About
Brisbane Festival, in partnership with Undercover Artist Festival and Metro Arts, presents a gentle and joyful daylong event for artists working from their homes, studios, workshop spaces, community centres or professional employment and diverse arts companies. We want to being everyone together – from those who make money from your creative practice/s to those who make art to express your lived experience.
Everyone is welcome! Disabled, d/Deaf, neurodivergent, or lived experience of mental ill-health – all artists in our community are invited to join.
We also recognise that our lives are intersectional, so we encourage artists with disability from First Nations backgrounds, those who are culturally and linguistically diverse those who are racially marginalised, our LGBTIQA+ brotherboy, sistergirl artists, those folks who are non-speaking, need full supports to participate, and those who might only be able to join us for a short time due to fatigue, exhaustion and overwhelm. We want to make the time you can spend with us worth the effort, welcoming, and supportive. Please let us know how we can meet your access needs and make you feel cared for on the day.
Our arts practices will be diverse and that makes for a great conversation, if you:- paint
- sculpt
- draw
- craft
- write
- play or create music
- perform (dance, sing, act)
- produce
- or manage a company
If you work in:- technical production (lighting, sound, video)
- community engaged arts practice
- experimental and/or emerging practices
If your practice is:- deeply cultural
- traditional
- contemporary
- or just your own style.
We want to meet you and hear about the kind of work that you make.
Schedule Breakdown
Please register for each of the session/s you wish to attend, as detailed below.
Session 1: Creative Workshop facilitated by Lenine Bourke10am - 12pmFree Registration RequiredWe know that many disabled, d/Deaf, and neurodivergent artists create work that is deeply influenced by their experiences, perspectives, and ways of navigating the world. Also, other artists just work with the world and ideas around them or imagined. This is what we want to explore in this session. Lenine Bourke will encourage those in the room to introduce themselves to everyone (if you want to), then explore the kind of art work we want to make, or have a space where work can be made right there in the room, then consider whether we want an audience to see this work and how - from a local gallery, or venue, to a festival or even the Paralympics Cultural Program in the future.
Networking Lunch12pm - 1pmSession 2: Meeting people in leadership roles in the arts sector1pm - 2pmFree Registration RequiredThis will be a chance to meet people in the arts sector, who have leadership roles and would love to meet you and find out about your work and your ideas and what changes are needed to fully embrace d/Deaf and disabled artists as a part of the arts sector.
The title for this day, “Access by Design”, also speaks to artistic aesthetics or processes that are shaped through access needs, bodily rhythms, and alternative ways of thinking or communicating. We want for each of you to share your vision of the arts experiences you want to bring to audiences, asking questions about new ways of presenting work, inclusive practices, and your vision for the diversity in audiences and engagements in arts and culture.
Feel free to pre-prepare something you might like to say or share and if you would rather a support person share on your behalf that is ok too – you do this bit however feels good for you.
Break2pm - 2:30pmSession 3: Disability Awareness in the Arts2:30pm - 4pmTicketed $90.00 + booking feeA training and skills development session for allies and the extended arts sector, facilitated by Undercover Artist Festival’s Maddie Little. This workshop will include everything from disability awareness introductory topics (the social model of disability, language, etiquette) to in-depth discussion of cultural safety and agency for disabled and d/Deaf creatives. The training will also unpack the role of an Artist Support – a person who supports an artist with disability – in respecting creative agency, and knowing when to Step In and Step Out.
Accessibility Note
Metro Arts' New Benner Theatre is wheelchair accessible. For tickets for patrons in a wheelchair, with accessibility needs and/or Companion Card holders, please call Metro Arts on 07 3002 7100 Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm to enquire or make your booking.
All sessions will be AUSLAN Interpreted and have assisted listening available.
Other Information
We take the safety of our patrons, staff and artists seriously. Please review our
Terms and Conditions, in addition to Ferve's Terms and Conditions prior to purchasing tickets.
If you are unwell, please refrain from attending events at Metro Arts and contact us at your earliest convenience. Click here to
find out more.
If you have any questions, please contact Metro Arts.
