The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of accessibility and inclusivity in the arts. With the shift to online throughout the pandemic, we’ve all felt isolated in different ways.
Humans are social creatures. We crave connection, contact with each other and share enjoyable moments.
Living with disability shouldn’t prevent this.
To speak up for this need, we’ve created an Accessible Arts & Culture Event Guide. This guide features our top picks for inclusive events and activities online and IRL.
Stay updated and be sure to check this page from time to time to stay updated with upcoming events.
WHITE STICK FEST
White Stick Fest brings together more than 22 blind and low music artists, along with sighted contemporaries, in a global online broadcast.
Originally broadcast on International White Cane Day (October 15, 2021).
The line-up includes The X Ambassadors, Rachael Leahcar, Magic Giant, Diane Schuur & the Airmen of Note, The Wiggles, Tom Sullivan, Lara Nakhle, Caitlin Smith, Tate Sheridan, Christian Guardino, Kirsten Busby, Shayy Winn, Cobhams Asuqou, Connor Wink, Joan Belgrave, Rick Price, Georgia Crandon, Michael Leonardi, Mark Laurent, Bernarda, Eran James, Robert Cini, Mac Potts, Vernon Barnard, Luan Pommier, Danny Kean and Blind Joe.
Event Type: Online – stream
Date: Available from October 15, 2021 onwards
Price: Free
Access: Captions available
For more information visit: http://www.whitestickfest.org/
CHOOSE ART
Choose Art is an Australian accessible arts directory. It’s designed for and by Deaf and disabled people. Use Choose Art to find accessible arts programs, opportunities and events near you.
For more information visit: https://chooseart.com.au/
ACTIVATED ARTS PODCAST
Activated Arts is a 2RPH Radio show and podcast – produced in association with Accessible Arts – that explores and showcases the unconventional talent and distinctive work of professional arts practitioners with disability.
Event Type: Podcast
Date: Monthly
Price: Free
Access: Show transcripts available at https://aarts.net.au/activated-arts
For more information visit: https://aarts.net.au/activated-arts/
LIMITS – ONLINE
Limits is a dance theatre performance choreographed and performed by Bonnie Curtis. Limits wrenches audiences into the world of a grotesque creature struggling against her inner limitations and societal expectations.
Bonnie draws on her own experiences with invisible disability and functional impairment to create a powerful performance that shows how quickly we judge the exterior.
Event Type: Online – Stream on-demand
Date: Ends 31st December, 2021 at 11:45pm
Price: $5
Location: Worldwide
Access: Closed Captions, Audio Description
Bookings: https://www.brandx.org.au/Event/limits-on-demand
UNBROKEN LAND – ONLINE
Unbroken Land 2020: Stories of connection to nature, place and belonging. As part of the Unbroken Land 2020 program, the ‘stArts with D’ Performance Ensemble have created a series of short films, telling their stories about water. From the dramatic storms with thunder and lightning, water flowing from the sky and flooding the rivers, to that good feeling of the rain on your skin…Water everywhere!
Event Type: Online
Price: Free
Access: Closed Captioning, Audio Description
For more information visit: http://incitearts.org.au/unbroken-land-2020/
UNFINISHED CAMP – ONLINE
Unfinished Camp is an online exhibition. Australian artists Moorina Bonini, Kalanjay Dhir and Jazz Money share their works created for Unfinished Camp, each film a look into what the artists consider necessary to create a more equitable future.
Event Type: Online
Date: 24 Sep – 19 Dec 2021
Price: Free
Location: Worldwide
Access: Visual Story, Open Captioning
For more information visit: https://www.acmi.net.au/gallery-5-online-exhibitions/unfinished-camp/
2021 EXHIBITION – ONLINE
2021 is a 100% Disabled artist-created and managed exhibition that displays works of disabled representatives from various parts of the community – LGBTQI+, First Nations, Neurodiverse, dDeaf, Regional.
Event Type: Online
Price: Free
Location: Worldwide
Access: Audio Description
Visit https://2021exhibition.art/
A CHORUS LINE – SYDNEY
“One of the greatest musicals ever to hit Broadway” – The New York Times.
Dive into a world of sweat, sacrifice and sensational choreography when music theatre’s singular sensation comes to Sydney Festival. Conceived and originally directed by Michael Bennett, A Chorus Line ripped down the curtain to reveal the struggles of Broadway performers to be seen, heard, recognised and respected.
A Chorus Line opened on Broadway in 1975. Ten Tony® Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and countless international plaudits later, it remains one of the most successful musicals of all time. This dynamic production, twice postponed by COVID-19, features bold new choreography by director Amy Campbell (In the Heights (Helpmann Nominated for Best Choreography), HAIR, Funny Girl) and musical direction by Andrew Worboys.
Event Type: In-person
Date: January 6-16, 2022
Auslan Interpreted Performance: 7:30 pm Friday 14 January
Relaxed Performance: 2 pm Saturday 15 January
Audio Described performance: 6 pm Sunday 16 January
For more information on these sessions visit https://2022.sydneyfestival.org.au/accessibility#access-hearing
Price: From $79-$99 + booking fee
Location: Riverside Theatres Corner Church and Market Streets Parramatta NSW 2150
Access: Audio Description, Relaxed Performance, Auslan Interpreted, Accessible Venue
For more information please visit: https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/nearer-the-gods/
宿 (STAY) – SYDNEY
Thwayya faces the loss of her family farm after five generations of tending the land. Violet’s ancestors were custodians of that land for over 75,000 years, but she left home long ago. Meanwhile, Tsuet-Cheng is returning from Sydney to Singapore for “Tomb Sweeping Day”, a ritual in which families visit cemeteries to talk with their ancestors. These three women don’t know each other – but when two skeletons are discovered in the dried-up creek bed of a remote Queensland farm, their fates become deeply intertwined.
A hauntingly beautiful blend of music, dance, film, design and dialogue, 宿 (stay) is built on the real-life experiences of the artists. From a densely packed Singapore housing block to the vast Tagalaka country of outback Australia, 宿 (stay) delicately unearths buried trauma and fragile connections that lie at the heart of contemporary life.
Part concert, part story, part ceremony, 宿 (stay) is an evocative new work created by Western Sydney company Kurinji, its co-founder/writer S. Shakthidharan (Counting and Cracking, Sydney Festival 2019) and renowned Singaporean musical ensemble, SAtheCollective.
Event Type: In-person
Date: January 9-16, 2022
Auslan Interpreted Performance: 8.30 pm 15 January
Audio Described Performance: 2 pm 16 January
For more information on these sessions visit https://2022.sydneyfestival.org.au/accessibility#access-hearing
Price: From $39-$65 + booking fee
Location: BAY 17 at Carriageworks 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh.
Access: Audio Description, Auslan Interpreted, Accessible Venue
For more information please visit: https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/stay
SMALL METAL OBJECTS – SYDNEY
Small metal objects turns the notion of theatre inside out. It is a pure, open-hearted, complex and breathtaking production. –
The Sydney Morning Herald.
There’s a deal going down. Amongst the flurry of suits and seagulls across Customs House square, Gary and Steve are here to complete a transaction – and it’s not going to plan.
An ingenious theatrical gem, small metal objects unfolds amidst the pedestrian traffic against the backdrop of Circular Quay, its moments of intensity – unnoticed by passers by – are whispered right into your ears via a personal set of headphones.
An ensemble of actors with intellectual disabilities broadens the possibilities of live performance under the direction of Bruce Gladwin. Presented by Geelong’s celebrated company, Back to Back Theatre, this award-winning production was a highlight of Sydney Festival’s 2007 program, going on to entrance audiences from New York to Tokyo, and Vienna to Hong Kong. Now, it’s back home.
small metal objects explores the everyday treatment of the disabled, the unemployed or any outsiders dismissed as unproductive. Against the shifting backdrop of the city, this show tackles the uncomfortable questions our relentlessly paced urban community too often turns away from.
Event Type: In-person
Date: January 20-23, 2022
Auslan Interpreted Performance: 11.30 am 22 January
Audio Described Performance: 5:15 pm 22 January
For more information on these sessions visit https://2022.sydneyfestival.org.au/accessibility#access-hearing
Price: From $39-$59 + booking fee
Location: Customs House Forecourt 31 Alfred Street, Circular Quay, Sydney
Access: Audio Description, Auslan Interpreted, Accessible Venue
For more information please visit: https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/small-metal-objects
NEARER THE GODS – SYDNEY
Nearer The Gods is an audio described theatre performance in by Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli.
With his trademark wit and sharp observations, David Williamson exposes the abrasive personalities of revered scientific giants – even geniuses are not infallible.
Under the orders of pompous King Charles II (Sean O’Shea, The Rasputin Affair), determined young astronomer Edmund Halley (Rowan Davie) must wrangle the secrets of the universe from the brain of capricious and contrary Newton.
It may be 1684, the Dawn of Enlightenment, but Williamson’s comic re-imagining through a contemporary lens puts the focus firmly on the human tale of rivalry and discovery, of personal trials against a corrupt establishment, of self-doubt versus arrogance, and faith versus reason. Nearer The Gods is a gripping and blackly funny drama about how one of the greatest moments of scientific illumination almost didn’t happen.
Event Type: In-person
Date: April 7, 2022, 11am and April 23, 2022, 3:30pm
Price: From $38-$82
Location: Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli, NSW, Australia
Access: Audio Description
For more information please visit: https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/nearer-the-gods/
BIGGER & BLACKER – STEVEN OLIVER’S LIFE IN CABARET – ONLINE
Bigger & Blacker is a comedy cabaret guaranteed to get you laughing, thinking and shimmying in your chair. Oliver’s ability to entertain while bearing his soul is the mark of a true cabaret artist. In this candid nod and a no-holds-barred ode to his personal journey, he creatively and expertly combines humour and contemplation, leaving the audience smitten.
Event Type: Online – Stream on-demand
Date: Stream for 30 days, available until August 31, 2022
Price: $9.99
Access: Captions, Auslan Interpreted
For more information visit: https://stream.sydneyoperahouse.com/products/bigger-blacker
