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National Arts and Disability Strategy Discussion Paper (HTML)

Poster of Boomerang dance theatre

Introduction

In February 2008, ministers responsible for culture and the arts in Australia agreed that the Cultural Ministers Council (CMC) should develop a National Arts and Disability Strategy.

This national strategy will improve coordination and collaboration across governments, helping to ensure that all Australians with a disability have the opportunity to engage fully in arts and cultural activities.

The development and implementation of a National Arts and Disability Strategy will be guided by the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.1

The strategy will complement the overarching National Disability Strategy and the National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy (both currently being developed) as well as existing strategies in Australia.

The CMC working group developing the National Arts and Disability Strategy is calling for public submissions.

We invite your comments and submissions by 3 November 2008, via the contacts listed on page 2 of this paper.

Background

Social inclusion is one of the Australian Government's top priorities, as outlined in the 2007 policy document, A Social Inclusion Agenda.2

The right of all people to participate freely and actively in the artistic and cultural life of the community is a cornerstone of social inclusion.

The Australian Government’s 2007 election policy document, New Directions for the Arts, included a commitment to developing a National Arts and Disability Strategy. The strategy will aim to give all Australians an equal opportunity to participate in the arts and enjoy them.3

The CMC working group, chaired by the Australian Government, will coordinate discussions with state and territory jurisdictions, local governments and the arts and disability sectors.

Consultation process

The CMC working group invites you to make submissions on a National Arts and Disability Strategy.

This paper talks about issues and asks some questions to generate a discussion. We also welcome your suggestions and comments about arts and disability issues not covered by the paper.

To work well, a National Arts and Disability Strategy will rely on contributions from a wide range of people with a disability and/or mental illness.

We would like to hear from people of all ages and people in remote and regional communities, as well as organisations and individuals who work or live with people with a disability.

That means we are interested in hearing from as many people in the community as possible with an interest in arts and disability. Your submissions will help the working group to develop a comprehensive strategy aimed at tackling the barriers to participation in, and access to, arts and cultural activity.

You can simply tell us about your own experiences of Australian arts and culture. Or you can read the ideas in this document and respond to them. 

We are interested in hearing about examples of what is currently being done well and about ideas that can be achieved within existing resources.

People working in the arts and disability sectors often know about international initiatives and programs. You may like to tell us about some of those.

How to make your submission

You can email your submission to: arts.disability@environment.gov.au

You can mail a handwritten or typed submission to:

Secretariat, Cultural Ministers Council
Arts Division
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
GPO Box 787
CANBERRA  ACT  2601

Phone: 1800 185 693

Fax: (+61) 02 6275 9663

We only need a single copy of your submission.

Please include your name, phone number and postal address. If the submission is from an organisation, please indicate this clearly.

Unless you ask us to keep it private, your submission may be made public on the Cultural Ministers Council website at www.cmc.gov.au.

If we can help you with your communication needs in any way please phone 1800 185 693. 

We can provide this paper in alternative formats: large print, Braille, CD, Auslan DVD. The paper is available in HTML, Word, or PDF formats.

National Relay Service

People with a hearing or speech impairment can call the numbers below through the National Relay Service at no cost:

  • TTY users can phone 1800 555 677 then ask for 1800 185 693
  • Speak and Listen (speech-to-speech relay) users can phone 1800 555 727 then ask for 1800 185 693
  • Internet relay users can connect to the National Relay Service (see www.relayservice.com.au for details) and then ask for 1800 185 693

If you need more information or support from the National Relay Service, contact the helpdesk (9am to 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time): 

TTY: 1800 555 630

Voice: 1800 555 660

SMS: 0416 001 350

Fax: 1800 555 690

Email: helpdesk@relayservice.com.au

Benefits of a national strategy

The National Arts and Disability Strategy is an opportunity for the Australian Government and state and territory governments to make a national commitment on arts and disability issues.

It will help bring together programs and initiatives across the arts, health, disability and community services, ageing, education, employment, Indigenous affairs and infrastructure portfolios.

The strategy is also an opportunity to highlight best practice in the arts and disability field and to share stories of your experiences and what works well.

The strategy will be one of several cross-government activities designed to address social exclusion and remove barriers to full and active citizenship. 

The strategy will work alongside other related initiatives. It will be designed to complement other national strategies that are being developed: the National Disability Strategy and the National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy. It will also link with the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement, and state/territory legislation, strategies or plans such as Victoria’s Disability Act 2006, New South Wales’ Disability Services Act 1993 and Western Australia’s Disability Access and Inclusion Plan 2007–2011.

Discussion points

  • How can we best give people with a disability a voice in the development of arts policy and practices?
  • What are the most important areas for collaboration or partnerships in the area of arts and disability?
  • How do we better coordinate and link existing resources and programs, plans and strategies across all levels and areas of government?
  • What programs are there outside the arts portfolio at each level of government that might be of benefit to the development of disability arts?
    • Are there examples of arts-related projects/initiatives already being supported through these programs which may provide useful case studies or models?
    • Which of these programs have the most potential and which ones should be prioritised for action?

Key focus areas

Barriers to access and participation

In 2003, the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers identified that one in five people in Australia have some form of disability.4

Demand has grown in the area of the arts and disability in recent years, but Australians with a disability are still participating less in arts and cultural activities than the general population.5

Physical barriers such as not being able to access or move through public spaces freely or independently are sometimes seen as the main barrier to participation.

However, barriers can also be because of attitudes and procedures.

Some of the barriers that may prevent access and participation in cultural activities include:

  • financial barriers such as ticket costs;
  • lack of accessible public transport and disabled parking;
  • lack of captioning, hearing augmentation and Auslan interpretation at cultural events; 
  • lack of large print or Braille signs and labels;
  • website and ticketing procedures that are not user-friendly; 
  • attitudes in the community, arts organisations, venues, presenters and ticketing agencies; and
  • limited funding to support arts and cultural organisations to deliver outreach programs on-site in homes or through disability services facilities.6

Discussion points — barriers to access and participation

  • How can a National Arts and Disability Strategy help people with a disability to participate in arts and cultural activities (including people of all ages and in all locations)?
  • How can we better understand what prevents people with a disability from engaging in the arts?
  • How do we change attitudes within the arts sector to people with a disability and their needs?
  • Are the sources of information and ticketing systems currently available accessible to people with a disability and user-friendly?
    • If not, are there practical or inexpensive ways to make them more accessible?

Barriers to arts practice

Artists with a disability tend to face similar barriers whether they are professional arts practitioners or aspiring and emerging artists.

People with a disability may be on low incomes and may also find it difficult to seek and gain employment. They have fewer professional development opportunities and more limited access to training, and can experience difficulties accessing information and opportunities for funding.

Artists with a disability may find it hard to develop a professional body of work to put forward for assessment by arts funding agencies and organisations because their particular needs are not being supported.

Research on arts employment participation rates for people with a disability is limited, but we know that the general labour force participation rate for people with a disability is lower than that of the general population.7

In 2003, the Australia Council surveyed the economic circumstances of practising professional Australian artists. The results suggested that about 10 per cent of Australian artists live with a disability.8

Many people with a disability who actively and independently engage in arts practice are not directly supported by the arts and disability sector.

Artists with a disability in professional practice may need extra support, like extra funds for equipment, travel or support workers.

There are a range of programs and initiatives across governments and portfolios to assist people with a disability in their arts practice, training and employment. A case has been made by the arts and disability sector for increased access to funding, training, professional development opportunities, mentoring and career pathways for both professionals with a disability and people in the community with a disability.

Discussion points—barriers to arts practice

  • How can we best support artists with a disability to increase their applications to, and competitiveness in, general arts funding programs?
  • How do we ensure the interests of artists with a disability are understood and represented in decision-making processes, especially in funding and grants decision making?
  • How can we address the under-representation of people with a disability employed in the art, cultural and creative industries?
  • How do we ensure that professional development opportunities for artists with a disability are not limited because of their disability?
  • Is it important to address the professional development needs of artists with a disability separately from, or integrated with, other artists?
  • How can we best support access and other needs, such as content and presentation, for students of the arts who have a disability?

Audience development

Data collection concerning audiences with a disability, and audiences for art produced by people with a disability, is limited and inconsistent.

We need to understand what prevents people with a disability from engaging with the arts, and how to build audiences for disability arts product as well as products for audiences with a disability.

One aim of the strategy will be to help presenting organisations and venues in understanding and meeting the needs of people with a disability as audience members. There are important opportunities for governments, the arts and disability sector and employment organisations to promote audience development. 

Discussion points—audience development

  • How can we most effectively develop audiences of people with a disability for both mainstream arts and cultural experiences and for arts and cultural work produced by or for people with a disability?
  • Should programming be developed that specifically engages with and is relevant to people with a disability?
  • How can we most effectively develop broader audiences for arts and cultural work produced by people with a disability?
  • How can we encourage companies, venues and festivals to include works created by artists with a disability in their programming?
  • Should the focus be on supporting arts organisations specifically formed by and for people with a disability or should this be a responsibility of all arts companies, venues and festivals?
  • How can advocacy in this area be improved?

Other issues for consideration

Discussion points

  • How can we best maintain the momentum of a National Arts and Disability Strategy over time?
  • What is the most appropriate governance arrangement for monitoring and improving a National Arts and Disability Strategy into the future?
  • Are there any other opportunities and/or areas for collaboration which you think should be included in the strategy?

Glossary

Artist

Arts workers in all parts of the arts community including performers, visual artists, writers, multimedia artists, arts administrators, museum and gallery curators and technicians.

Arts and cultural activity

Includes arts events, institutions or services such as performances, exhibitions, theatres, museums, galleries, libraries, cinemas and other cultural places. In this context, it does not include other recreation, leisure and sporting activities.

Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement

A guide that helps the Australian Government and state and territory governments to make a positive difference in the lives of people with a disability. The agreement recognises the governments’ complementary roles developing and delivering public policy and services. It also acknowledges the pivotal role of all governments in promoting the rights of, and equality of opportunity for, people with disabilities.

Cultural Ministers Council

The Cultural Ministers Council (CMC) brings together government ministers from Australia and New Zealand to develop Australia’s arts and cultural sector. The Australian Local Government Association, Papua New Guinea and Norfolk Island have observer status, attending meetings without contributing to decisions. See www.cmc.gov.au

Disability

The ‘social model’ of disability has influenced contemporary disability policy in recent years. It focuses on the environment rather than the individual’s circumstances.
It refers to disability as a consequence of attitudinal, social and environmental barriers and targets opportunities to address these.

In this paper, 'persons with a disability' refers to people who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which, combined with other barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others (as in Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).9

The Commonwealth’s Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA)is the main legislation that protects all Australians against discrimination based on disability.10 The definition of disability under the DDA is principally based on a model of ‘disability’ that includes physical, intellectual, psychiatric, sensory and neurological impairments, learning difficulties, physical disfigurement and the presence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

National Disability Strategy

The Australian Government has committed to developing a National Disability Strategy (NDS). The Government will work in partnership with other governments, people with a disability, their families, carers and the organisations that support and represent them.

The development of the National Disability Strategy is supported by international thinking that recognises that a whole-of-government, whole-of-life approach to disability issues is the best way to tackle the social and economic divide between people with a disability and people without a disability. 
The development of the National Disability Strategy will include a formal consultation process later this year.
The final National Disability Strategy will provide an organising and monitoring framework for existing work and bring together other key initiatives currently under review or development. It could include, but not be limited to, the:

  • National Disability Agreement;
  • Inquiry into Better Support for Carers (July 2008);
  • National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy;
  • National Arts and Disability Strategy;
  • Disability Discrimination Act Access to Premises Standard; and
  • Harmonisation of Disabled Persons Parking Scheme and Companion Card Scheme

Social inclusion

The right for all Australians to be able to play a full role in all aspects of Australian life. To be fully included in society, all Australians should have the opportunity to:

  • secure a job;
  • access services;
  • connect with family, friends, work, personal interests and local community;
  • deal with personal crisis; and
  • have their voices heard.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit social development dimension, it adopts a broad categorisation of persons with disabilities; clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities; identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities; and identifies where protection of rights must be reinforced.

Australia ratified the Convention on 17 July 2008. It is available on the United Nations website: www.un.org/disabilities

Endnotes

  1. United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. A copy of the Convention is available at <http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf>. The Convention was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Australian Government signed the Convention on 30 March 2007 and the Convention was ratified on 17 July 2008.
  2. Australian Labor Party, An Australian Social Inclusion Agenda, Australian Labor Party, Canberra, 2007, viewed 11 July 2008 <http://www.alp.org.au/download/now/071122_social_inclusion.pdf>
  3. Australian Labor Party, New Directions for the Arts, Australian Labor Party, Canberra, September 2007, viewed 11 July 2008 <http://www.chass.org.au/media/pdf/new_directions_for_the_arts.pdf>
  4. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Disability, Aging and Carers: Summary of Findings, cat. no 4430.0, ABS, Canberra, viewed 11 July 2008 <http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/978A7C78CC11B702CA256F0F007B1311/$File/44300_2003.pdf>
  5. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview (First Edition), Feature Article 2: Cultural Attendance by Persons with a Disability, cat. no. 4172.0, ABS Canberra, viewed 11 July 2008 <www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/39433889d406eeb9ca2570610019e9a5/2ec4f5c9d4e98e7dca2574520010a3b3!OpenDocument>
  6. Some of these barriers were identified in: Australian Museum and National Museum of Australia 2005, Many voices making choices: Museum audiences with disabilities, report prepared by Landman P, Fishburne K, Kelly L and Tonkin S, cited in Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview (First Edition), Feature Article 2: Cultural Attendance by Persons with a Disability, cat. no. 4172.0, ABS Canberra, viewed 11 July 2008 <www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/39433889d406eeb9ca2570610019e9a5/2ec4f5c9d4e98e7dca2574520010a3b3!OpenDocument>
  7. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Disability, Ageing and Carers: Summary of Findings, cat. no. 4430.0, ABS, Canberra, viewed 11 July 2008 <http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/978A7C78CC11B702CA256F0F007B1311/$File/44300_2003.pdf>
  8. Throsby, C.D. and Hollister, V. 2003, Don’t give up your day job: an economic study of professional artists in Australia, Australia Council, Sydney
  9. Preamble and Article 1: Purpose, United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. A copy of the Convention is available at <http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf>. The Convention was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the Australian Government signed the Convention on 30 March 2007 and Australia ratified the Convention on 17 July 2008.
  10. Australian Government, 1992, Disability Discrimination Act 1992, viewed 9 September 2008 <http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/ActCompilation1.nsf/0/FC69105BAF504384CA2571400006FD7F?OpenDocument>