Disability Arts Partnership Projects: Examining The Outcomes Of Cultural Participation In The Arts
2013
During the last twenty years many Western
countries have adopted their own disability
discrimination legislation, and more recently
have adopted the UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disability that includes
the right to cultural life (United Nations, 2006).
Article 30, uses the term cultural life to refer to
recreation, leisure, the arts, sport and tourism.
Yet, people with disability still have lower
participation rates in all forms of cultural life
than the general population (Barnes, Mercer, &
Shakespeare, 201 O; World Health
Organization & World Bank, 2011 ). If access to
cultural life is constrained, inhibited or denied
then the benefits of leisure are potential, rather
than actual (Driver, Brown, & Peterson, 1991;
Liu, 2009). Current cultural practices for people
with disability reflect the historical contexts and
issues faced by Australia's disabled population
(Aitchison, 2003) and recent research
reinforces that people with disability participate
at a significantly lower rates in cultural
activities (Compiled by Disability
Representative - Advocacy - Legal and Human
Rights Organisations, 2012; National People
with Disabilities and Carer Council, 2009). Yet,
cultural life has the potential to be an area
where people with disability can be
empowered, enriched and socially included
(Patterson & Pegg, 2009). Yet, surprisingly
little academic work has examined the
outcomes of cultural participation of programs
aimed at grass roots participation in the arts or
professional development for aspiring artists
with disabilities. This paper reports on a
research project examining the impacts of
creative participation in the NSW Arts and
Disability Partnership projects, 2012-2014. The
main aim is to examine the outcomes on
participants of their participation in the projects.
The research study seeks to determine the
broad social impacts of funded projects (if any)
on participants with disability, the organisations
where the projects are located and on the
networks established through the projects. To
achieve the aim of the study, the research
design has two phases. Phase 1 is a
background scoping and positioning of the
current state of play. This includes meeting
with participating organisations and other
stakeholders. The methodology for Phase 1
includes a comprehensive document analysis,
interviews, focus groups and in-depth case
studies. We will assess the wider, implicit
perceptions of impacts, as well as gain further
insights into aspects of likely social impact
(and impediments to that). In Phase 2, we will
use the information from Phase 1 to develop a
data collection tool to measure the social
impact of each of the projects. This paper
reports on Phase 1 of the study with the data
collection recently completed, thematic
analysis currently being undertaken and case
studies under preparation.
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