Australia’s leading arts and disability forum heads to Alice Springs

The forum will be held at the Araluen Arts Centre from 24 to 26 September, and will be co-hosted by Incite Arts. Around 200 national and international delegates are expected to attend the forum, which aims to build stronger linkages and collaboration between stakeholders in the arts and disability sectors.

Arts Access Australia’s CEO Meagan Shand said the decision to hold the event in Alice Springs was made “in a bid to provide a megaphone for regional artists with disability.”

“Where 2017 saw us enter into a global dialogue on arts and disability through our first international Meeting Place, in 2018 we intend to bring the conversation back to the very heart of Australia,” said Ms Shand. “We look forward to working with regional artists and leaders to create access to the arts for people with disability.”

Incite Arts’ CEO Jenine Mackay said she is excited for the event, and that holding the forum in Alice Springs would provide a unique opportunity for the arts and disability sector to focus conversations around NT Aboriginal artists with disability, and to respond to local and Territory needs.

“Research shows Australia’s regional participation in the creative arts is in decline, largely due to decreases in remote Northern Territory and Queensland,” Ms Mackay said. “This is very concerning, given the importance of regional Australia to our cultural narrative. The Meeting Place forum will provide a critical platform to discuss why this is happening and what we can do to better support our regional artists with disability.”

Tickets to the forum will be available in May via the Meeting Place website. Artists and arts workers with and without disability, representatives from arts and disability organisations, and arts and cultural leaders from local and national arts organisations and government bodies are encouraged to attend.

This is the sixth Meeting Place forum hosted by Arts Access Australia, the peak advocacy body for arts and disability in Australia. Flexible and transportable, the forum is held in a different location every year, with previous locations including Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth and Berlin, Germany. This approach not only broadens the opportunity for participation in the forum, but also shines a spotlight on local talent through a program that is locally driven, within a universal context.

The Meeting Place forum in Alice Springs is supported by a grant from the NT Government’s Strategic Arts Program, a new initiative prioritising funding for artists with disabilities, independent producers/curators and arts industry development.

MEDIA CONTACT

To request more information on Meeting Place or to organise an interview, please contact:

Meagan Shand, CEO Arts Access Australia
Email: meagan@artsaccessaustralia.org
Tel: +61 419 954 055