Morwenna Collett

Arts, Education and Law's 2022 Outstanding Young Alumnus

Master of Music / Bachelor of Music Performance (Honours)

Morwenna Collett is on a mission to expand how disability in the arts is represented in Australia. “Most people think about audiences: ‘Do we have a ramp? Do we have a lift?’ My work is about expanding that to also look at things like digital accessibility, and how organisations might support artists with disability,” she explains. “Disabled artists make some of the most exciting, ground-breaking, risk-taking, cutting-edge work on the planet. That’s what drives me to do this work.”

This commitment to working towards a more inclusive future for the arts is why Morwenna is the recipient of a 2022 Griffith University Outstanding Young Alumni Award. “Looking at the calibre of winners in previous years, it was really exciting to see my name in the mix,” she says. “It’s a real privilege and an honour. It’s meaningful in terms of acknowledging the work I’ve done but also hopefully giving the cause itself a bit of time in the spotlight.”

Morwenna was studying music at the Queensland Conservatorium when an unexpected medical diagnosis changed her life forever. “I was in the middle of studying my bachelor degree and suddenly I had to confront disability,” she says. “I thought ‘What does continuing study look like? What does this mean for my career in music?’ I had very supportive staff at Griffith to help me through that challenging time in my life.”

Now based in Sydney, Morwenna has channelled her lived experience as an artist with disability to form a successful consultancy business working with organisations and individuals to make the arts more inclusive and accessible. Her impact in the industry is felt far and wide, and has included many influential roles on projects working with government, not-for-profit organisations, peak industry bodies and universities.

Morwenna says she was driven to begin her own consultancy following the completion of a prestigious Churchill Fellowship. She used the Fellowship to investigate inclusive music programs, venues and festivals that actively engage disabled people across the US, UK and Ireland.

“This is an area that hadn’t really been looked at before in Australia,” she explains. “I visited the Glastonbury Festival, the Lincoln Center, the Barbican Centre, the Kennedy Center, all these incredible organisations doing amazing work.

"It was a nine-week period, across two continents, three countries and 17 cities. I spoke to 125 people across 70 organisations, all with my six-month-old baby and partner in tow while on maternity leave.

“That was a turning point. I thought, ‘There’s really something in this. I have to explore it.’”

Particularly passionate about accessibility in music, Morwenna is currently working on a charter that maps step-by-step how the music industry can make positive, inclusive changes. “I think there's a lot of goodwill in this space in the arts to want to do diversity and inclusion well, but often they don’t know where to start. If you don’t have lived experience, how do you know what’s needed? That’s where I come in.”

One of her most recent projects involved working with Music NSW on a pilot program assessing music venue accessibility across Sydney, and she has successfully secured funding to work with Music Victoria on a similar program which will be rolling out in Melbourne this year. Morwenna eventually hopes to create an official national industry standard.

She says her time at Griffith was instrumental in helping her get to where she is today and is enjoying the opportunity to help shape both artists of the future, and the future of the arts.

"I was really proud to be studying at Griffith,” she says. “There’s something about saying you’re from a leading institution like the Conservatorium. It helps me work with organisations such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra and other peak bodies because they know that I get it; I’ve done the hard yards of a Conservatorium degree.

“Reconnecting with that Griffith family over the years, I’ve been so pleased to be able to give back through guest-lecturing for our next generation of musicians coming through, helping them think about what their careers might look like.

“Twenty years ago, I had no idea that this was what I’d be doing today but that’s so exciting to me. Studying music has given me all these fantastic transferable life skills that have played a really important role in my career.”