Arts Access Australia eNewsletterIssue #13 - May 20031.0 National Network News 1.1 New DADAA Director Hello from Gareth Wreford the new DADAA Director replacing Claire Havey. Firstly a big thank you to Claire for her work and in particular for finding the time to do a comprehensive handover. Secondly it's great to be here. I've come from 3 and a half years with the Australia Council working in both Community Cultural Development and Audience and Market Development. Prior to that I worked in community sector organisations in both Adelaide and Brisbane. Feel free to drop me an email or ring and say hello - coord@dadaanat.net.au or tel 02 9251 6844 1.2 NSW - Performing Arts Survey In my job at Accessible Arts (NSW peak arts and disability organisation), I often get comments, complaints (some compliments!) about the performing arts sector in NSW. I use these comments to inform my work and to help me provide accurate advice to performing arts organisations about changes they can, and should, be making. I am putting together these ideas into a report on the performing arts sector (theatre, dance, live music etc) and audiences of people with disabilities. I am looking for further feedback and ideas from the disability community. Already I have got some really interesting comments and the information I¹ve shared with performing arts organisations is helping them to make some changes and provide better services.The questions that I have been asking are:
I would love to get some further feedback about these issues. If you have a comment, please let me know. You can e-mail me on kiersten@aarts.net.au or give me a call on 02 9251 6499. I will be happy to forward a copy of the report to all people who have contributed. Looking forward to reading your replies and hearing from you. Kiersten Fishburn Audience Development Officer 1.3 SA - launch of Tech-Art Project Arts In Action Inc. now announces the start of the second stage of the Tech-Art Project, which will run from March July, 2003, and the launch of the website for the project. An Artistic Team of Composer - Robert Petchell, Website Designer Anne Tichborne, Film Maker Shalom Almond, will work with small groups of participants in 3 areas: Tech-Art Online, The Tech-Art Ensemble and the Tech-Art Image. Contact : Robert Petchell Composer & Project Director for Tech-Art Project PH: 0402 429 197 or 08-8347 2102 Email: rap@bold.net.au Tech-Art Online Website URL: http://techart.anne-t.com EMAIL: techart@anne-t.com 2.0 Government News 2.1 Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner Reappointed The Attorney-General, Daryl Williams, has announced that Dr Sev Ozdowski has been reappointed Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner for the period 4 April 2003 until 3 April 2004. 2.2 FaCS Agrees to a New Financial Study The Department of Family and Community Services will commission new research into support costs and financial factors affecting disability employment services. The terms of reference and timeline for the studies are currently being finalised. Contact Ken Baker at ACROD National on 02 6283 3203 for more information. 2.3 Making a difference: reflections on using the Disability Discrimination Act 2003 marks the 10th anniversary of Australia's Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). In this article Bruce Maguire offers a personal account of his experience and motivation for using the DDA and his desire to participate, along with all Australians, in the excitement of the Sydney Olympic Games. Bruce is one of a number of Australians who have used the DDA to bring about positive change for themselves and others. As a result of this DDA action awareness has been raised internationally about the importance of web accessibility. www.e-bility.com/articles/dda.shtml 3.0 Events and Opportunities Coming up In Australia 3.1 Wataboshi Festival The 7th Asia Pacific Wataboshi Music Festival November 16th to 23rd 2003. To be held at the Brisbane Powerhouse presented by Access Arts (QLD). The Festival will showcase music, performance and visual art from 13 countries in a week long celebration of the creative expression of artists. Wataboshi (pronounced what-ah-boshi) is Japanese for the seeds of the dandelion flower and like the seeds carried by the wind, the Festival seeks to share and convey a message of peace and harmony through out the world. www.accessarts.org.au/wataboshi.html 3.2 Creative Volunteering: No Limits Creative Volunteering is a nationally accredited training program for arts and museums volunteers. The 'No Limits' national skills development programs are now almost all in place. A full schedule of courses are available at:www.regionalarts.com.au/raa1/volunteers/default.asp. 3.3 Noise - call for submissions noise, a national media-based festival designed to profile young creative people and their work throughout October 2003, is calling for submissions. Right now, noise wants everything you can throw at them: words, pictures, music, design, animation, online wizardy, photocopied rant, a CD of your best set of mixed-up loops and beats. For further info: http://www.artsatwork.com.au/opportunities/grants_competitions.htm#Noise 3.4 ARATA Conference Planning is well underway for the ARATA 2004 National Conference in Melbourne. The conference theme is "Technology - Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday". Information and conference updates are now available on the ARATA web site and expressions of interest are being sought from interested presenters, delegates, exhibitors, sponsors and advertisers. http://www.e-bility.com/arata/conf.php International 3.5 Online story sharing for women with disabilities Sharing Our Stories:A Place in the Sun An online place where audacious Women with disAbilities’ meet to share their stories - what it was like, what happened, and what it's like today. Being a Woman with a disAbility makes us neither a saint nor a martyr, but it does necessarily challenge us to be adaptable. Society was not initially constructed to include those of us who are not flawlessly able. It has been our duty to ourselves to find the back doors and shaded windows of opportunity, scaling walls of resistance, all just to reach or build a barrier-free place where the sun shines equally on us all. We are here to tell our stories of the grand expedition from exclusion to inclusion: to shine a light on those doors, open those windows wider, and disassemble those walls. Project website at: http://dawn.thot.net/sos Yahoogroups: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharingourstories/ To Join the E-List, send an email to: sharingourstories-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 3.6 UK Conference - Above and Beyond 19-21 September 2003, Cheltenham Town Hall Booking has now opened for Above and Beyond, theUK's first international Disability Arts Festival and Conference in celebration of 2003 as European Year of Disabled People. Bringing in disability arts performers from around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Guinea, Canada and US, Equata has also booked many of the UK's finest for the event, including Mat Fraser and Julie McNamara in hosting roles, Alan Sutherland as Conference Poet, Caroline Parker, the Nasty Girls and the south-west's own Liz Crow and Art and Power. The event is for anyone who wants to experience the best in disability, Deaf and Survivor arts - as part of their own professional development to connect and network with others or even to try and get a couple of exchanges going with some of the visiting performers. There is an early booking incentive, and there are bursaries available to disabled people. It is therefore anticipated that the event will sell out quickly, so early booking is recommended. For information and a booking form in your required format, contact Equata on 01884 829265 (voice); 01884 829267 (textphone and fax); or info@equata.co.uk 3.7 - 2004 International VSA Arts Festival VSA arts is currently conducting an open call to artists (literary, media, performing, and visual) to participate in the 2004 International VSA arts Festival. The Festival provides unprecedented public exposure and interaction with artists and organisations. If you are disabled artist and would like to apply to participate or perform in The 2004 International VSA arts Festival, please download an application form from their website at http://www.vsartsfestival.org/ 3.8 Creative Spaces Forums From: The Arts Access Aotearoa team As a result of the Celebrating Creative Spaces Conference in February, and the desire by the vast majority of participants to have some sort of networking and discussion tool made available, Belinda Fowler of INSACPE in Auckland has taken the initiative and constructed an online forum and mailing list for anything to do with Creative Spaces discussion. This online Creative Spaces forum is now available for use at http://creativespaces.blackchantry.net This forum is an ideal medium for following up or discussing any issues relating to Creative Spaces and artistic expression within these Spaces. The purpose of the forum is to allow networking and facilitate and stimulate conversation between anyone interested in Creative Spaces. The forum can also be used to disseminate information and to post any questions people may have. To register and participate in this forum, please visit the above web address. If you have any problems registering or have any further questions, please contact Belinda or Scott McLew. Belinda can be reached at belinda@creativespaces.blackchantry.net. Scott can be reached at scott.mclew@artsaccess.org.nz 4.0 New Resources 4.1 Arts Council England guidance on protecting children, young people and adults involved in arts activities. Keeping arts safe, written in collaboration with the NSPCC, gives guidance for individuals and arts organisations on child protection issues and on devising policies and procedures to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults involved in arts activities. It can be downloaded from their website in PDF, http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/documents/news/152.pdf or Word format: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/documents/news/153.doc Alternatively, you can order the publication, free of charge (from 30 April 2003) from Marston Book Services on 01235 465500 or email direct.orders@marston.co.uk 4.2 Accessibility Prompt software A-Prompt is a free software tool designed to improve the usability of HTML documents by evaluating Web pages for accessibility barriers and then providing developers with a fast and easy way to make the necessary repairs. The tool's evaluation and repair checklist is based on accessibility guidelines created and maintained by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. The software is made available through the joint efforts of the University of Toronto's Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC) and the TRACE Center at the University of Wisconsin. http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/index.html.(English and French). 4.3 Reading and Learning difficulties This page includes links to many local and international organisations, online resources, tools and sources of information to help individuals, parents, teachers and professionals in understanding and developing skills in reading and learning strategies, for people with dyslexia and other specific reading and learning difficulties. http://www.e-bility.com/links/reading.php 4.4 Enabling Software Here you will find information on affordable software programs (freeware and shareware) designed for the web, such as text readers, magnification programs, literacy tools, voice dictionaries, on-screen keyboards, switch access and a variety of other useful applications to assist people with disabilities eg Text Aloud, Read Please, Cob Shell, Text Reader Dictionary. http://www.e-bility.com/links/software.php 4.5 Principles of universal design A group of universal design advocates is working cooperatively to try to develop a set of universal design principles. The goal is to see whether there are some general high-level principles, which apply across environments, products, and communication. This is an ongoing project, and input is solicited. If you would like a copy of the principles a text version is available for quick printing and a colour poster can be downloaded as a pdf file. http://www.design.ncsu.edu:8120/cud/univ_design/princ_overview.htm 4.6 Disability and the moving image White Sticks, Wheels and Crutches 132 pages bursting with information and specially commissioned essays written by Dr Paul Darke. ISBN number 0-85170-962-1. To see the front cover and a contents page go to http://www.outside-centre.com and click the appropriate link. The publication is now available for UKP 10 (public) / UKP 5 (programmers) - in fact, they are still working on the details, so best to contact them before you order anything - from the British Film Institute (including in Large Print - text only), BFI - sales, distribution and archive - Marketing 21 Stephen Street, London England W1T 1LN, Telephone: 0207 957 8905 or E-mail: marketing.films@bfi.org.uk 5.0 Arts Features 5.1 Desires - short story collection By Penny Pepper Published by Bejamo Press From Penny's foreword: The idea to write a collection of short stories that feature disabled people as the central protagonists in various sexual contexts has been on my mind for sometime. We live in a world where disability and sex are not greatly acknowledged despite countless numbers of us, disabled people, pursuing love and the indefatigable drive of desire. I felt we were invisible, our stories have not been told, certainly not in a way that pins down the specifics and explores what makes our experience of sex and love unique. While I have been writing for sometime, it has proved impossible to introduce disability into my work until now. Publishers resist the idea that disability has any meaning other than a negative health context. This makes progress very slow. But with 'Desires'’ I hope I have brought my disabled characters alive in a way that has never been seen before. The book should NOT be seen as representative of the whole disability experience but, as with any work of fiction, something to enjoy for what it is a rude, lewd, sad and provocative collection of stories about a subject every human being can relate to. ISBN: 0954418506.(please always use ISBN to order) Available from all good bookshops. (not suitable for under 16s!). If you have ongoing difficulties with tracking it down, please let her know on: penny.pepper@ntlworld.com 5.2 Shelf Life Anthology Your chance to own a luxurious limited edition anthology combining poetry and prose by 31 disabled writers and purpose-commissioned images from leading disabled artists. The culmination of a two-year project, Shelf Life has grown out of a series of creative writing residentials set up by the National Disability Arts Forum. The residentials gave disabled people living with a shortened or predetermined life expectancy a chance to work with professional writers and write about their hopes, fears and life experiences. Shelf Life takes the reader from gentle and honest first person testimonies through abstract and sometimes in yer face confrontations with death, out into an optimistic, political and inspirational ending. For sample chapters, images, artists’ biographies and more, please visit our website at http://ndaf.org/shelflife/press/menu2.html 5.3 Carrie Writes Carrie was born with cerebral palsy. In recent columns she talks about relationships and the importance of loving yourself first, as well as a local initiative to set up hearing loops in public places. http://www.e-bility.com/carrie/ 5.4 NO LIMITS tv series Melbourne (6 half hr programs) These will be hosted by people with disabilities, presenting topics such as public transport, employment, attendant support, community living, sexuality, the arts, communication aids, plus music, dance, comedy ... there really are NO LIMITS ... Channel 31 - Melbourne - on Monday nights at 7.30pm from June 30th 2003 6.0 Your Feedback, Contributions and Ideas Are always welcome - email coord@dadaanat.net.au 6. Your Feedback, Contributions and IdeasIf you have anything you would like listed in this newsletter, want to give feedback, or be removed from this list contact: coord@dadaanat.net.au  Privacy and Conditions |