From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host, Sam Collins.
Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour, we talk matters of blindness and low vision.
We have artists from Nigeria and from all the places, and they're really talented people. And for them and to see how honored and happy they are to be able to be part of it, is just wonderful to see that music is really alive, and that people that are blind and low vision can have an outlet for their music and can get that music heard all over the world.
Welcome to the program! This week is a celebration of White Cane Day, which recently took place on Sunday the 15th of October. Now, the day is about so much more than just the white cane as a mobility aid, as it's expanded to represent a day to advocate for people within the blind and low vision community and raise awareness for issues that the community continues to face, as well as celebrating the great work from people who are
blind or have low vision. Achieving great things. This week you'll hear from two individuals who are involved in White Stick Fest, an annual concert featuring artists who are blind or have low vision from Australia and around the world.
To start off with, we have Duncan Steward, founder and owner of Platinum Creative, the people behind White Stick Fest, and Jordan Ashby from Vision Australia has been involved in quite a few of the White Cane Day activities at Vision Australia over the years, including activities based around the White Stick First concert and joining forces with Duncan and Platinum to highlight and celebrate the immense talents of performers
who are blind or have low vision. I hope you'll enjoy this week's special White Cane Day episode of Talking Vision. Kicking off our celebration of White Cane Day this week. Our next guest is a voice long time listeners to
Talking Vision would be quite familiar with. His name is Duncan Steward, and he's the founder and owner of Platinum Creative, a music company which aims to develop and promote the careers of performing artists and bands who are blind or have low vision, including at the recent White Stik Fest, which has just gone live on White Stick fest.org. But before we chat about that, it's my great pleasure to welcome Duncan right now. Duncan, welcome to Talking Vision. Thanks so much for your time.
Thanks for having me.
Now, firstly, Duncan, of course, we're here to celebrate White Cane Day this week. So what does the day mean to you in particular?
Well, I think it's a day to celebrate the white cane in terms of I myself don't use one. I have a vision impairment, but I don't require a white cane. But I know many, many people do require them. And often the case it's it's a symbol of independence and being able to get out and about and inclusion. And I think it's something to celebrate because rather than being a negative thing, I think it's a very positive thing. When you see people out with with a cane, you know, okay,
they're out and about. They're enjoying life, they're seeing things going places. So I think that's important for people that have an impairment with in terms of vision. And I see it's a day that we can take on board and use it as a symbol of, you know, what we have, what we can achieve, not only have achieved or can achieve at the same time.
As you mentioned, just briefly at the end there, it's about more than just the white cane. It is about awareness and achievement and possibilities for people who are blind or have low vision. So what sort of things have you observed or experiences you've had yourself in terms of awareness around issues related to the blind and low vision community? Do you think there's been progress or there's still a fair way to go?
I still think there's a fair way to go. And I mean, you know, I, I get out and about a lot myself. I'm still really cautious in places that I don't know. For example, there are so many steps that aren't marked uneven surfaces, all that sort of thing. I'm prone to tripping because of my eyesight. I have, I have, I'm legally blind. I'm under 50%. But there are, you know, often I can trip on stuff because my
I don't have a full field of view. So it's very difficult for me to look at someone and look up and down and then make sure that I can see where my feet go. But there are very often many cases where steps and things like that aren't marked very well. So I'm very cautious in near new situations to make sure that I can get around. And where there are issues, I certainly draw them to people's attention. But in terms of me getting around, I embrace the
fact that I can do that. And it's great that when you see people getting out and about, they're doing the same thing.
In your time. Over the years, you've gotten involved with quite a few people within the blind and low vision community, notably as we'll chat about today in the performing arts space. So tell us the story of your organization, Platinum Creative, and you know where that all kicked off.
It's a bit of a bit of a strange story, really. It started probably I used to work in it in accounting for many years, for 30 or so years. And then at the ripe old age of 49, I decided that I wanted to go back and do some study across music and management, where I'd played piano myself for many years, and as a kid I really enjoyed music, and I was disconcerted by the fact that a lot of people in the music industry got a raw deal.
And of course, obviously having lived in spirits and worked with people with disability for many years, I saw that they would be even more affected than people that didn't have a disability potentially, or have a vision issue. Anyway, as it turned out, I started Platinum Creative back in 2015 and I started working with some amazing artists, including from Adelaide Adelaide's Rachel Urquhart, who of course has and
very low vision. And I understand the way artists with a disability, their day to day life, because I've lived it myself, obviously every day of my life, so I'm actually able to build a good rapport with people. I understand what their requirements are, so then if I can help them when they want, when they're performing or in a stage situation, they may not be able to see things.
So we need to make sure that everything is correct for them to be able to do that, that the steps and support in place for them to be assisted to and from stage and many, many other sorts of things like that. So I started off working with Rachel back in 2017, and Platinum Creative has sort of evolved over those years to now we. And manage ten artists
across Australia with disabilities. We do represent other artists as well without disability, but we have about 5 or 6 that have low vision or are blind across Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, far north Queensland and there's actually five inches South Wales, so it keeps me really busy and it's great to be able to be involved and help people to be able to get their music out there for their amazing talent to be seen, and so them to actually build a music career and have a great team behind them
that are passionate about what they do and be able to help them achieve their own goals and dreams. But being part of that is just is just a fantastic feeling.
And one of those places where they can actually get out there and perform. And and this is where it sort of ties back into White Cane Day with white stick fests. So, you know, how long has that been going for and what sort of iterations has it taken over the past few years?
Well, that's very true. Watch. The first is an online concert, which is its third year for 2023. It's gone live on Sunday at White Stick Fest. Org. It's a concert featuring about 20 blind and low vision, and also sighted artists from across the globe with five others from Australia. And we feature their music. It goes for about one and a half to two hours, and they get an opportunity to have their music played in an international environment,
which is fantastic. Have some artists that have come back three times. In fact, there's some sort of come back four times. So prior to White Stick Fest, we engaged in Australia Radio to have a radio broadcast for the same scenario. Back in 2019, there was a live event where we celebrated White Cane Day. We have one of our artists, Lauren Kelly, come along and sing and also do some food tasting and do that. So then in 2020, of course, we all got hit with Covid and everything
got shut down. Yeah. So we thought, what can we do to keep this all alive and be able to provide everyone's, you know, shut up at home? What can we do, put a concert together that we can then have artists singing from all over the world and celebrate
White Cane Day through music. So we did that and thanks to Vision Australia Radio, we put out a wonderful three hour broadcast back in 2020 and it went it did really, really well and we had people listening in from America and from the UK and across Europe, which was absolutely fantastic. And at that point we then decided or maybe and for that obviously it was a radio broadcast, but we'd actually received videos that we converted to audio.
So we thought, well, hang on, maybe we can turn this into a video experience as well, but make sure that we have all the appropriate accessibility and so forth associated with it. And then we came up with the concept of White Stick Fest in 2021, which is now run for three years. And is doing really, really well.
And we're getting some great recognition for what we're trying to do and be able to help artists that might be like, we have artists from Nigeria and from all the places, and they're really talented people and for them, and to see how honoured and happy they are to be able to be part of it is just wonderful to see that music is really alive, and that people that are blind and low vision can have an outlet for their music and can get that music heard all over the world.
Mark Colvin and Duncan, I want to drill into that recognition point you make there where you know, white stick first and indeed Platinum Creative have been a driving force in highlighting the talents and strengths of musicians who are blind or have low vision over the years. But do you feel these artists are getting the mainstream recognition they deserve, or what sort of things are you observing that still need to happen, do you think?
Look, I think there's a long way to go, but even very, very recently, you may have heard about Dylan Northcott. Yeah. His his initiative around the shift 20 initiative, where the idea was that obviously 1 in 5 people in Australia has a disability. And as far as main media is concerned, only 1% of those people is actually shown on television, which is 30% is really 30% of the population. So maybe, maybe it should be higher, which is what his campaign is all about. And we were very lucky to have
one of our artists approach to be involved. Her name's Lara Natalie. She's a blind singer songwriter from Sydney with a guide dog and a cane. And one thing led to another, and now she is the she's now part of the Amy Does campaign on TV. She's also the vocals behind the new jingle. And to have that recognition of people with a disability. And as Dylan said, he said, gosh, is that is that lady singing? Amy Dingle. Ashy blonde.
Can blind people do that? Of course they can. And that's what his argument was, that in due course, we want to normalize this and make it not an exception, but a case of rule, because there should be no difference whether someone is performing or shown on television, has a visual issue, has a disability, should be no different to someone that doesn't. So I think it's great that there are brands getting on board with these sorts of things.
And we're getting getting people like Dylan being able to have an impact and getting people involved in these sorts of things is fantastic, because it's only showing that we're just getting better representation of the community, that it's being reflected across media and in all cases, in every situation. So I think it's great.
It's great, and it's precisely the case that you're absolutely right. There is a lot of great work being done out there within Platinum Creative and within events like What Stick First, which are highlighting and promoting the wonderful talent that is out there. As we've said, you know, musicians who are not only blind or have low vision, but with other disabilities getting their talent out there and really showing people
what people within the disability community can do. So I've been speaking today with Duncan Stewart from Platinum Creative all about White Cane Day and in particular, White Stick Fest, which is now available to view on what Stick fest.org. And if you'd like to find out a bit more about White Stick Fest, there's information about the fest as well. Is that correct? Duncan?
It is the the concert is actually live on the website, which we also have a YouTube channel. We have all our social media. So there's of course Facebook, Instagram and X or Twitter if you prefer. But we also have some on the website. We've got information about all the different artists and some photos and videos, etcetera, from them performing their own songs that we may not have shown
as part of the broadcast. So it's a good way to look at some of the other artists that have have worked with us, and not only for this year, but also for last year as well. There's some more there's more information going back to last year, and I think there might be a couple of highlight videos on there as well. So there's certainly plenty of information there if you want to go and have a look.
Oh, perfect. Lots of info and videos and wonderful music in there for sure to have a look at and have a listen. Thank you so much for your time today, Duncan. It was a pleasure to catch up with you to chat about all things white stick first and all the best for future iterations.
Thank you so much and everyone have a great evening!
I'm Sam Kelly and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia Radio, associated stations of FX and the Community Radio Network. I hope you're enjoying today's special White Cane Day episode of Talking Vision, including that interview with Duncan Steward, the founder and owner of Platinum Creative. If you missed any part of that interview with Duncan or you'd love to hear it again, you can, of course, catch the interview again on your favorite podcast platform or the Vision
Australia library. And now for the second interview of our White Cane Day special today on Talking Vision. It's my great pleasure to welcome Jordan Ashby. Jordan is a volunteer coordinator at Vision Australia, and he's had a central role in quite a few White Cane Day events over the years. And he joins me now to chat all about it. Jordan, welcome to Talking Vision. Thanks so much for your time.
I think. So, having me sit.
Now we're celebrating White Cane Day of course, today. So tell us a bit about the day. What is White Cane Day all about?
Well, so International White Cane Day is a day across the international community where we recognize, raise awareness and promote the use of, I think it's world's most commonly used mobility tool, the white cane.
But it's about so much more than that as well, isn't it? It's expanded and branched out to include raising awareness and promoting advocacy for issues within the blind and low vision community. So what sorts of things have you been involved with there from a Vision Australia perspective?
Yeah, so obviously I think it's a day to be celebrated as well. I think it's a day to celebrate more than just, you know, obviously the mobility tool, which has helped quite a large population of people navigate and build their independence. But it's also a day to celebrate those who have been trailblazers out, and they're out in the blind and low vision community who have shown, you know, peer to peer, some of the other people that may or may not be early on in their vision loss journey.
You know what some of the things that you can do by gaining that independence that the white cane can bring you. So a lot of the events that I've sort of run in the past have been very much
utilizing that. So utilising the use of people that have gone out and done some incredible things or even, as I said, just be getting around their local community and they're strong advocates for other blind and low vision people who may be a little bit nervous about using a cane, or may think that it's a signal of a handicap or something like that, that the white cane is really a signal of somebody having their independence and being able to go and live the life that they would like.
And I think the best way to get across that is to get people and members from the blind and low vision community out there doing really great things to come along and show other people that may just want to dip their feet and get a bit of a feel for what it is to be part of this community.
How many years have you been involved with White Cane Day events at Vision Australia, and what sort of things have you been involved with in particular?
Yeah, so back in 2018, I ran a White Cane Day festival on the Gosford waterfront. That was a festival that included cooking demonstrations, circus activities, blind sports and some messy play as well that we set up for the kids. And I had people busing it up from Sydney and coming down from Newcastle as well. So we had about 100, 150 people come down to hang out on Gosford Waterfront
and make the use of those activities. It was very, very successful, brought people together from different community groups as well that have never interacted with one another. Gave him a day where we fed them. Obviously we showed them some skills to cook and we had a bit of a bit of a MasterChef cook off between a couple of our blind and low vision community as well with the judging panel, we had, as I said, people trying
tight ropes with help from Roundabout Circus. We had blind sports, blind cricket and media, and it was open to the general public as well. So we had members of the general public coming down and trying, walking on tethers with Achilles group or trying a bit of blind cricket. So it was really successful. 2019 obviously, the pandemic kind of put a scupper on any kind of plans to rerun
that festival that year. So obviously a lot of us sitting at home thinking about what it is that we were going to be doing during this time, and I had a newborn at the time, Sam. So I was up really random hours of the evening as well. And I got the idea for the White Cane Day concert. So I looked up online to see if it had been done. I was shocked that it hadn't already been done from an international standpoint. So I made a phone call to Duncan, who I know you've interviewed. Yes. Who
manages blind and low vision artists. And that's how the first White Cane Day concert started on Vision Australia Radio in 2019. And that is led to White Stick Fest in 2020, 2021, 2022, and now in its fourth year, 2023.
That's right. And let's have a bit more of a chat about a full replay screening of what stick Fest that's happening in just a little while on the 20th of October. Tell us a bit about that.
Yeah. So look, the online concert, which features international artists from all around the world that actually went live on Sunday, International White Cane Day, the 15th of October, and that's still live and it'll be live until August next year. So anybody who wants to go and experience that concert, it's about an hour and a half, has some fantastic headliners. It has blind low vision and also cited in support artists from all around the globe, including some Grammy nominees,
got The Wiggles as well again this year. Plus blind low vision artists from all around the globe, some more recognizable than others. And I guess the great part about this particular concert as well is that it does provide an international stage for up and coming artists like some of the artists from Australia in particular, and obviously some of the ones from international as well, that don't get those opportunities to get their music heard by the broader community.
So that went live on Sunday and it's available on White Stick Fest. Org we have our first live viewing of the event on the 20th of October, which is obviously this Friday. That's going to be at Sydney University at the Law Foyer. We've got the blind and low vision artists from Australia who are coming along to perform live,
and then we've got a bit of a sneak peek. Well, not really a sneak peek at this point, but a bit of a highlights package of the concert, the overall concert for people to go and enjoy at a later stage, all catered. We have a shuttle bus leaving central to take people to the concert over at Sydney Uni. All free.
Should be a fantastic day. I think we've got about and that's open to the general public as well once again, because we're wanting to promote that awareness of the white cane and also the awareness of the achievements of the blind and low vision community as well. So this point in time, I think we're catered for 100 and we're sitting at around 85 confirmed at the moment.
All right. Okay.
There's still a couple of spots for people if they'd like to come along. Perfect. It. Just need to email myself. Yes at Jordan Ashby at Vision Australia.
Org okay. And for people who aren't available in Sydney to head along on Friday, what sort of other events has Vision Australia got in store for people coming up in the next few weeks or so?
Yeah, so obviously if you're not able to come along to the concert on Friday, the live viewing of the concert, you can still view that online. As I said, until August next year, we'll also be taking audio of the of the live concert to provide Division Australia Radio via a sort of future events. I can't tell you too much about it, but on the because I'm still waiting to get all of the information through. But on the 27th of November, there is a blind speed track day
in planning at the moment at Sydney Motorsport Park. It's going to be the 27th and it's going to be a night time thing.
All right? Were always fun. So a bit more.
Information about that. Obviously I'll share it.
Well definitely keep our ears out for that one and see where that goes. That sounds pretty exciting. So yeah, definitely follow up and say what's happening with that one for sure. I've been speaking today with Jordan Ashby from Vision Australia in celebration of White Cane Day and the wide range of talent on display at the annual White Stick Fest. Jordan, thanks so much for your time today.
No problems at all, said.
And now, just before we wrap up, there's some exciting news from Blind Citizens Australia, who, you may be aware, has announced a new CEO following the resignation of Sally Andrews last month. Following Sally's resignation, the board of BCA received several strong applications, and they're pleased to announce that
the successful candidate is Deb Déchets. Deb's career has featured senior management roles with disability service providers, women with Disabilities Victoria, Uralla and Vision Australia and most recently, Deb was Bca's general manager of projects and engagement. She's owned and operated
a counselling practice for 11 years. She's initiated and has been an active volunteer with Vision Impaired, Swim Victoria and the Cataract Support Group, and she's currently on the Victoria Police Disability Portfolio Reference Group, providing advice and expertise to
assist in their engagement with the disability community. Deb has also recently completed the Certified Community Directors Course with the Institute of Community Directors, and her background in mental health and her lived experience equips her well to take up the reins of the organisation at BCA. The board is delighted that Deb will return to the team and looks forward to working with her as she steps up to
lead BCA in the future. Deb has commenced on Monday, the 16th of October 2023, in the role as CEO, and we look forward to having a chat with Deb in coming months as she settles into the role. And that's all we have time for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a production of Vision
Australia Radio. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together and remember we love your feedback and comments, so please do get in touch on Talking Vision at Vision australia.org. That's talking vision all one word at Vision australia.org. But until next week it's Sam Culley saying bye for now.
You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on one 308 4746. That's one 380 474 W6 or by visiting Vision australia.org. That's Vision australia.org.