Brisbane

Access Arts Inc (Queensland) creates opportunities by removing barriers to arts and cultural participation for the one in five Queenslanders with disability. We deliver programs in all art-forms at all levels which support our vision that all Queenslanders are free to participate, create and work in the arts.

We provide workshops for people who have never experienced art before or who want to enjoy the benefits of social participation and emotional well-being which come from participating in arts and cultural activities.

Access Arts is the acknowledged leader throughout the Arts and Cultural sector in the development of emerging artists through mentoring and employment of professional artists and cultural workers experiencing disability and disadvantage.

Support can be in the form of small grants through our SAFE fund and through individual and group mentoring programs. An example of this is our Camera Wanderers group whose postcards are available on http://www.redbubble.com/people/access. This group of photographers meet weekly to discuss and debate their creative practice and enjoy the opportunity to meet and learn from like-minded artists. In September they were featured in The Brisbane Festival's Under The Radar program at Metro Arts.

Our Brisbane Outsider Artists studio offers members a safe, supportive environment for professional development. Many of the artists have won awards and had their work exhibited throughout Australia and overseas in Asia, Europe and the United States.

One example and a first for this Wataboshi Festival is the visual arts exhibition, 'Polyphonic: Many Voices Many Styles' being curated by Access Arts. The exhibition will be on show at the Thai National Theatre in Bangkok and the Thai National Gallery during November. Emerging artists from throughout Australia experiencing disability have been selected to take part in this valuable professional development opportunity. Funding support was received from the Australia-Thai Institute, and Access Arts' SAFE Fund.

Access Arts utilises an innovative and unique approach to reciprocal partnerships with individuals, regional Queensland communities, interstate and international organisations. These partnerships are instrumental in producing quality exhibitions, performances, projects, workshops and professional development outcomes.

In recent years, Access Arts has run a song-writing competition, 'Song Quest', to select a performer to send to Wataboshi. In 2009, seven members from Enable Lifestyle Support, Spiritus Roma, 700km west of Brisbane performed 'We Are Alive' at the Wataboshi Gala Concert in Suwon, Korea. This year, an arts - music industry based panel selected Jesse Paterson, from Crossing Divides Inc on the Gold Coast, to perform here in Bangkok..

Access Arts is also strongly committed to working with arts and cultural workers, organisations, tertiary institutions and venues to assist them in ensuring their facilities, programs and services are accessible to all. We do this by providing disability awareness and inclusive arts training on a quarterly basis or to organisations on request. We also offer access audits for organisations who want to gain an understanding of which aspects of their venue and services are accessible already and how to make affordable accessibility improvements if required.