Wire #15: Accessibility for Professional Artists With A Disability

Dan Graham, Host
Dan is a Theatre Director and a Disability Advocate with a particular interest in access support for neuro-diverse performing artists. Dan has a neuro-diverse disability and accompanying neurological challenges that impact his daily life including his creative ability. His directing and access work have seen him travel all over Australia and the world to research and explore access and inclusion. Dan has engaged with companies across Australia such as Bell Shakespeare, Sydney Festival, Sydney Fringe, Antipode Theatre Company, and the Ensemble Theatre. His recent collaborations in the US include the Atlantic Theatre Company and Pasadena Playhouse and in the UK the Globe Theatre. Dan is a fellow of the Australia Council’s Future Leaders Program, an Ian Potter Foundation scholarship, and Create NSW fellowship recipient. He has a stellar director resume and uses his success to advocate for other artists who identify as neurodiverse. Dan studied BA (Communication) and MCA (Theatre, specialising in directing) at the University of Tasmania and Honours in Performance Studies at the University of Sydney. His Honours paper focused on the playwright’s intent and how this is realised in the director’s vision. Dan also holds a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. Dan is a board director of Arts Access Australia and a regular peer assessor for the Australia Council for the Arts. He is the co-chair of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s (MEAA) artists with Disability Board and on the LGBTQIA+ disability advisory group for ACON. He is a board member of the Hickson Road Group Accessible Arts, and a member of Accessible Arts NSW Artists Advisory Group. He previously was a board member for Arts Access Australia and a committee member for the Hobart Fringe Festival.

David Bellwood
David has worked in theatre for over 15 years, having started as a dancer in the world tour of Riverdance. 2021 will be David’s final summer as Access Manager at Shakespeare’s Globe, where he has been responsible for physical and cognitive access to theatre productions and educational work for patrons, students, volunteers and staff. He is a trustee at Deafinitely Theatre, a Deaf-led National Portfolio Organisation, as well as arts lead on the Southwark Dementia Action Alliance, working on infrastructural and social changes in the community to aid those living with dementia. David has consulted on both organisational and physical access for venues such as the Old Vic, The National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is an advocate for the inclusion of performers who are deaf, disabled and neurodivergent and works with several companies to promote inclusive work. On behalf of Shakespeare’s Globe, David was recently awarded the Leonard Cheshire award for Most Inclusive Employer. Shakespeare’s Globe is a world-renowned performing arts venue, cultural attraction and education centre located on the bank of the River Thames in London, UK. They celebrate Shakespeare’s transformative impact on the world by conducting a radical theatrical experiment.

Kate Hood
Kate had a career as an able-bodied actor for many years, performing in everything from classics to musicals. Some credits: Prisoner (Grundy’s), Big River (Gordon Frost), Diving for Pearls (Melbourne Theatre Company), Marat Sade (State Theatre Company of South Australia). She became a wheelchair user over a decade ago and reinvented herself as a disabled advocate, writer and theatre maker, after participating in the Sync Leadership Intensive with Jo Verrent (Unlimited, UK), a training course for disabled leadership in the performing arts. She then worked with Jenny Sealey (D/deaf Artistic Director of Graeae Theatre UK) on her Aesthetics of Access Residency. Her theatre company Raspberry Ripple Productions dissolves the divide by making original, accessible theatre using mainstream and disabled artists. Kate’s current credits include Takeover! (Arts Centre Melbourne 2020, actor, writer); That’s Why the Lady Needs a Ramp (actor, writer) – Footscray Community Arts Centre / Raspberry Ripple; Contest (actor), Darebin Speakeasy; Elephant Man (Besen Directing Placement), Malthouse Theatre; Neighbours (actor); Risky Business, Malthouse Theatre (Director/Devisor); Enunciations, Raspberry Ripple Productions (writer, director, actor). She is founder and Co-Chair of the Performers with Disabilities Committee at Actors Equity.