Accessible Arts and Diversity Arts Australia are excited to announce the eight successful applicants who will be undertaking paid internships as part of the Disability and Culturally Diverse Internship Program. Led by Accessible Arts and run in partnership with Diversity Arts Australia and a range of arts, cultural and screen organisations across NSW and the ACT, these exciting internships include specialised industry training and work experience for each intern at a cultural organisation. 

 

“This is an exciting opportunity to gain valuable insights into the kinds of organisations and work available in the arts and cultural sector, whilst forming connections as emerging creative sector workers,” says Liz Martin, Interim CEO of Accessible Arts.  

 

“This is a significant program, and we’re confident that increasing the representation of arts workers who live at the intersection of disability and cultural diversity will result in many important outcomes for these communities and the creative sector,” said Lena Nahlous, CEO of Diversity Arts Australia.      

 

The selected interns will be working across arts organisations including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Screen Australia, Lismore Gallery, Shopfront Arts, the Museum of Australian Democracy, APRA AMCOS, the National Portrait Gallery and Story Factory.  

The internships will be in a variety of creative and technical areas including marketing, curating, production, arts administration, public programs, writing, producing, and editing within music, visual arts, theatre, and publishing. A work program will be developed based on the skills and interests of each intern alongside the opportunities and requirements of the participating organisations. 

 

“The legacy of this program will be a network of cultural access consultants who will help improve access to arts, culture and community events for people with disability from underrepresented culturally diverse backgrounds,” says Liz Martin. 

 

The eight participants include:
  • Karime Baylis – Internship at Lismore Gallery
  • Shasha Gong – Internship at the Art Gallery of NSW 
  • Gloria Guo – Internship at Shopfront Arts
  • Jessica Kejun Xu – Internship at APRA AMCOS       
  • Geirthana Nandakumaran – Internship at Screen Australia 
  • Marisa PasicznikRoss – Internship at Story Factory 
  • Aleyn Silva – Internship at the Museum of Australian Democracy
  • Shona Thomas – Internship at the National Portrait Gallery

 

Image: Headshots of the eight selected interns from top left to bottom right: Karime Baylis, Shasha Gong, Gloria Guo, Jessica Kejun Xu, Geirthana Nandakumaran, Marisa Pasicznik Ross, Aleyn Silva and Shona Thomas.