Arts Access Australia (AAA) has received funding from the Australia Council to develop a national Disability Access & Inclusion Code of Conduct for the Australian arts sector.

The funding will allow the organisation to undertake the critical step of working with arts and cultural organisations, artists, arts workers and audiences with disability across the country to co-design a national self-regulatory voluntary Code of Conduct for disability inclusivity, accessibility and equity for the sector, AAA CEO Matthew Hall said.

“By developing the code in this manner, we will create a harmonised and transparent framework with a full agency of people with disability,” he said.

Public consultations will be delivered nationally and online and explore reasonable expectations for community standards of disability access and inclusion; the best ways to imbed awareness, education and accountability; and effective ways for the code to be readily integrated into an organisations existing operations and processes.

According to Hall,  the Code of Conduct is an integral part of AAA’s plans, in collaboration with the disability community and the arts sector intended to strengthen and secure the future of a vibrant, diverse, accessible and equitable Australian arts and cultural sector.