Forewords
 Department of Family and Community Services
The Howard Government is pleased to endorse activities celebrating the ability
of people with disability and which remove barriers to their full participation
in the community.
The publication Making the Journey highlights the abilities and creativity of highly talented and committed artists and performers with disability.
This includes opportunities, as demonstrated in this book, to be creative and communicate through different media.
The Howard Government places emphasis on what people can do rather than what they cannot do, and support for people to maximise their ability to participate.
We remain committed to supporting people with disability and we do this through a network of payments, services and information.
Support is delivered by several Australian Government Departments, as well as state and territory services receiving Howard Government funding to provide a range of services.
I commend this publication and congratulate all involved.
Senator The Hon Kay Patterson
Minister for Family and Community Services and the Minister
Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues
 Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
Welcome to Making the Journey, an important new resource from Arts
Access Australia.
Making the Journey acts as both as an inspirational showcase and a
call to action. It profiles twelve Australian arts organisations who are 'making
the journey' towards including people with disabilities across all aspects
of their programs and activities - and, most importantly, it encourages other
organisations to do the same.
Research conducted by the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Government's
principle arts funding and advisory body, shows that people with a disability
contribute to all aspects of our arts industry - as artists and arts workers,
in professional and community contexts and as audience members.
The stories in this publication are practical and real; they tell of the challenges and triumphs of working to remove social and physical barriers that prohibit full participation in the arts by people with disabilities.
This publication will not only help organisations to understand their responsibilities and their potential to initiate much-needed change, but will act as a tool for people with disabilities to advocate for improvement.
I encourage you to 'make the journey' with Arts Access Australia, and I commend them on this great resource.
Senator The Hon. Rod Kemp
Minister for the Arts and Sport
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