Disability Action Plan
The Melbourne Fringe Festival is for all artists and all audiences. Core to the Melbourne Fringe values are open-access participation, independence and accessibility. This plan analyses that accessibility for people with a disability, examining everything we offer and everything we do. As a result, there's a range of actions that we're going to implement each year.
Melbourne Fringe Disability Action Plan 2012
Our DAP journey began in 2009 with the Art of Difference conference, and culminates in this annual Disability Action Plan. It’s a set of commitments, actions and advocacy steps that our organisation will undertake and review every year, so that we’re maximising the accessibility of everything we do.
Writing a DAP is about looking closely at what your organisation does, working out all the barriers to access, and then setting actions on reducing those barriers. It’s a recursive and collaborative process that involves the whole organisation at every level, as well as your artists, your sector peers, and your partners and stakeholders. When we plan for accessibility and we plan for inclusion, then that’s what we’ll get. The structured Disability Action Planning process is your way to make it happen. And Arts Access Victoria are ready to support you through it. Make a start!
Acknowledgements
Melbourne Fringe is indebted to our DAP-AP members for their generous time, expert guidance and of course for their passion: Thomas Banks, writer, performer and disability advocate; Simon Barber, independent producer; Vickie Feretopoulos, City of Melbourne; Janice Florence and Kath Duncan, Arts Access Victoria; Bruce Gladwin, Director, Back to Back Theatre; Lesley Hall, CEO, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations; Aime O’Shea and Lynn Gordon, Auslan interpreters; Judith Sears and Andy Miller, Arts Victoria; and Kate Sulan, Artistic Director, Rawcus. We are also indebted to Arts Access Victoria (AAV) and Arts Access Australia (AAA) for their advice and expertise all through this process.