MEDIA
A place to read some more about some of the work I've been involved in
Image: Matthew Vasilescu
ART + WELL-BEING
A growing body of research - both local and global - confirms the effectiveness of programs that link arts and culture to improved mental health. This is a growth area for all cultural organisations seeking ways to bring in new audiences and benefit all of their stakeholders.
ART + WELL-BEING
Museum Education podcast
I met the lovely Alberto Michalette at the EDI conference in Naples in Oct 2022, where I was speaking about the pilot MCA ArtFlow well-being program.
Alberto's enthusiasm and passion for museum education show throughout his great podcast series. I was delighted to be invited to talk to him about audience engagement and the importance of art and well-being in October 2023.
ART + MENTAL HEALTH
Artshub website article
Conceived in the wake of drought, bushfires, floods, and the discombobulating pandemic lockdowns, the MCA's Artflow program was a collaboration with the Mind Room, designed to help people express, understand and process their emotions.
This piece by Christine Long looks at what the arts can offer to help us all take care of our mental health and improve our resilience.
DISABILITY + ACCESS + INCLUSION
Around 1 in 6 (18%) people in Australia – or about 4.4 million – identify with disability. This is a lot of people to not invest in.
It’s time to celebrate disability and to move to cultural equity. Time to look at what cultural ableism is; time to put d/Deaf and disabled people at the centre of the conversation.
ART + ACCESS TO TECH
Accessible Arts NSW video
I MCed an Access Ideas and Insights panel discussion, Accessible Tech, organised by Accessible Arts and held at MCA Australia, April 2023.
Speakers: Digital producers Stuart Buchanan from the Sydney Opera House and Marcus Wright from the Museum of Contemporary Art were joined by Sophie Penkethman-Young, the Manager of Digital Culture Initiatives at Australia Council for the Arts.
To watch the panel discussion, click on the video below.
ART + ACCESSIBILITY
Sydney Arts Management Advisory Group video
Maximising your Audience: making your work accessible to everyone
29 May 2017.
Run in partnership with Accessible Arts, this SAMAG event showcased organisations large and small who have pursued new audiences by continuing to make their work as open and accessible to everyone to engage with as possible.
To watch the panel discussion, click on the video below.
DISABLED ARTISTS
Awkward Bastards Symposium, UK
As part of the Awkward Bastards Symposium, April 2015, I was invited to explore the question 'Why is it so difficult to describe yourself as a disabled artist?'
Awkward Bastards was co-produced by DASH and mac Birmingham. To watch the panel discussion, click on the video below.
ARTISTS WORKING WITH COLLECTIONS
Axisweb article
Artists are responding to and investing time in working with museum collections, alongside curators who increasingly understand the value of dialogue between the historical and the contemporary. ‘Behind the Scenes of the Museum’ is a piece I wrote explaining what I came away with after the Axis one-day event in 2014.
ART AND DEMENTIA
The MCA's Artful: Art and Dementia ran as a research program between March 2016 – October 2018 working with 124 people through the program (67 people with dementia/ 57 care partners), travelling from all over Greater Sydney and as far as Kiama, Blue Mountains, Newcastle and Bowral.
ART + NEUROPLASTICITY
Sydney Ideas Panel
I was part of a panel of scientists and art practitioners who came together to connect the dots between creativity and neuroplasticity at a Sydney Ideas event during Innovation Week in August 2018.
Speakers: Associate Professor Elizabeth Scott, Professor Sharon Naismith, Gill Nicol, Bernadette Harvey, Samantha Meers AO.
ART + NEUROPLASTICITY
Sydney Ideas Talk
For many of those who took part in it, the Artful program opened up a whole new world; it created an opportunity to enjoy themselves, move their bodies and find new ways to communicate.
I spoke about this as part of the Sydney Ideas event in Innovation Week 2018. This article on the MCA website is an edited version of my talk.
