To be held over two days in November 2024 at the Bondi Pavillion, Bondi Beach, Sydney, the event will bring together the disability and commercial advertising, broadcast and production sectors to explore the employment of people with disability across the screen industry, on both sides of the camera and above and below the line.
On the back of the recent success of the Children’s TV Content Summit, which explored critical issues affecting the sector through key notes, panels and in person networking opportunities, this summit will open a dialogue for change and connect creatives and policy makers into new opportunities and facilitate an ideas exchange. The program will be co designed with disability and screen industry representatives and consider both casting and crew employment pathways, inclusive production and broadcasting practices, culture, content, technology, policy and much more.
Reports such as Screen Australia’s “Seeing Ourselves 2” highlight the lack of representation of people with disabilities in the screen industry, and initiatives such as the Shift 20 campaign and work of the UN Women’s Unstereotype Alliance, reflect a drive to see greater employment and casting of people with disabilities in advertising. Bus Stop’s own employment service has more than tripled its delivery in the past 12 months, supporting productions to be more inclusive and disability-confident and supporting people with disability into paid work in both film and advertising projects.
Bus Stop’s CEO Tracey Corbin-Matchett OAM said: “Over the past few years there have been initiatives to consider the employment landscape such as the Jobs and Skills Summit in September 2022 which are paralleled with the disability community digesting the recent findings of the Disability Royal Commission and the upcoming NDIS review, but nothing to offer a deep dive into the unique employment dynamics, barriers, impact and opportunities for people who are Deaf, disabled or neurodiverse around working in the film, TV and commercial production sectors. The summit will offer a strong platform to explore issues and celebrate and elevate the impact of disability employment in our amazing sector.”
With seed funding for the summit through philanthropic support, Bus Stop Films will also seek additional resources from key stakeholders to bring the event to life. Commissioners, creatives and policy makers from across all tiers are encouraged to save the dates to their 2024 calendars now.
