Arts Access Aotearoa’s annual report highlights

10 June 2010
Efforts to encourage the professional arts sector to collaborate with the community and disability arts sectors, along with the continued celebration and profiling of its stakeholders, were among the key points highlighted in the 2009 Annual Report of Arts Access Aotearoa.

At Arts Access Aotearoa’s recent annual general meeting, board chair Susan D’Souza acknowledged the impact that the economic recession has had on many creative spaces, including government cuts to their funding and the downturn in grants available through philanthropic trusts.

Arts Access Aotearoa played a role in lobbying government and publicising the funding crisis affecting creative spaces, she said.

A big part of the year’s work was taken up with the research, writing and publication of Arts for All: opening doors to disabled people – an important project encouraging the professional arts sector to improve its access to the disabled community. A partnership with Creative New Zealand, the publication has been well-received and is forming the basis of workshops being held in 2010 in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

The publication was launched at Te Papa by leading New Zealand actor Miranda Harcourt. At the annual general meeting, Miranda was welcomed as a patron of Arts Access Aotearoa, alongside founding patron Mel Smith. Miranda has worked with the Deaf community and in the drama therapeutic field with physically and intellectually disabled people.

Throughout 2009, Arts Access Aotearoa worked on the development of a national prison arts strategy as part of a contract with the Department of Corrections. Prisons were visited, prison programme managers across the country interviewed, and the final draft strategy was delivered in April 2010.
 
More than 110 guests attended the Arts Access Aotearoa Big ‘A’ Awards 2009 in the Grand Hall of Parliament. These are the only awards in New Zealand celebrating the achievement of individuals and organisations working to enhance the artistic lives of people who have been marginalised by the mainstream.

Download the 2009 Annual Report or email Arts Access Aotearoa to order a copy.