AAV Flashbacks

We are sharing AAV memories this year. So join us in discovering our history. And how AAV fits into the wider arts and disability sector.

We will be updating this page throughout the year with new sections of history.

Please be aware: some language is outdated. We are not censoring these documents to show our history. Changes in language and concepts of Disability have changed throughout time. What we once thought of Disability is different today and will be different in the future.

Two people in costumes on a runway stage with audience members seated side of stage. A projection behind them reads

WOWWalk, 2019. Way Out West. Photography by Raphael Recht.

Big shifts (2015 – 2019)

Big changes to federal government arts funding disrupted the sector. At the same time, the National Disability Insurance Scheme was beginning.

Arts Access Victoria worked hard to include arts in the NDIS. We developed handbooks and tools to help people advocate for art.

The ARTfinder Victoria directory was funded to go national. Choose Art is Australia’s accessible arts directory.

Several printed program flyers spread out on a table.

Several Arts Access program flyers spread out on a table, including ARTfinder, 2016.

Two people smiling in front of some outdoor greenery.

Veronica Pardo and Caroline Bowditch, 2017. Photo by Pippa Samaya.

Executive Director Veronica Pardo announced her decision to leave. This was to transition to a Deaf or Disabled person to lead Arts Access Victoria. Caroline Bowditch began in 2017. Arts Access Victoria was now proudly Disability-led.

Since 2014, Arts Access Victoria presented the Lesley Hall Arts and Disability Scholarship. This award honored AAV’s former Chair.

A crowd of people mingling in a room with a large projector screen. A close up of a person's face.

Bandmates at Loop Bar, 2017.

In 2016 We joined forces with Maribyrnong City Council and Music Victoria to produce Bandmates Victoria. This program linked Deaf and Disabled people with music punters to attend live shows. This was the beginning of a relationship aimed at supporting Deaf and Disabled music makers and lovers into the future.

In 2018 the Stella Young Award launches in memory of Stella Young. Stella’s impact continues to this day.

In 2019, Capturing the City began in partnership with SIGNAL – a youth arts space in Melbourne’s CBD. Young people developed art in public spaces for audiences of passers-by.

The Other Film Festival began to shift to a new model. Not just a bi-annual festival, TOFF now ran year-round programming.

A person looking between paper models of buildings and skyscrapers.

A portable art station and a TOFF banner.

Nebula at The Other Film Festival, 2018. Photography by Paul Dunn.

Capturing the City, 2019. Photo supplied by The City of Melbourne.

ARTfinder, 2016.
Patrick Francis, Illustration of Nebula outside Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre, 2017.
Under My Skin, Delta Project, 2016. Photo by Sarah Walker.
Karim Sarakbi, 2017.
Get Out Artist work in Homage To... exhibition, 2017.
Robert Brown, pastel drawing, 2017.
Bandmates at Loop Bar, 2017
Melbourne Art Tram covered in work by Mathew Clark, 2017.
Kate Niddrie from Way Out West, Fortune, Perfomance, 2017.
Illustration by Eloise, 2017.
Art About, Collaborative artwork on fabric (detail 1), 2018.
Art Day South artists at the opening of the Go Have a Look exhibition, 2018. Photograpy by Shuttermain Photograph.
The Madonna of the Immaculate pastry, by Trish. Art About program, 2018.
Disability Pride Mural, 2017.
The Other Film Festival, 2018. Photo by Paul Dunn.
Art Form and Leasing Catalogue, publications for artists, 2018.
Cultural Threads, Nebula, 2019. Photo by Thomas Barne, supplied by The City of Greater Dandenong.
Nebula inside Cultural Banner Workshop Dandenong, 2019. Photo by Thomas Barne, supplied by The City of Greater Dandenong.
Capturing the City, 2019. Photo supplied by The City of Melbourne.
Nexus, Chain Reaction, The Channel at Arts Centre Melbourne, 2019.