Disability arts mini-summit to be held in Auckland

IFACCA,
11 December 2008, New Zealand

IFACCA is working with the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand), Diversityworks Trust and the International Guild of Disabled Artists and performers (IGODAP) to organise a mini-summit about disability arts policy on 27 February 2009 during Momentum 09, the International Disability Arts Symposium, to be held in Auckland, New Zealand, on 25-28 February.

The invitation-only meeting will provide a unique opportunity for senior managers from arts councils and ministries of culture around the world to meet with a small group of artists and managers working in the field to discuss current issues and strategies in disability arts and creative diversity. Invitations to IFACCA members and other delegates will be sent in coming weeks.

IFACCA’s D’art report on Arts and Disability Policies, published in September 2004, together with various related resources is available here.

The aim of the mini-summit is to bring together arts funders and administrators to discuss how to create effective and sustainable policy principles and guidelines in the context of creative diversity in the community.

Globally, disabled artists and performers experience a lack of recognition of their rights, limited access to opportunities and diminished value as artists. The cultural significance of their expression, the impact of their experience of discrimination and stigma, and struggle they face legitimising, funding and producing their work is virtually unrecognised world-wide. Disability arts is often not understood as a genre in need of cultivation and development by arts councils and funders, to the detriment of not only disabled people but society and the arts community at large.

The mini-summit will examine these issues and seek to:
1.      Identify and understand the common issues faced by disabled artists and performers
2.      Take stock of global trends in current policies on disability arts and identify gaps
3.      Agree on future directions that policies could take to enhance the development of disability arts and  disabled artists and performers in the context of creative diversity
4.      Estimate the resourcing implications of these future directions
5.      Generate other relevant outcomes and outputs