Arts Roar
The loudest voices get heard
Introduction
What do you do if you want to go somewhere that is just not accessible for a wheelchair? How do you make yourself heard when people consistently direct their attention elsewhere? Launceston's Arts Roar is an organisation interested in these and many more issues relevant to people with a disability. By supporting highly visible, quality artwork by artists with a disability, the organisation highlights both the creative capacity of the artists and the day-to-day issues they face. Since 2002 it has developed a number of projects with artists with disabilities.
A committee of Arts Roar participants is the heart of Arts Roar. Projects grow out of their interests, take up their concerns, provide them with opportunities to develop their skills and enable them to engage in integrated activities.
I did this project because I wanted to tell people about access issues in Launceston.
Gerard Smith, participant, No Access for Me
Arts Roar has given me more opportunities. I have been involved in directing another video and want to do more.
Emma Butler, participant, Who do you Support? (and arts roar secretary)
The projects
No Access for Me
Arts Roar conducts regular access checks of businesses in Launceston, giving out red or green access cards and providing the business with an access report. A number of businesses have responded to the request for better access.
I got some of the doors and entrances at Respite widened.
Scott Claridge, participant
I want to be able to access things ... like a cup of coffee. The No Access for Me campaign helps me let people know this.
Kees de Jong, participant
No Access for Me was funded by the Launceston City Council's Access Committee and created as part of Arts Roar's involvement in a project called Safe as Houses. Safe as Houses was initiated by the Women's Health Service and supported by other services assisting women with an intellectual disability living independently in Launceston.
Who Do You Support?
Another outcome of Arts Roar's involvement with Safe as Houses was a video, Who Do You Support?, written and directed by Arts Roar participant and secretary, Emma Butler. The video is a training resource for support workers made from the point of view of their clients. Issues of concern are examined through interviews and scenarios based on situations that Emma herself has faced.
All workers need to be reminded who they are working for and this video does that. I thought it was excellent. It challenges workers' values and attitudes about the people they work for.
Nella Davis, Disability Services, Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services
Who Do You Support? continues to sell well across Australia, with Emma Butler responsible for its marketing and distribution. She was awarded a Tasmanian Young Achiever of the Year Award for Community Service in 2004.
Visionary Images
Visionary Images was a collaboration between community cultural development artist, Maria Fillipow, Arts Roar participants and graphic design students at Launceston TAFE. Together they created powerful black-and-white images about bullying which were featured on the back of buses, on posters and on postcards. Images from the project have been exhibited in Launceston galleries, displayed on banners, used in student workshops on bullying and in arts and access promotional material.
This project was important because it was letting people know that we were trying to do something about bullying. When I was at school there wasn't anything done about it.
Paul Smith, participant
Unstuck Films
Unstuck Films was an early project that had a huge impact on everyone involved.
Doing this project was very big ... like a big wave coming over me. But then I realised that I had to make myself bigger than the wave.
Heather Styles, participant
The intention was to undo the convention that if people with an intellectual disability are involved in film, they are directed by an 'able-bodied' crew. The Arts Roar participants were the crew and three 'able-bodied' people were the performers. Working with visiting film-maker Rick Randall, the Arts Roar crew wrote, filmed and directed four short films on location at Inveresk railyards.
Other projects
Arts Roar participants took a prominent part in Launceston's biannual youth arts festival, Streets Alive, in 2003. It was an opportunity for involvement in a mainstream arts event, meeting other people, furthering ideas and interests and just having a great time.
I liked acting like a policeman. The little kids liked that. I enjoyed being involved because there were so many people. I enjoyed being part of a crowd.
Kees de Jong, participant
Arts Roar participants have also recently participated in an Internet project, Netconnect. This has enabled isolated young people in Tasmania's north and north-east to collaborate and exchange digital film, photography, poetry and visual art with other young people nationally and internationally in Spain, Egypt and New York.
Other Arts Roar projects include exhibitions featuring emerging artists and the design of a labyrinth in a local park. Arts Roar participants have worked with young people from Launceston's sister city in China to digitise art onto tiles for the public art installation that is part of 'The Labyrinth'.
Making it happen
The Arts Roar Committee has come a long way. We have had a lot of positive outcomes and we can have more if we keep it going.
Emma Butler, Secretary, Arts Roar
Arts Roar was initiated by two members of Interweave Arts Association (an incorporated body of colleagues committed to community arts), Jenni Sharman and Mara Schneiders. They recognised the need for accessible arts opportunities in Launceston, and made contact with both established accessible arts organisations and potential participants. Potential participants were identified through referrals from various local disability support services and through personal contacts established through Jenni Sharman's long-term involvement in the disability field as a support worker and educator. A simple questionnaire about preferred art experiences, transport issues and disability needs led to plans for projects that would fulfil these interests. When funding was received, Jenni became the Arts Roar coordinator.
Arts Roar operates on project funding received from local, state and Commonwealth arts and community bodies and comes under the auspices of Interweave. Strong, supportive partnerships with arts organisations, local government and disability support organisations mean that a number of Arts Roar activities are funded by other community groups who apply for money to work with Arts Roar on particular projects.
Arts Roar projects are managed by Jenni Sharman and the Arts Roar committee. The committee was formed by Emma Butler in April 2003 and has a strong core of young people with a physical disability. Committee members meet once a month to discuss projects, update everyone on developments and plan future activities. They play a critical role in shaping and directing Arts Roar.
Committee members also work with other groups who are advocates for the rights of people with a disability, such as Arts Action, a state-wide arts and disability organisation for Tasmania.
Conclusion
Arts Roar has begun to address the recognised accessible arts gap in services for people with disabilities in Launceston. It has so far operated on a project-to-project basis with a coordinator who operates from home. An active, participant-driven Arts Roar committee offers a sound basis for developing a more sustainable form of management. The ultimate aim of Arts Roar is that the organisation is owned and driven by people with disabilities
who have resources to coordinate their own activities.
The provision of laptop computers with voice command and Internet access has been vital to Arts Roar. It has enabled participants to have fuller involvement in statewide advocacy and greater access to the world. In the future, Arts Roar hopes to look globally as well as locally, increasing cultural participation and opportunities for people with disabilities around the world.
Note: Some of the information on Arts Roar projects has been sourced from the article 'Roar energy' in The Sunday Examiner Magazine, 7 December 2003.
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