Moving Forward from Institutions in NSW

Miovng Forward from Institutions in NSW is a collaboration between Hunter Circles, UTS and the Council for Intellectual Disability produced and filmed by AO. 

For decades, people with intellectual disability were segregated from society and denied the right to live fully included lives in the community. Now that the Hunter institutions have closed, we’re coming together to remember, reflect — and keep taking action for inclusion and full citizenship.  

The Wrapped Trees Project is a project by Juundaal Strang-Yettica and proposes collaborative, social engagement iterations with the community, the Art Gallery New South Wales and Kaldor Public Art Projects. 

The Project aims to present a series of iterations predicated upon the idea that the two eucalyptus trees wrapped by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1969), be deaccessioned from the gallery collection and repatriated to Country, Clan or soil within our environmental crisis context.

Compass recently profiled Deborah Kelly and her CREATION project. The episode follows rehearsals for the After Hours performances of CREATION for the Art Gallery Of NSW and is now available on ABC TV I-View and Youtube. AO Founder Ryan Wild has been performing with CREATION since 2022 and has performed CREATION at New Annual 2022, Day for Night @ Carriageworks, World Pride & Afterhours at the Art Gallery of NSW. 

Meet Dan and Donald, two friends who connected over their love of nature and other shared passions. Their story shows just how awesome being a Social Connector for Hunter Circles can be!
Social Connectors play a direct part in making our Hunter community more inclusive, one person at a time.

Including YOU and MAC have joined together to facilitate art workshops where people with a disability can experiment and have fun with art.

Kerri Shying is a poet of Chinese, Australian and Wiradjuri heritage living and creating on Awabakal & Worimi land. 

Recently, Poems from Gimptopia, a collaborative film made by Kerri, Justine Cogan and Ryan Burrett was commissioned by the Art Gallery of NSW for Queer as Crip, for the After Dark Mardi Gras Series 2024.

Leigh Creighton is a Newcastle-based disability and human rights advocate. He is passionate about sharing his experience as a person living with Down syndrome and regularly speaks at events and on panels across Australia and virtually. Leigh’s passion is promoting good mental health for those with Down syndrome.

Find out more about Circles of Support, PATH Planning and Supported Decision Making in this awesome new resource! 

Hear an excerpt from the score of the Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. 

Lynne Reeves spoken word poem accompanies a short film of her working on a self-portrait. 

Go behind the scenes in the final days of rehearsals for Deborah Kelly's CREATION for New Annual 2022. 

Join the members of U3A as they embark on their first podcast.