Morwenna Collett is a musician and arts consultant, specialising in diversity, access and inclusion. Having held leadership roles at Accessible Arts and the Australia Council, she provides strategic advice, training and other support to arts organisations to help them increase their inclusivity and engagement with people from diverse backgrounds. She spoke to Limelight about how she established her career and what Australian arts organisations can learn from their counterparts in the US and the UK.

Morwenna CollettMorwenna Collett. Photo © Will Taylor

How did you become interested in a career in diversity, access and inclusion?

I started out life as a musician, a very long time ago now, and went through a traditional classical music training pathway as a flautist, and relatively quickly realised that having a full-time professional orchestral job was probably not where I was going to end up with my skill level and commitment.

It was actually in my first year of study at the Conservatorium in Brisbane that I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, so disability became part of my life at that point in time. I guess since then I’ve always had a personal interest in disability, access and inclusion,...