Making the arts more accessible

This Melbourne-based charity and social enterprise is run by people with disability for people with disability, and is challenging the mainstream arts industry to be more inclusive.

If you were to place the arts and disability sectors on either side of a Venn diagram, Loom Arts and Management exists in the intersection, tackling the inherent challenges, stigma and biases associated with each industry. 

The not for profit and social enterprise started in 2017 to increase representation, respect and access for disabled artists within the broader arts sector. The organisation is also led by directors with lived experience of both disability and working in creative professions.

“I saw a massive gap between those two sectors,” says co-executive director Zoe Boesen, who has ADHD and a career spanning 20 years as a professional actor.

“There’s a lot of goodwill from the mainstream arts industry – a desire to change and an acknowledgement that things need to change, but people don’t really know how to go about it.”

Addressing the need for change

There are three arms to Loom’s operations. It works as a talent agency, representing people with disability in the arts and broader society; offers artist support services tailored to the individual and ranging from grant-writing assistance to skills development sessions; and runs a business disability consultancy, providing services to mainstream arts organisations to build their accessibility capacity.

“The mainstream arts industry is pretty inaccessible for those without a disability and those barriers are just compounded if you’re someone who has a disability or are from any marginalised community,” continues Boesen.

“There are very limited professional pathways for people with disabilities, accessible ones anyway. Drama schools, art schools, dance schools, universities all have a massive part to play in providing accessible training and then pathways so that people have the skills they need to enter the industry.

“People have started to acknowledge that it does need to shift and that when we talk about diversity, that needs to include people with disability too. I think where we’re sitting at the moment [is that] there’s still not a lot of opportunities for disabled performers, but there’s even less opportunities for disabled performers to play a role where their disability isn’t the central part of the narrative. 

“We see the need for change rests with the mainstream industry more than it does with artists with disability. There’s absolutely no lack of talent and capability and professionalism within the disability community, but the arts industry needs to do a bit of work to be able to come to the party.”

Embedding disability experience across all levels

While Loom started five years ago, it has only been operational for the past 18 months due to financial constraints, with funding notoriously difficult to secure in both sectors. The organisation has relied upon their artists accessing NDIS to support their services, and has recently secured a Creative Victoria grant which will provide $200,000 over two years. 

Loom also operates as a social enterprise, with an online shop featuring art from the designers they represent that provides much-needed income, and has applied for deductible gift recipient (DGR) status which is their “next big funding goal post”.

“We employ as many people with disability to operate everything within the organisation that we can,” she said.

“[The shop] is a really excellent way for particularly some of our visual artists, who may not be ready to have an exhibition, to get their art out in the community.”

As well as being disability-led, Loom is also governed by an advisory group reflective of the community it serves, which informs the board – the majority of which also have a lived experience of disability – on important and topical matters to address.

Increasing accessibility through visibility

Writer, performer and critic Olivia Muscat first connected with Loom through an app offering disability support services. Muscat, who is totally blind, is now one of more than 30 artists represented by the organisation and says the support she’s received has been “life changing” for her career.

Being driven to a shoot or rehearsal, for example, means not having to negotiate public transport or being refused a taxi ride because of her guide dog, while weekly writing support helps Muscat stay on top of grant applications.

“They’ve just saved me so much time and panic, because I’ve got a set of eyes to help me,” she said.

“Having an agent means that I’ve got someone on my side who’s working to help me get my art, my work and my message out there. But what Loom brings to it is a willingness to support my access needs without question and a readiness to make sure others support my access needs without question. 

Muscat also works for Loom through its business disability consultancy arm, engaging with organisations on a range of accessibility-based needs, including physical audits, disability action plan development and disability awareness training.

“It seems to still be quite a novelty – actually engaging with people who are disabled and asking for their opinions.

“Engaging people who are disabled or who are heavily experienced in disability means you’re going to get the best outcome in terms of being accessible. It’s the knowledge, experience, and the type of thinking that you can’t really get from someone who doesn’t have that lived experience.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Boesen, who hopes that by Loom increasing the visibility of the disability community, it will inevitably address the biases and stigmas that exist and force society to reconsider their preconceptions.

“I think society in general can only benefit from being exposed to different life experiences, different stories. It’s only going to make us more inclusive.

“For us, it’s really important [to] platform artists with disabilities so that they are viewed as artists primarily, standing amongst any other artists, disabled or not.

“I hope people in broader society rethink their own concepts of disability and what a disabled artist or person is capable of.”