There were many great insights from these meetings but the most important one was an ongoing commitment from ANR to work with ANW next year as a part of Heading West on an exchange residency project with the idea of a musician with disability visiting our region from the North West to undertake a residency and mentorship with Tralalablip and then a musician with disability from the North Coast travelling to the North West as a part of a music showcase project that they already undertake as a part of the Tamworth music festival.

Approximately fifteen people attended the forum that was held in Gunnedah on Tuesday, 26 October, 2015. At this forum we followed a slightly different agenda than the usual community forums that Accessible Arts usually facilitates in regional centres. Gunnedah is a smaller community hence we had a smaller group and we thought it was important to manage this forum more like a round table discussion to foster inclusivity within the group. As a half day forum we were much more focused on discussion and outcomes of ways to move forward in the region rather than having presentations and videos etc.

A common theme from the groups was the importance of having an annual community forum in the North West as a way of networking, project updates, sharing information about latest technologies and as an ongoing conversation into issues around Disability Awareness. All of the participants requested to be sent some Disability Action Plan samples from other arts organisations to assist them in the development of their own plans.