December 21, 2025 • 8 mins
Peter Greco hears from Amy Mills, Arts Development Manager at Arts Access Australia, about the launch of their Access Ideas and Insights Podcast. The podcast is audio described, Auslan interpreted, and captioned.
More info: Accessible Arts
Podcast: Accessible Podcast Series
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:13):
There's a brand new, groundbreaking podcast that's out. Let's chat
about it with Amy Mills, who's the artist development manager
from Accessible Arts. Amy, great to catch up with you again.
Thank you for your time.
S2 (00:23):
No worries. It's exciting to be here.
S1 (00:26):
Yeah, this is very exciting, this initiative. Uh, tell us
a bit about it. Uh, it's, uh, very inclusive. Most
out of it.
S2 (00:32):
Yeah. So basically, Accessible Arts has been doing an Access
Ideas and Insights series, which is a panel, a hybrid
panel discussion, uh, for the last three years. And we
decided to turn it into a podcast as well, so
that we can reach, um, even more people and have
really cool and interesting conversations about access and inclusion to
(00:56):
the arts and cultural sector.
S1 (00:57):
Fantastic. And you're going literally worldwide, aren't you, uh, international
guests as well?
S2 (01:02):
Yeah, we have Amanda Kasha from the US. We have
Bailey Lobb from Aotearoa New Zealand. So yeah, we've been
able to get some really great local Interstate and international guests.
S1 (01:17):
And I talked about the fact that being inclusive. Of course,
with an organization like yours and indeed ours, we, you know,
like to focus on on being accessible. But what are
some of the features that are making your podcast particularly accessible?
S3 (01:28):
Yeah, so it's really.
S2 (01:29):
Exciting to develop this podcast and think about access at
the forefront when creating it. And so we worked with
Macro Impact Consulting and a team of deaf advisors, and
we wanted to make the podcast accessible to all audiences.
So each podcast episode is released with a transcript and
(01:52):
Auslan interpreted video and also image description text for all
the images within the video. You can also just listen
to it as well. So there's lots of ways to
access the podcast, which I think is really interesting because
something that came up in the start of the development
of the podcast was that a lot of the deaf
(02:13):
community didn't have access to podcasts because they were always,
you know, just sound based recordings and so like to
foundationally change that and change the way we work and say, well, no,
this information should be for everyone was just a really
exciting initiative to kind of develop and tackle and and
(02:35):
think of new ways of working, which I think always
comes with accessibility. We're always finding new pathways forward.
S1 (02:42):
Well, it's obviously about increasing your audience. And if there's
a person you exclude, then potentially that's the person that
you know you're missing out as far as the quote
unquote customer goes.
S2 (02:51):
Yeah, exactly. And also something that, um, was brought up, um,
from the deaf community was, you know, uh, especially with news, podcasts,
they're always receiving news, uh, like after the effect. Um,
and so releasing the video, the transcript and the sound
(03:12):
recording all at once was, you know, transformative because everyone
is accessing the same information at the same time, which is.
S1 (03:21):
Yeah, of course, that timeliness is, you know, sometimes can
be really critical in terms of, you know, getting the
information in a timely way if it's sort of three
weeks too late. Well, that's very nice. But, uh, you know,
I've missed the boat.
S2 (03:32):
Yeah, exactly. And these conversations and everything we do at
Accessible Arts, we want to make access the forefront of
everything we do. So, yeah, it just was a really
exciting initiative, but something really big to tackle as well.
And I know that a lot of podcasts are moving
forward with video platforming and having, you know, captioning as well.
(03:55):
So that's really exciting, I think. But also just to
add on that Auslan interpretation was really cool as well.
S1 (04:02):
One of the great things about something like this, I think,
is the fact that, you know, all of a sudden
it kind of brings it a bit more into the mainstream.
And people who might not be deaf or people who
might not necessarily have a disability kind of find out
about it almost accidentally or sort of, um, you know,
in a osmosis type of way. But that's really powerful, too.
S2 (04:22):
Yeah, definitely. And to show that different communication styles across Australia.
Like lots of people access lots of things in various ways.
So it is nice to bring that to the forefront
and say, hey, you know, 20% of the, um, community
out there is part of the disability community, and we
(04:44):
have lots of ways that we access information, art, culture.
And it's kind of nice to be like, this is
just normal.
S1 (04:52):
And again, you know, sort of going forward, uh, kids
of the future or kids who become adults in the
future if they've kind of grown up with this. Well, then, like,
this is no big deal. This is just what we expect.
This is how the land lies these days.
S3 (05:04):
Yeah, exactly.
S2 (05:05):
And it was really awesome as well to platform all
the artists on the podcast as well. So all of them, uh,
identify with disability, which is really cool. Um, so amplifying
these voices within the community as well is really important, um,
to what the podcast wanted to do and all the
different topics like our first episode was accessible curation. So
(05:28):
that was talking about it from the curatorial perspective, but
also the artist perspective about how to make our exhibitions
more accessible. So it was kind of nice to get
both perspectives, um, on how to make, yeah, just exhibitions
across Australia more inclusive.
S1 (05:46):
Well, there's lots of artists doing okay as far as
their careers go, and something like this kind of improves
it in terms of, you know, even financially being better off,
more awareness, more people turn up if the curators are
making their exhibitions more accessible. It's a win win win
across the board.
S3 (06:02):
Yeah.
S2 (06:03):
I mean, Amanda Casa also talked about like disability art
in terms of the canon of art and how we
have always been a part of art history, which I am.
S3 (06:13):
Really, really.
S2 (06:14):
Cool. And then Bailey Love, who was the artist on
that episode, talked about galleries working with her to make
her experience as the artist, not just the audience. Like
making the exhibition more accessible for the audience, but also
for the artists involved and how important it is to
get both right.
S1 (06:33):
I mean, it sounds fantastic. How do we access it?
And it is free, isn't it?
S3 (06:37):
Yes, it is free. So, uh, it's across Apple Podcasts, Spotify.
S2 (06:42):
SoundCloud and YouTube, so you can go and check it
out on our website. We've got links to the episodes,
we've got profiles on the artists who we've interviewed, but
you can also watch the video version on our website,
which is linked to our YouTube page or on Spotify,
because Spotify now allows videos, which is very cool. So
(07:03):
you can watch the Auslan video on either of those platforms.
Apple Podcasts You need to get up to date in videos.
S1 (07:11):
Yeah, well, I think in some respects Apple seem to
be falling a bit behind as far as accessibility goes
in some respects, but that might be a topic for
another day. So what's your website and also what's the
podcast called so we can check it out.
S2 (07:24):
So the podcast is called Access Ideas and Insights Podcast
and our website is w-w-w. But you can just also
Google Accessible Arts and we will pop up. We've got
the pink logo with the A. And then you can
go onto our website and it's under let me just check.
(07:48):
You can find it under podcasts.
S1 (07:51):
Lovely fancy footwork. Yeah. We'll put those details also up
with our show notes as well Amy. So a bit
of cross pollination and cross promotion. So thank you for
speaking to us. I always enjoy having you on the program.
We've got such lovely energy about you, so we wish
you well with this. Thank you for your time.
S4 (08:07):
Thank you for having me.
S1 (08:09):
Amy, who's the development manager at Accessible Arts, talking about
their new podcast or their podcasts that are now out
and all sorts of formats. We'll put details up in
our show notes. And as always, any difficulties, you can
always call us here at the radio station.
There's a brand new, groundbreaking podcast that's out. Let's chat
about it with Amy Mills, who's the artist development manager
from Accessible Arts. Amy, great to catch up with you again.
Thank you for your time.
S2 (00:23):
No worries. It's exciting to be here.
S1 (00:26):
Yeah, this is very exciting, this initiative. Uh, tell us
a bit about it. Uh, it's, uh, very inclusive. Most
out of it.
S2 (00:32):
Yeah. So basically, Accessible Arts has been doing an Access
Ideas and Insights series, which is a panel, a hybrid
panel discussion, uh, for the last three years. And we
decided to turn it into a podcast as well, so
that we can reach, um, even more people and have
really cool and interesting conversations about access and inclusion to
(00:56):
the arts and cultural sector.
S1 (00:57):
Fantastic. And you're going literally worldwide, aren't you, uh, international
guests as well?
S2 (01:02):
Yeah, we have Amanda Kasha from the US. We have
Bailey Lobb from Aotearoa New Zealand. So yeah, we've been
able to get some really great local Interstate and international guests.
S1 (01:17):
And I talked about the fact that being inclusive. Of course,
with an organization like yours and indeed ours, we, you know,
like to focus on on being accessible. But what are
some of the features that are making your podcast particularly accessible?
S3 (01:28):
Yeah, so it's really.
S2 (01:29):
Exciting to develop this podcast and think about access at
the forefront when creating it. And so we worked with
Macro Impact Consulting and a team of deaf advisors, and
we wanted to make the podcast accessible to all audiences.
So each podcast episode is released with a transcript and
(01:52):
Auslan interpreted video and also image description text for all
the images within the video. You can also just listen
to it as well. So there's lots of ways to
access the podcast, which I think is really interesting because
something that came up in the start of the development
of the podcast was that a lot of the deaf
(02:13):
community didn't have access to podcasts because they were always,
you know, just sound based recordings and so like to
foundationally change that and change the way we work and say, well, no,
this information should be for everyone was just a really
exciting initiative to kind of develop and tackle and and
(02:35):
think of new ways of working, which I think always
comes with accessibility. We're always finding new pathways forward.
S1 (02:42):
Well, it's obviously about increasing your audience. And if there's
a person you exclude, then potentially that's the person that
you know you're missing out as far as the quote
unquote customer goes.
S2 (02:51):
Yeah, exactly. And also something that, um, was brought up, um,
from the deaf community was, you know, uh, especially with news, podcasts,
they're always receiving news, uh, like after the effect. Um,
and so releasing the video, the transcript and the sound
(03:12):
recording all at once was, you know, transformative because everyone
is accessing the same information at the same time, which is.
S1 (03:21):
Yeah, of course, that timeliness is, you know, sometimes can
be really critical in terms of, you know, getting the
information in a timely way if it's sort of three
weeks too late. Well, that's very nice. But, uh, you know,
I've missed the boat.
S2 (03:32):
Yeah, exactly. And these conversations and everything we do at
Accessible Arts, we want to make access the forefront of
everything we do. So, yeah, it just was a really
exciting initiative, but something really big to tackle as well.
And I know that a lot of podcasts are moving
forward with video platforming and having, you know, captioning as well.
(03:55):
So that's really exciting, I think. But also just to
add on that Auslan interpretation was really cool as well.
S1 (04:02):
One of the great things about something like this, I think,
is the fact that, you know, all of a sudden
it kind of brings it a bit more into the mainstream.
And people who might not be deaf or people who
might not necessarily have a disability kind of find out
about it almost accidentally or sort of, um, you know,
in a osmosis type of way. But that's really powerful, too.
S2 (04:22):
Yeah, definitely. And to show that different communication styles across Australia.
Like lots of people access lots of things in various ways.
So it is nice to bring that to the forefront
and say, hey, you know, 20% of the, um, community
out there is part of the disability community, and we
(04:44):
have lots of ways that we access information, art, culture.
And it's kind of nice to be like, this is
just normal.
S1 (04:52):
And again, you know, sort of going forward, uh, kids
of the future or kids who become adults in the
future if they've kind of grown up with this. Well, then, like,
this is no big deal. This is just what we expect.
This is how the land lies these days.
S3 (05:04):
Yeah, exactly.
S2 (05:05):
And it was really awesome as well to platform all
the artists on the podcast as well. So all of them, uh,
identify with disability, which is really cool. Um, so amplifying
these voices within the community as well is really important, um,
to what the podcast wanted to do and all the
different topics like our first episode was accessible curation. So
(05:28):
that was talking about it from the curatorial perspective, but
also the artist perspective about how to make our exhibitions
more accessible. So it was kind of nice to get
both perspectives, um, on how to make, yeah, just exhibitions
across Australia more inclusive.
S1 (05:46):
Well, there's lots of artists doing okay as far as
their careers go, and something like this kind of improves
it in terms of, you know, even financially being better off,
more awareness, more people turn up if the curators are
making their exhibitions more accessible. It's a win win win
across the board.
S3 (06:02):
Yeah.
S2 (06:03):
I mean, Amanda Casa also talked about like disability art
in terms of the canon of art and how we
have always been a part of art history, which I am.
S3 (06:13):
Really, really.
S2 (06:14):
Cool. And then Bailey Love, who was the artist on
that episode, talked about galleries working with her to make
her experience as the artist, not just the audience. Like
making the exhibition more accessible for the audience, but also
for the artists involved and how important it is to
get both right.
S1 (06:33):
I mean, it sounds fantastic. How do we access it?
And it is free, isn't it?
S3 (06:37):
Yes, it is free. So, uh, it's across Apple Podcasts, Spotify.
S2 (06:42):
SoundCloud and YouTube, so you can go and check it
out on our website. We've got links to the episodes,
we've got profiles on the artists who we've interviewed, but
you can also watch the video version on our website,
which is linked to our YouTube page or on Spotify,
because Spotify now allows videos, which is very cool. So
(07:03):
you can watch the Auslan video on either of those platforms.
Apple Podcasts You need to get up to date in videos.
S1 (07:11):
Yeah, well, I think in some respects Apple seem to
be falling a bit behind as far as accessibility goes
in some respects, but that might be a topic for
another day. So what's your website and also what's the
podcast called so we can check it out.
S2 (07:24):
So the podcast is called Access Ideas and Insights Podcast
and our website is w-w-w. But you can just also
Google Accessible Arts and we will pop up. We've got
the pink logo with the A. And then you can
go onto our website and it's under let me just check.
(07:48):
You can find it under podcasts.
S1 (07:51):
Lovely fancy footwork. Yeah. We'll put those details also up
with our show notes as well Amy. So a bit
of cross pollination and cross promotion. So thank you for
speaking to us. I always enjoy having you on the program.
We've got such lovely energy about you, so we wish
you well with this. Thank you for your time.
S4 (08:07):
Thank you for having me.
S1 (08:09):
Amy, who's the development manager at Accessible Arts, talking about
their new podcast or their podcasts that are now out
and all sorts of formats. We'll put details up in
our show notes. And as always, any difficulties, you can
always call us here at the radio station.
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