Arts Access Victoria

Sunday, March 9, 2014 – 11:15 a.m. Geelong time

By Teressa Jackson

My first vocational visit last week was with Arts Access Victoria. Immediately upon arriving, I hopped in the car with Veronica, their CEO, and we were off to visit one of their 25 studio sites around the region serving around 600 participants.  

On the way, Veronica gave me the rundown on Arts Access’ programming, philosophy, and approach. Primarily operating on government funds (they also get some philanthropic grants), they are positioning themselves as Australia’s largest arts and disability organization, with a budget of around $2 million yearly funded on a 6-year cycle. They do not talk about their artists’ work as recreational or therapeutic, but instead as a way of political and social expression. They recognize art is political and that their programs are, by connection, also political. They have a strong relationship with all sides of government and are very engaged with the world of policy, using art to talk about inclusion, exclusion, equality, and other issues – basic human rights issues that are hard to argue against. Arts Access’ innovative and creative approach has helped them secure funding needed to further their work. Their overhead on projects, used to fund other unfunded progrmming, is 15 to 20%.

Arts Access works across all art forms, and with individuals who have any type of disability. They do not have artistic directors and avoid hierarchical structure, which they feel would restrain creativity, and put a priority on working with good quality art materials. They exhibit their artists’ work with a multi-layered exhibition strategy from a “practice” type space, to a community partner gallery space, to a commercial gallery. A number of their artists are sought-after and collected. Each individual artist discusses their creative plan with staff three times per year.

The first program we visited was an open studio where participants can make art with the general community. When establishing these studios, the organization works very hard to connect with local artists and engage them in the programming. Part of the programming is a focus on building community relationships. Twelve to fifteen people attend programming weekly, and there is a waiting list for participation. People were actively engaged on making some incredible works of art, and were very excited to share about their vision for their work, how they feel the program has benefited them, and were very proud of a performance they had participated in on Sunday.

We then visited a privately owned supported residential service accommodation program serving individuals who are homeless and struggle with substance abuse and/or mental illness. Programs like the one we visited have helped staff at the programs see participants in a new light. Through the partnership, Arts Access staff visit the home and supply materials, support, and programming for creative sessions.

In addition to programming sites, Arts Access works to place their artists in arts-related employment, provides support and advocacy for inclusion in the arts, and provides programming by which individuals can visit various art-related sites in the community.  

It has been interesting to learn during several of my vocational visits that the majority of government funding seems to be local, not federal or even state. Arts Access takes advantage of their relationship with local government to partner for programming and gallery space in addition to dollars. They feel strongly that when outcomes are demonstrated, the money will follow.

The organization has a Board Member who is with the Skin& Cancer Foundation and they have formed a partnership in creating “Skin Gallery”, a gallery space located in a venue where people are being treated for cancer. Around 40,000 people each year are through the space while in treatment, and a space which felt sterile became engaging while serving as an affordable, manageable pathway for artist exhibitions.

I was very intrigued with Arts Access’ staffing structure and approach to human resources. While they have 70 staff across the organization, none of them work full-time, including their CEO, who works five days a week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in order to balance personal needs at home. Twenty of their 70 staff members have disabilities. Australia’s not-for-profit sector offers incentives for employees of human services organizations. Employees do not pay tax on the first $16,000 of their earnings, so take-home pay is much higher.

Veronica has implemented a flexible schedule for employees, and they are not required to report to the office each day for work. Timesheets were eradicated, and employees are paid for the hours allocated to them and expected to get the work done. Staff is paid to do professional certification training, they receive 4 weeks vacation, 8 sick days, 4 carers leave days, and maternity leave is a generous three months. Minimum pay for their staff is $24 per hour. The premium is placed on working smarter, not harder, and it shows – they have overachieved on every indicator of their government contract each year.

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