Australian disability arts archive
Australian disability arts are recognised globally for its innovation and impact.
To date, however, the historical legacy this celebrated body of contemporary work builds on remains largely undocumented.
This project will create an online archive documenting the evolution of disability arts in Australia since the 1970s – the people, companies, works, and critical moments in arts and disability policy that have shaped development of the field as we know it today.
This comprehensive, curated, culturally respectful record will benefit artists, arts organisations, government, and scholars.
- It will provide artists with access to their cultural heritage.
- It will provide arts policy makers, funding agencies, producers, and programmers with insight to inform future strategic initiatives to make the industry more inclusive of people with disabilities.
- It will provide the arts sector more broadly with insight into the quality work across artforms, genres, and styles artists with disability have been producing for generations now.
The project is funded through an Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative for Australian Society, History, and Culture grant.