group Toowoomba   

Hhelp and a group of Toowoomba based budding dramatists are hoping to get together a theatre group with the draft name of Butterflies Theatre Group on Saturday afternoons at Spiritus in Ruthven Street. The participants will be anyone over the age of 18 who is interested in drama. People of all abilities are welcome, however those with high needs will be asked to bring a support person with them. We would love to have professional artists and teachers working and performing with our talented people with disabilities.

We have a volunteer drama teacher, however we are looking for any people or performers or teachers or artists who may be interested in being involved. We would love to hear from anyone who is willing to give up a Saturday afternoon to come along and do a workshop with our participants or to be involved with the theatre in an ongoing way. We hope to be able to secure funding along the way.

We hope to have a wide definition of theatre - movement, dance, drumming, singing, mime, wheelchair dance, improvisation, writing our own plays, just about anything that fits into creative arts! We are only limited by our imagination.

If you are interested please contact either Archina at archina@bigpond.com 0406 952 099 or Denise at tdwright@tpg.com.au 4614 0696. We invite you to a meeting on Saturday 31 January at 1pm at Spiritus, 600 Ruthven Street (behind the Shamrock Hotel) for those who are interested and then we can take it from there.

Emerald Community Participation Service Workshops   

Emerald Community Participation Service recently hosted a very successful 'Celebrating Cultural Diversity' Art Workshop in conjunction with funding from RADF through the Emerald Shire Council and Access Arts Inc Queensland through Disability Services Queensland's Building Supportive Communities Program.

Rockhampton Artist Sue Kraatz conducted the workshop over a period of 6 days with clients from Emerald Community Participation Service and community members. Sue has a Diploma of Visual Arts and a Certificate IV in Disability Work, and has many years of experience working with people who experience a disability.

Participants completed individual works, soft sculptural works, as well as working with a number of mediums during the workshops to create collaborative banners which will be displayed at the Easter Sunflower Festival and the Multi Cultural Festival to be held on Saturday 19th April. A number of works produced in the workshop will also be exhibited as part of Access Arts' State-wide Crossing Divides Exhibition at Metro Arts in August, funded by Disability Services Queensland.

Salaam Project   

The Salaam Project is an initiative of the Islamic Women's Association of Queensland (IWAQ), in partnership with Access Arts, to profile the work of women's contributions to the rich Islamic traditions of Arts and Culture through a ten week series of workshops run by six women arts/craft workers/cultural workers in a number of communities. 60 workshops will be held and a total of 120 workshop participants will actively engage with the artists who will themselves be from different cultural and artistic backgrounds. The resulting works, performances and artefacts will then be brought together as an exhibition to tour regionally throughout 2009.

This project comes about through the need for a community driven effort to show the wider Australian community that women of Islamic backgrounds come from a rich variety of social and geographical backgrounds. The workshops will encourage members of the IWAQ community to focus their collective attention on the positive impacts of the arts within their daily lives. The wide range of art forms from painting and performing to singing will encourage members to respond to a set of common themes creatively. Our main aim for the workshops is to encourage an exploration of journeys and stories through the use of painting, sculpture, multimedia investigations, song, dance and performance.

                        

                        

Under the guidance of Project Manager Mandana Mapar and in partnership with Access Arts, the project has been made possible by Arts Queensland through a Creative Communities Sector Development and Presentation grant which will fund the employment of 8 artsworkers and support 11 volunteer staff to carry out the project work, and the Touring Exhibition Partnership Plan of Museum and Gallery Services Queensland, with assistance from the Australia Council, the Federal Government's arts funding and advisory body. The Salaam project is being documented by filmmaker Teone Reinthal.

For further information please contact the Salaam Project Manager Mandana Mapar on 0413 144 533 or by email, or contact Ross Barber or Angela Jaeschke at Access Arts on 3358 6200 or by email.

Access Arts Creative Partnerships   

Access Arts has developed a range of successful partnerships with arts and disability organisations across Queensland. We recognise the many benefits of partnerships which include opportunities to share resources, develop programs which meet the needs of members/clients of both organisations, increase the marketing reach of both organisations and enable cross-skilling between staff and members of both organisations.

Benefits of Partnering with Access Arts

Access Arts can offer the following services and support to our partner organisations:

Workshops

Access Arts can work with you to deliver a wide range of workshop options including:

• Hold workshops at your space or our space at the Brisbane Powerhouse at times which best meet the needs of your clients.

• Use your arts workers or our arts workers to deliver the workshops.

• Use a combination of both organisation's arts workers (This could include a mentor/mentee relationship, thus encouraging the development of new skills for both parties.)

• Link into Access Arts' community workshops which are run out of the Brisbane Powerhouse.

• Have trial workshop terms of 4 or 8 weeks.

• Members of both organisations could participate together in a new workshop depending on combined interest or link into the existing ones of either organisation.

• Workshops may also culminate in a performance/ exhibition.

• Training and employment of arts workers including the organising of blue card and a Disability Services Queensland police check.

Sound Circles^TM

Access Arts award winning workshop program Sound Circles^TM is currently being delivered in partnership with 7 different regions across Queensland and New South Wales. Sound Circles^TM is an exciting new model of individual expression in a group context. Based on the simple idea of combining sound, percussion and body movement, all participants contribute freely, producing some amazing results!

Access Arts' Sound Circles^TM is a combination of freeform arts workshops, Indigenous storytelling and strong community participation. Each Sound Circle is a unique event, engaging people of all ages and abilities in an experience of self expression. Sound Circles^TM provides opportunities for social networking, therefore increasing confidence and self-awareness.

From more information please go to our Sound Circles^TM page.

Individual Professional Development and Mentoring

Since its inception, Access Arts has focused on supporting the professional development of aspiring arts workers experiencing disability. Access Arts and partnering organisations can make the most of their respective skills and strengths by referring members to each other for professional development, e.g. a Youth Arts organisation sends one of their young performers to Access Arts to do disability awareness training or gain experience in working in community arts, in return Access Arts sends a burgeoning playwright to receive mentoring on script development.

Collaborative Community Project Opportunities

• Visual Arts: Access Arts regularly curates visual arts exhibitions comprising artworks from our members across Queensland. Your artists (beginner to professional) could submit works for these exhibitions, or Access Arts could assist you to develop your own exhibitions, perhaps as an outcome of a workshop or project. We also have strong links with various organisations where our members' art works are displayed on a rotational basis.

• Performance: Access Arts can work with your organisation to deliver collaborative performances at a range of well-known venues including the Brisbane Powerhouse.

• Arts and Cultural Events: Throughout the year Access Arts holds a range of community events including Sunset Sounds, an evening showcase event, regular exhibition openings and annual community Open Day. Partner organisations could work with Access Arts to put together an event or link into an already established one.

Referrals

Partner organisations refer clients/members onto each other when appropriate.

Additional Services:

• Consultancy services to assist your organisation with ensuring accessibility for people experiencing disability or disadvantage including adaptive technology advice, physical access audits and advice on how best to ensure full and equal participation of clients in the arts.

• Access to our Disability Awareness Training program, a non-accredited half day course which provides your staff with a practical insight into how best to work with people experiencing a disability and is delivered by professionals who experience disabilities.

• Access to talented professional artists with the capacity to contribute skills and knowledge to your organisation.

• Access to advertising of programs resulting from partnerships in Access Arts' monthly newsletter which has a readership of over 500 and is available on our website at www.accessarts.org.au

• Advertising of programs on the Access Arts website

• Printing and Braille embossing of fliers and brochures advertising jointly run programs

• Discuss options for the provision of transport to and from programs for Access Arts members

• Advice on quality assurance and policy development following Access Arts' certification against the Queensland Disability Service Standards by Global Mark.

• Opportunity for clients of your organisation to become members of Access Arts (see information on membership benefits below).

Benefits of membership with Access Arts Inc

Membership Services offered by Access Arts include but are not limited to:

• A yearly program

• Access to all programs including multi-arts workshops, master classes, events etc. (see yearly program for more details.)

• State-wide Indigenous projects

• An annual report

• Voting rights at our Annual General Meeting

• Use of Access Arts' wheelchair accessible bus

• IT support (if booked in advance)

• A local call cost number for regional callers (1300 663 651)

• An up-to-date, accessible website, www.accessarts.org.au

• A monthly newsletter containing information on articles of interest to Members as well as relevant state-wide event listings (organisational Members can receive up to ten newsletters in the mail)

• Printing including colour printing at a reduced cost

• Braille embossing

• Provision of information in alternative formats

• Regional arts development

• Artistic and professional development support including the development of a Personalised Plan to map artists' goals and pathways to reaching them

• Grant writing assistance and auspicing of funds

• Disability Awareness Training

• Support to attend arts and cultural activities

• Advocacy support for Members to access organisations and services relating to the arts

• Volunteer program

• Assistance to source public liability insurance cover

• Referral and support to link in with programs delivered by other arts and cultural organisations

• Access to employment opportunities at Access Arts in the office and in workshops.

Contact Access Arts Inc

ABN: 82 066 160 761

Level 1, Stores Building
119 Lamington Street
PO Box 1034
New Farm QLD 4005

Ph: (07) 3358 6200
Fax: (07) 3358 6211
Local Call: 1300 663 651

Web: www.accessarts.org.au
Email: info@accessarts.org.au

Project & Sound Circles Coordinator: Emma Bennison

Visual Arts Coordinator: Jasmin Jacobson

Project Officer: Sally Josephson

Admin & Volunteer Coordinator: Angela Jaeschke