Access Ideas and Insights: Nothing About Us Without Us

This special event brings together leading voices from the arts and disability community.

This exciting Access Ideas and Insights panel reflects on what has been achieved over the past 40 years, where we are now as a community, and what's ahead as we continue to work together towards a more accessible and inclusive future.

Together, speakers will explore the journey from the disability rights movement to contemporary arts practice, looking at the intersection of activism and creativity and highlighting some of the key moments, people and movements that have shaped disability arts.

Panellists include Morwenna Collett (Musician and Accessibility Consultant), Bianca Yeung (Writer, Dancer and Producer) and Finn O’Keefe (Disability Advocate and Lived Experience Researcher). This event will be MC’d by Alex Jones (Artist and Disability Advocate).

Don’t miss this unique celebration of the people, creativity and ideas that have shaped arts and disability in NSW, as we come together imagine what the next 40 years can make possible.

Wednesday 14 October 2026

5pm – 6.15pm (1-hour panel followed by 15-min Q&A)
6.15pm – 7pm (Celebrations and light refreshments, in-person only)

Join in person

Come to the Art Gallery of NSW and enjoy celebrations and light refreshments following the panel event.

Join online

Register to join online via our accessible livestream.

Access

This wheelchair accessible event will be Auslan interpreted and captioned. The in person event at the Art Gallery of NSW will be open captioned. The online event will be closed captioned.

About the Panellists

Morwenna Colett – Musician and Accessibility Consultant

Morwenna runs a consultancy practice, specialising in access, diversity, equity and inclusion. She is based in Sydney, Australia but works nationally and internationally. She helps arts, culture, screen and government organisations create positive change, through strategy, research, consultation and training. She brings her lived experience as a disabled musician to her work. Recent international clients include the Glastonbury Festival (UK), Sony (Japan) and UNESCO (France). 

Morwenna is currently a Board Director of the Peggy Glanville Hicks Trust and Festivals Board of Create NSW. She chairs Accessibility and Equity Panels for Sydney Festival, Sydney Fringe and Performance Space, and is a Committee member of the Disability Council NSW and the Perth Festival’s Accessibility Panel. She has previously been the CEO of Accessible Arts and a Director at Creative Australia (the national arts funding and advisory body). In 2020, She completed a Churchill Fellowship, exploring inclusive music programs, venues and festivals which actively engage disabled people across the USA and UK. 

Bianca Yeung – Writer, Dancer and Interdisciplinary Artist

Bianca “Bee” Yeung is a writer, dancer and interdisciplinary artist. Her lived-experience dance theatre play ‘BiPolar Express’ premiered to sold-out audiences at Flight Path Theare in 2025, and was selected for feature in Arts on Tour’s Salon 2026. Her current body of work explores the fractured nature of “Australian” cultural identity, as a third-gen, queer Cantonese-Australian with ancestral roots in British colonial Hong Kong. Bee draws from an artscience background, championing storytelling and creative expression as the key to healing individuals and communities. She believes that embedding access can become second nature to anyone with the curiosity and openness to try. Bee currently works in the Script Department on television shows for Netflix, Stan, ABC, SBS and Paramount.

Finn O'Keefe – Disability Advocate and Lived Experience Researcher

Finn O'Keefe (he/him) is a community worker with almost two decades of experience across community arts, education and advocacy. He is a Community Wellbeing Officer at Inner West Council, where he works on disability and LGBTQ+ social inclusion initiatives and is the current project lead for Inclusion Festival, Council's annual celebration of disability-led arts and culture. A former Board Director of Queer Screen, Finn is passionate about disability representation in the arts. He is also a co-researcher on multiple disability research and health advocacy projects and, in 2026, received the Oceania Academy Person with Lived Experience – Outstanding Contribution Award.

About the MC

Alex Jones – Artist and Disability Advocate

Alex is a leader with more than 15 years of experience in corporate, government, and non-government roles. He is a dedicated advocate for changing societal attitudes towards people with disabilities and people who are Deaf or hard of hearing in Australia. A Co-founder of Ai-Media, a global captioning solution provider, Alex has been instrumental in enhancing accessibility. With a background in cultural event leadership, including the 2005 Melbourne Deaflympics Cultural Festival and 2018 Australian Deaf Games, he has been a longstanding ambassador for the NSW Don’t DIS my ABILITY campaign. Alex currently works at Sydney Opera House as a Senior Manager, Access in the Social Engagement and Impact Team. He continues to drive initiatives that empower individuals with disabilities, embodying his commitment to fostering inclusivity and equal opportunities.

Accessible Arts is proudly supported by Create NSW. This event has been made possible with support from the City of Sydney as Principal Local Government Partner, and the Art Gallery of NSW.

ENDS

Image description: Collage of headshots of guest speakers and including Morwenna Collett, Finn O’Keefe (photo by Rhiannon Hopley), Bianca Yeung (photo by Byron Martin) and Alex Jones.