The UKs Favourite Disability Magazine
the arts
Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary Open to Applicants
Aug 31st
Adam Reynolds
An annual bursary enabling a disabled artist to develop their ideas and practice within a no-pressure environment, is now open to new applicants.
The Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary, organised to celebrate the life and work of disabled artist Adam Reynolds, is aimed at supporting a disabled ‘mid-career artist or group of artists’ working in the visual arts.
The bursary offers space, time and financial support within a framework of constructive and creative critical dialogue. More >
Coast-to-Coast Challenge Inspires Award-Winning Short Film
Aug 31st
Being Martin, a short film telling the story of a disabled man’s trek across England on a motorised off-road wheelchair, has been named best short documentary at the Moondance International Film Festival in Colerado. More >
Alt Artist Perform ‘Paper People’ in London
Aug 25th
Children’s theatre company Kazzum was commissioned by disability-led arts organ Shape to produce a new mobile, street theatre work for young audiences, inspired by the London 2012 Olympics.
Paper People is a hybrid of ‘walk about’ and ‘interactive performance’ aimed at young people. Newspaper sellers use their stand and a stack of newspapers to bring to life a variety of people and landscapes that emerge from the pages .
Familiar and inspiring, live animations, all appear to be different, yet they began in the same way, from within a simple sheet of paper. Celebrating the differences and the similarities among us. More >
Microsoft Kinect. A Game Changer?
Jul 17th
The Xbox Kinect Games Sensor Bar promises to change the way we communicate with our gaming consoles. Launching in the US in November (for $149), it looks like this new technology is going to revolutionize the gaming industry.
Could this be the input model that disabled gamers have been waiting for?
Film Project Reaches Final of National Lottery Awards
Jul 15th
A project which enables young people with learning difficulties and autism to make their own films has reached the finals of the National Lottery Awards.
The multi-award-winning Beacon Hill Film Project, a partnership between Arpeggio Films and the Post 16 section of Beacon Hill School in North Tyneside, is one of three finalists in the ‘Best Art Project’ category.
The project supports the young adults at every stage of the production process, from script to screen, with the final results being showcased at international film festivals and aired on national television.
The other finalists are St Ives-based children’s theatre company Kidz R Us, and Streetwise Opera, which uses music to help people who have experienced homelessness move forward in their lives.
The winning project will receive national recognition on a star-studded BBC One show later this year and will receive a £2,000 cash prize.
MORE: Final voting runs between 26 July and 13 August. For more information call 0844 686 7774 or visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards
Disabled Art Organisation Joins ‘Own Art’ Scheme
Jul 8th
Project Ability, the Glasgow-based visual arts organisation working with disabled children and adults, and people with mental health issues, has joined a scheme which aims to make it easy and affordable for people to buy contemporary art.
The Own Art scheme offers interest-free loans to enable people to buy contemporary works of art and craft including paintings, photography, sculpture, glassware and furniture. Currently, some 250 galleries are linked with the scheme across mainland Britain.
Supported by the UK’s Art Councils, you can borrow up to £2,000 and pay back the loan in 10 monthly instalments – interest free!
Project Ability has added some brand new hand-made items to their collection, including jewellery, ceramic tiles and individually designed notebooks.
MORE: 0141 552 2822, info@project-ability.co.uk, www.project-ability.co.uk,
July Theatre: Not By Bread Alone
Jul 2nd
The world’s first deafblind theatre company will bring their extraordinary show to the UK for the first time as part of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre).
Alongside this remarkable production led by Artistic Director Adina Tal, artsdepot will host Café Kapish, staffed entirely by deaf waiters and the BlackOut Bar, where audiences will be served in the dark by blind waiters.
Bringing History to Life in Birmingham
Jul 2nd
Wroxeter
A group of actors with learning difficulties are set to bring English history to life – including Vikings and Romans – in a free performance in the heart of Birmingham.
The Living Book Theatre Company will perform The Complete History of England (Part One), at St Martin’s in the Bullring on Friday 23 July at 12.30pm.
The theatre group is run through the national support provider Affinity Trust’s Opportunities Service SCORE, which supports people with learning disabilities in Hereford. More >
Behind the Scenes at Graeae’s ‘Against The Tide’
Jul 2nd
Imagine an island separated from the world not by an ocean, but by a vast desert. The tribe that survives here has almost forgotten what water was and, every day, they assemble to tell each other their stories and share their memories of water. Maybe if they remember well enough the water will come back?
Shape Tickets Volunteers Recognised by The Queen
Jun 24th
Shape Programme Manager and Shape Tickets volunteer Sam Schneider on her way to the Royal Garden Party.
Disability-led arts organisation Shape has been awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the ‘MBE for volunteer groups’.
The prestigious National Honour recognises outstanding contributions made to local communities by groups voluntarily devoting their time for the benefit of others. Shape has received the Award for the long-standing Shape Tickets scheme, which removes barriers to entertainment and the arts – be they physical, financial, attitudinal or transport related.
Staff member Samantha Schneider and three Shape Volunteers recently celebrated the award at a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. The charity will receive a certificate signed by the monarch and an exclusive commemorative crystal.
Shape CEO Tony Heaton said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have received this prestigious honour for the work Shape Volunteers do with our London-wide community.”
No Idea Show comes to Young Vic
Jun 23rd
Actors Lisa Hammond and Rachael Spence, wanted to make a show together but had no idea what to do. So, in a flash of inspiration, they decided to hit the street, armed with a tape recorder, and ask the great British public!
The results will be seen in No Idea, a ‘humorous, surprising and heartfelt’ play at the Young Vic in London, this July.
The pair asked people to take a good look at them and imagine what their show could be about. Who should play the main character? Who should be the funny one? What should the story be?
Mobility Scooter Users invited to meet in Peckham Square
Jun 9th
Organiser Kath Serkis, with mascot 'Onion'
Mobility scooter users, their families and friends are cordially invited to doff their parkas, brush up their desert boots and join other users to help form – for one day only – the first ever Mobility Scooter Club, the Peckham Peacocks.
The special event, in Peckham Square this coming Saturday (2pm-5pm), is organised by Peckham Space, an arts organisation producing new artwork in response to (and with) the people who live in Peckham
Those who join in the fun will be able to design a club pennant, hang out at an artist-made coffee bar, have a 1960s-style makeover, test ride mobility scooters and much more.
Trespass in South of England
Jun 7th
Lucy and Chris. Photo: Hugo Glendinning
Multi-ability contemporary dance company StopGAP is touring its latest double bill, Tresspass, round the South of England during June, before further tours in Autumn 2010 and Spring 2011.
Trespass is the much anticipated collaboration between StopGAP and choreographers Thomas Noone and Rob Tannion (Stan Won’t Dance). The double bill involves two works: ‘Within’ by Noone and ‘Splinter’ by Tannion. Thanks to their defiantly contrasting styles; Trespass confirms StopGAP’s five performers as an ensemble of versatile dancers.
Chosen Deaf and Disabled Artists go public
May 27th
Zoe Partington-Sollinger
Three disabled artists have been awarded £55,000 by art agencies Dada-South and Artpoint to take their work into the public realm.
The awards were made as part of the Go Public initiative, which gives disabled artists opportunities to produce new art works in public places across the South East of England.
Selected after a competitive commissioning process, Sarah Scott, Lorna Giezot, and Zoe Partington-Sollinger are now planning innovative and eclectic projects ahead of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Installation artist Vicky Vergou also won a smaller research and development award.
Zoe Partington-Sollinger aims to use shopping centres to project viscerally-powerful audio and visual representations of journeys made through public spaces by disabled people.
Get Animated!
May 4th
Disabled people have a chance to work with the award-winning poet Liz Bentley and develop and perform their own work, as part of a new workshop at the Roundhouse, London, organised by disability-led arts organisation Shape.
“The Animate workshop, funded by the Transformation Fund, is a celebratory project, all about inspiring disabled people to engage with culture,” said chief executive Tony Heaton. “On one level it’s about making art for its own sake – for enjoyment and self expression, but it’s also about celebrating the history of the Disability Arts Movement.”
The event, on Wednesday 12 May from 1pm to 6pm, will include a performance by the poet Penny Pepper. Attendance is free.
For more information, call Mhairi on 020 7424 7358 or email mhairi@shapearts.org.uk
