“Real Art Works is a not for profit organisation based in Lismore and the work we do is with marginalised communities and emerging and professional artists who identify through disability or are marginalised through economics, social disadvantage and it’s about supporting them to become artists.
It’s a really exciting time for us! We worked with a band called the The Bridge, local guys with and without disability, we fundraised and got them to Poland on a tour in 2013 and they played with other bands who identify with disability, it was so successful. These guys have never travelled overseas so we raised funds for their parents to travel also so lots of sausage sizzles. No grants so we do it on our own through fundraising. As a result of that the cultural minister of Poland said it was the 6th most significant event that happened in Poland that year so that was awesome. You don’t see many Australian bands with disability travelling like rock stars.
Most recently we have the ‘Nothing is useless’ project, working with artists using old technology to make new art and investigating the concept of what is useful and what is useless. We did a number of workshops with selected artists and it showcased at The Lismore Regional Gallery late last year and was so successful it was brought by the Wagga Gallery.
In 2016 we are inviting one of the Polish bands to come here and tour with these guys and that’s huge as they have never travelled as far as Australia, wouldn’t even be in their radar. So very exciting. we are looking at dates and venues including Lismore as that’s our home town.
I love that creativity is such a natural expression for people, gives them a voice, allows them to advocate, it’s a level playing field in terms of..if your an artist, it’s not about whether you have a disability or not. It’s about your passion for making art and as someone who gets to help do that, it’s exciting because you see that artists have a very different way of looking at the world and the lens of disability opens up a whole new spectrum.”