Eliza Hull receives AAA’s National Leadership Award for 2021

Eliza is a singer-songwriter based in regional Victoria. Known for her stirring lyrics and haunting vocals, her music has been played on radio stations such as ABC Radio, Radio National, BBC Radio and Triple J.

Eliza has a strong presence in the disability community as an advisor and an advocate, producing articles, podcasts and books to create awareness of the experiences of people with disability. She is the creator of ‘We’ve Got This’ an audio series about parenting with disability for the ABC, which is now being turned into a book published through Black Inc.

Eliza said that she hoped the award would help her become a leader in the music industry, enabling her to help create a more accessible and inclusive industry where artists with disability can feel safe and supported to create their art.

“The music industry is in need of leaders with disability to help dismantle the many barriers that artists with disability continue to face,” said Eliza. “My aim is to make sure that access is not forgotten, or something that is left till the last minute. My hope is that I can help create a future where musical artists with disability feel supported and included.”

The National Leadership Award recognises new and emerging arts leaders who are Deaf or disabled. The award provides up to $10,000 of leadership training and skills development for the recipient. The aim of the award is to increase the number of arts leaders who identify as Deaf or disabled.

“I believe in the adage ‘you can’t be what you can’t see,’ to me there is nothing more influential than an emerging artist with disability seeing themselves represented through others within the arts,” said Eliza.

The National Arts and Disability Awards is an annual event presented by Arts Access Australia and the Australia Council for the Arts. Artist Timothy Cook and composer Georgia Scott took out the Australia Council National Arts and Disability Award for established artist and young artist respectively.

This was the third event held in the history of the Awards, with the first event being held in Canberra in 2019. At the 2021 Award, Australia Council CEO Adrian Collett announced continued funding for the National Arts and Disability Awards for a further three years.

You can find out more about the award winners and the funding announcement via the Australia Council’s media release.

You can watch the recording of the awards ceremony here.