Who we are looking for 

Sydney Festival is looking for applicants with disability or who are d/Deaf, across a broad range of lived experiences. We also welcome applications from people who have close lived experience, relevant academic or professional experience in advancing the inclusion of people with disability and mental health conditions, including those who work for disability service organisations or peak bodies. We will prioritise people with lived experience. 

People with disability from diverse and intersectional backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. This includes: people from the LGBTIQA+ community, First Nations peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, young people, older people and people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

You can apply in a range of different formats including videos in Auslan. See the How to Apply section below for details. 

About our Accessibility and Inclusion Advisory Panel 

This Advisory Panel is made of up to 10 members with disability, access and inclusion expertise and lived experience.  

We seek to represent a balanced and broad range of experiences, in terms of age, disability, gender and lived experience type, to reflect the widest access and inclusion perspectives possible. 

The primary objective of the Panel is to advise Sydney Festival on access and inclusion matters and represent the interests of all Sydney Festival stakeholders and patrons with disability. 

This Panel is an advisory body. It does not have formal decision-making authority and members cannot act as representatives for Sydney Festival. A Terms of Reference will be provided for this Working Group to outline its role and function.  

Members will be appointed for a period of three years, until August 2027, after which they will be eligible for re-appointment for up to a further two years. To maintain a balance of experienced members and new members, the term may be extended by a further year to a maximum of six years if required.  

Our Terms of Reference for this Panel can be viewed as a PDF or as a Word Document.

Panel commitment 

The Access and Inclusion Advisory Panel will meet approximately four times per year and key activities include: 

August: review the proposed access program for the following year’s Festival
November: discuss key ‘Post Launch/Pre Festival’ items 
January: walk-through of Festival venues prior to the commencement of the Festival to assess accessibility
March: post-Festival debrief and qualitative analysis of the access program. 

Further sub-committee meetings may be established to address specific issues and projects on an as needed basis. 

Meetings may be held in person, by telephone or by video conference. In-person meetings will be held at the Festival offices in The Rocks.  

Involvement in the Access and Inclusion Advisory Panel is on a voluntary basis, and participants will be paid an honorarium fee per meeting attended. Sydney Festival will also cover the cost of any access requirements needed to fully participate in the meetings. This may include Auslan interpretation, captioning, printed material in alternative formats or other access needs to support Panel member participation. Cab charges will be provided to panel members to attend in-person Access and Inclusion Advisory Panel meetings and other events they are required to attend in an advisory capacity. 

Sydney Festival will prepare meeting agendas, minutes and papers and the Access Coordinator will distribute these to Panel members at least five days in advance of any meeting. 

Roles and Responsibilities 

• Attend at least two of the four meetings per year 
• Provide advice to Sydney Festival to enhance inclusion and accessibility of the Festival’s venues, events, programming and information for people with disability 
• Contribute the time needed to digest information in the papers provided 
• Apply objectivity and good judgement 
• Champion and promote accessibility at Sydney Festival 
• Attend Sydney Festival events. 

Timeline 

• Expressions of Interest (EOIs) open – Mon 27 May 2024 
• EOIs close – Mon 1 July 2024 
• EOIs assessed – early July 2024 
• Applicants invited to interview – week commencing 15 July 2024 
• Applicants notified – end July 2024 
• First Advisory Panel meeting – Wed 7 August 2024 (observing only). 

Selection Process 

Your EOI will be considered along with others, so that together, the panel has wide expertise across disability types, inclusion and access skills, experience and knowledge, and knowledge of local issues.  

EOIs will be assessed by a panel including Sydney Festival staff, our Access Coordinator and Access Consultant. The panel will include people with lived experience of disability.  

Criteria used to assess applications: 

• The lived experience and skills of the applicant, in relation to access and inclusion 
• The skills and experience of the applicant, in relation to festivals and other arts and cultural events 
• Potential ‘fit’ within Sydney Festival and this particular Advisory Panel 
• Availability to join the Accessibility and Inclusion Advisory Panel for 3 years  
• Is Sydney based or regularly attends the Sydney Festival in January each year. 

How to apply 

Applications must be received by 5pm, Monday 1 July 2024.

You can apply in these formats (please select one only): 

1. Standard online application form

2. Word version text form 

Email your form to Thomas.Hamilton@sydneyfestival.org.au or mail a printed copy to: 

Rebecca Spicer
Associate Producer
Sydney Festival
Level 5, 10 Hickson Road,
The Rocks, NSW 2000, Australia 

3. Video application form, including videos in Auslan 

Your video responding to all application form questions can be between five and ten minutes in length. 

You will need to upload your video as a link and submit via the email address noted above. 

Download info pack as PDF.

Download info pack as Word.

If you need support to fill in your application, another person may complete the form on your behalf. You must confirm all the information is accurate and the application must be from you. 

For questions about this Advisory Panel or EOI, please contact Thomas Hamilton on Thomas.Hamilton@sydneyfestival.org.au or +61 2 8248 6500. 

Our Disability Inclusion Action Plan highlights our work to date and outlines our approach for further improving accessibility and inclusion for people with disability across all aspects of our festival.

It reinforces and focuses our work to ensure we include and represent people with disability – as artists, audiences, staff, partners, donors and other stakeholders.

We want all members of the community to have the opportunity to experience our festival and this plan is our roadmap, mapping how to we will continue to work towards this over the next three years.

Read our Disability Inclusion Action Plan 2022 – 2024 in the following formats:

View PDF
View Word Doc

We welcome all visitors to Sydney Festival events and are committed to making the festival a safe and accessible space for everyone. Your feedback helps us continue to improve our access program and services.

Please get in touch with us on 02 8248 6500 or access(at)sydneyfestival.org.au if you have any queries or suggestions regarding accessibility at Sydney Festival.

We would like to thank the members of the Sydney Festival Access and Inclusion Advisory Panel for their expert advice and advocacy:

Coral Arnold
Morwenna Collett
Dan Graham
Lisa Jackson Pulver
Julie Jones
Greg Killeen
Rob Lang
Vanessa Lucas
Naomi Malone
Liz Martin
Paul Nunnari