PGAV Event Archive

Session 1:
Best practice approaches for working inclusively with artists with disability

Session one, Best practice approaches for working inclusively with artists with disability, will explore considerations in working collaboratively with contemporary artists with and without disabilities, and the approaches organisations and curators should consider to meet best practice in this area using the exhibition FEM-aFFINITY as a case study. The session draws upon different types of disability: intellectual, physical and mental health issues, and the different approaches to working inclusively and providing access for these groups across Australia. Join Chair Sim Luttin of Arts Project Australia; Dr Catherine Bell, Artist and Curator of FEM-aFFINITY; Morwenna Collett, Disability and Accessibility Consultant; Artists Eden Menta; and Jane Trengove as they come together to discuss how the arts community as a whole can respond to the creation of safe spaces to ultimately bring art to a wider and more inclusive audience. This webinar will be Auslan interpreted and recorded. 
 
Chair: 
Sim Luttin (she/her), Curator & Gallery Manager, Arts Project Australia 

Presenters: 
Dr Catherine Bell (she/her), Artist and Curator of FEM-aFFINITY
Morwenna Collett (she/her, Disability and Accessibility Consultant
Eden Menta (they/them), Artist
Jane Trengove (she/her), Artist

BIOGRAPHIES

Sim Luttin
She/her

Sim Luttin is the Curator & Gallery Manager at Arts Project Australia. With twelve years’ experience at the organisation, and over 20 years’ experience in the arts, she has travelled extensively on behalf of Arts Project Australia, advocating and promoting their artists world-wide. Formerly a member of Australia’s Supported Studio Network, and a current member of Arts Project’s Exhibitions and Collections Committee, she has curated, written and presented extensively at on Outsider Art and Arts Project Australia at national and international conferences. Sim has a passion for supporting marginalised artists to be included and connected in the broader national and global contemporary arts sector. She is currently Deputy Chair of Craft Victoria and on the University of Melbourne Advisory Group; Decentring Australian Art. Sim obtained a Bachelor of Fine Art from RMIT (2003), Graduate Diploma Arts Management from (2004), and Master of Fine Art from Indiana University (2008).

Dr Catherine Bell 
She/her 
Artist and Curator of FEM-aFFINITY

Associate Professor Catherine Bell is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator and academic teaching visual art in the Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University. Her art practice explores the role of the artist in the archive and health care setting, art on the margins, socially-engaged and relational approaches to art making, feminist and care ethics in collaborative practice and challenging taboos surrounding death and dying. Since, 2009 Catherine Bell and Arts Project Australia artist Cathy Staughton have collaborated on numerous creative projects including two shared artist residencies. Bell’s recent artist residencies in the oncology ward at St Vincent’s Hospital and Caritas Christi Hospice in Melbourne involved implementing communal creativity with patients and staff to promote healthy discussion and meaningful reflection on death. She has curated exhibitions at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, Linden Centre of Contemporary Art, BLINDSIDE and Margaret Lawrence Gallery. Bell has been awarded a 2020-22 Gertrude Contemporary studio and is represented by Sutton Gallery.

Morwenna Collett 
She/her 

An accomplished Disability and Accessibility consultant, facilitator and trainer with 15 years’ experience in government, the arts, not-for-profit and university sectors, Morwenna has worn the hats of CEO, senior leadership team member, project manager, lecturer, researcher, trainer and advisor. She is currently working as an arts consultant specialising in diversity, access and inclusion, and is a member of accessibility advisory committees for the City of Sydney, Sydney Festival and Perth Festival. She recently completed a Churchill Fellowship, exploring inclusive music programs, venues and festivals which actively engage disabled people across the USA, UK and Ireland. Her work is influenced by her own lived experience as a musician with disability.

Eden Menta 
They/them 

Eden Menta is an emerging artist who works across various mediums including photography, collage, drawing and painting. Their work is instinctive and subject to change depending on their state of mind in any given moment. Interests woven through Eden's work include pop culture, self-portraiture and an intense insect curiosity. Edgy and instilled with a wry humour, Eden's work encompasses the macabre as well as observations of the world around them. Eden has worked in the Arts Project Australia studio since 2013. They have exhibited in numerous group exhibitions in Melbourne including Centre for Contemporary Photography, Brunswick Street Gallery, No Vacancy and Gertrude Glasshouse in Melbourne, as well as the Ballarat Foto Biennale. Their work is held in private and corporate collections throughout Australia.

Jane Trengove
She/her

Jane Trengove lives and works in Melbourne. Jane has worked across a range of visual art media including; painting, installation, collaborative works and the coordination/curation of visual arts projects. Jane has shown widely in Australia, recent exhibitions include Certainty 2017, in collaboration with Susan Long, Sutton Projects, Melbourne, Ceci n’est pas, 2019, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, and her work is held in a number of public and private collections. Jane has the lived experience of disability and has developed “inclusive practice” methods for her own visual art outcomes. As well as this, whilst engaged in other professional platforms to support herself, she has worked closely with government, arts industry and community organizations to increase the participation of people with a disability in the cultural life of Victoria. Jane is represented by Sutton Gallery, Melbourne.

This event is part of The 2020 Curatorial Intensive, presented by NETS Victoria in collaboration with the Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV) and supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

FEM-aFFINITY is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, as well as receiving development assistance from NETS Victoria’s Exhibition Development Fund, supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.