News: Unlimited III to be delivered in a continuing partnership between Shape Arts and Artsadmin
News: Intoart announces public fundraising exhibition with over 100 artworks by learning-disabled and autistic artists
News: Young DaDaFest Expands into Trio of Events to Celebrate the Talent of Young Disabled People
Following on from the success of last year’s sold-out event which saw 105 young people perform to an audience of 400 at the Liverpool Everyman, Young DaDaFest has now expanded to feature a music-focused event in the Music Room at the Liverpool Philharmonic, a performance event at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and a fringe event “SandFest” at Liverpool John Moore’s University.
News: Un-Label: European cultural project launches in Cologne new inclusive ways for the performing arts
News: Programme of international inclusive performances revealed for Hijinx Unity Festival 2016
News: World premiere of Assisted Suicide: The Musical headlines third Unlimited Festival
News: Exceptional & Extraordinary: Unruly Bodies and Minds in the Medical Museum
News: Colston Hall announce Fast Forward Music Festival with new British Paraorchestra commission
After drawing attention to the quality and diversity of disability music making in 2015, Colston Hall’s Fast Forward is back on Friday 3rd June, this time with a contemporary twist featuring cutting edge music and circus performances from The British Paraorchestra and Extraordinary Bodies.
News: HOUSE and Outside In present Thompson Hall exhibition at Regency Town House
News: Stopgap's 'Artificial Things' to be included on GCSE Dance syllabus
The exam board AQA’s new specification for GCSE Dance, which was accredited last week, includes a focus on promoting excellence in dance to disabled and non-disabled young people. AQA signalled its intension by selecting Artificial Things by Stopgap Dance Company as one of six compulsory works to be studied by GCSE students.
News: Arts Council green lights a project looking at a new way of conducting
Young disabled conductor/composer, James Rose who conducts using a head-baton developed in partnership with Drake Music, has been awarded Arts Council Funding to do a Conducting Development Week at The Royal Academy of Music this Spring The project will be documented and edited into a short film scheduled for release on YouTube in August this year.
News: See Hear receives Special Award after 35 years on air
News: Heart n Soul's 'SoundLab' wins Best SEND Resource award at the Music Teacher Awards For Excellence 2016
News: The CanCanCan Festival showcases solo performers and artists with learning disabilities
News: Disability Arts Online commissions new work exploring SPILL Festival of Performance’s video archive
News: Kate Murdoch announced as Shape Open 2016 winner
News: Award-winning writer Kaite O’Reilly tackles the last great taboo in new play, Cosy
News: Disability Arts Cymru celebrates poetry competition winners with launch of an e-book
Last year Disability Arts Cymru (DAC) launched its first Annual Poetry Competition. Each of the poems was written in response to a piece of artwork from DAC's Annual Touring Exhibition 2015. The winning poems are accompanied by the artworks that inspired them in an e-book, which is now being made freely available to the public.
News: Unlimited goes International with ACE Ambitions of Excellence Award
Unlimited, the commissioning programme that supports disabled artists develop ambitious and high quality work, today announced an Ambitions of Excellence Award of £759,949 from Arts Council England to build a three-year international programme. The award is also match-funded by the British Council.
News: Mind the Gap announce new tour dates for CONTAINED
News: SICK! Festival announces SICK! Lab: What Doesn't Kill Us...
News: Southbank Centre launches Changing Minds, a new weekend festival about mental health and the arts
In February Southbank Centre launches a new weekend festival for 2016, Changing Minds, looking closely at the topic of mental health through a packed programme of performance, music, comedy, design, talks and panel discussions. As the debate surrounding equal treatment for mental health grows in profile, the festival probes taboo subjects and explores the role of the arts in understanding and healing.
News: Castlefield Gallery announce new multi-artist exhibition addressing the issue of Outsider Art
Castlefield Gallery has announced Inside Out, curated in collaboration with David Maclagan artist, academic and writer; including new and existing work by artists from the UK, South Africa, France, Iran and the USA. Some of these artists for a variety of reasons are thought to be Outsider artists, whilst others may be seen to share methods of approaching their subject matter with this now established part of artistic study.
News: Attitude is Everything announce The Gloves Are On tour for Independent Venue Week
News: Festive Fundraising Fun with Hands & Voices
News: Yinka Shonibare to host Shape Open Exhibition
News: New conference to encourage fresh thinking on work with young people with learning disabilities
News: ‘Woeful’ arts diversity progress prompts call for ‘more power and influence’
Mainstream arts organisations have “a mountain to climb” to ensure they have an acceptable proportion of disabled directors, artists and staff, according to leading disability arts figures. Disability News Service's John Pring reports from Arts Council England's conference in Birmingham on 7 December.
News: Surrey-based theatre company has transatlantic film success
News: Wayne McGregor | Random Dance wins national charity award
News: Exhibition to celebrate 35 years of placing Deaf and disabled artists centre stage
News: Collaborative art project re-imagines mobility, disability and access
The Opulent Mobility project is a groundbreaking collaborative effort to re-imagine mobility, disability and access. Wheelchairs, walkers, prosthetics, crutches and other assistive technology devices are part of our lives, but they’ve been left in the dust when it comes to custom design innovation and personalization. There are hundreds of thousands of designs for glasses, chairs and technology of other kinds. Why not assistive technology?
News: Arts Council England announces £8.5m for diversity in the arts
News: Bristol’s Colston Hall shortlisted for South West Tourism Awards for Access and Inclusivity
News: Dance organisation for learning-disabled people wins business award
News: Disability Arts Online commissions new video works in partnership with SICK! Festival
News: Oska Bright winners announced with help of Oscar winner
News: Winner of Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2015/16 announced
News: Oska Bright Film Festival: putting learning-disability film on the map
The Oska Bright Film Festival will host a wide range of screenings and talks including music videos, comedy shorts, animations, drama and documentary films. Running from 9-11 November at the Brighton Corn Exchange the festival is run by a team of learning-disabled film-makers keen to promote the work of learning disabled people, behind and in front of the camera.
News: Stagetext celebrates 15 years with launch of first Captioning Awareness Week
News: Jessica Thom aka Touretteshero to feature in BBC's Live from Television Centre
In partnership with Battersea Arts Centre and Arts Council England, the BBC is bringing live theatre back to Television Centre for Live from Television Centre. Jessica Thom aka Touretteshero will be performing a special rendition, Broadcast from Biscuit Land alongside four other 'genre-busting' theatre pieces live on BBC Four.
News: Sophie Partridge plans to get acclaimed production on the road in 2016
News: Exhibition showcasing disability and political activism in art to launch Attenborough Art Centre's new gallery
A major exhibition Art, Life, Activism which brings together acclaimed artists who make artwork informed by the politics of disability featuring sculpture, performance, film, drawing, and photography will be the inaugural show of University of Leicester's new gallery at the Attenborough Arts Centre, running from 18 November to 17 January 2016.
News: The 'wavelength project' investigates the brain's responses to sound and light
The wavelength project is an ongoing exploration into the effects of artificial and natural sound and light on the brain with wide implications across arts and science. Produced and led by artist Mark Ware in partnership with the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and Kent Wildlife Trust the ongoing project aims to deliver a number of Arts Council England supported artistic outcomes.
News: Attitude is Everything partner with Venues Day 2015
News: International artist Simon McKeown lights up Culture Night with stellar spectacle
News: BBC See Hear Weekend 2015
From 2- 4 October 2015, the BBC See Hear Weekend 2015 will celebrate all things in film and television related to sign language and the deaf community, led by BBC Bristol’s flagship programme See Hear. Join 'Doctor Who', 'Aardmann Animations' and Award-winning filmmaker, Bim Ajadi for a weekend of screenings and workshops at Watershed on Bristol’s Harbourside.
News: Step into Dance: Inclusive dance practice... unlocking creativity and freeing inhibitions
News: Baluji Music Foundation Re:Imagine India
In January, the Baluji Music Foundation (BMF) will be undertaking a research and development project in India. Baluji Shrivastav who is Musical Director of the Foundation, will be searching for and making music with blind musicians from Bangalore, Chennai, Andaman Islands, Assam and other regions of India, representing different, and rarely heard, folk music traditions.
News: Ignite prepares to light up the Cork City centre with a spectacular event
Since November 2013 Simon Mckeown has been working with lead partners National Sculpture Factory and Create Ireland to develop ‘Cork Ignite’, which is premiering in Cork City centre on 18 September. As part of the process he has been working with partner disability organisations in Cork, such as Suisha Inclusive Arts at COPE Foundation and SoundOUT as well as individual members of the disabled community.
News: Mind the Gap actor, Liam Bairstow lands role on ITVs Coronation Street
Bradford based actor Liam Bairstow, 28, has landed a role in the world’s longest running soap opera Coronation Street. Liam, who works with England’s largest learning-disabled theatre company Mind the Gap will be appearing in the ITV soap in the role of Cathy Matthew’s nephew, Alex Warner from September.
News: Three years on from the London 2012 Paralympic Games: In conversation with Mat Fraser & Nickie Wildin
On 29 August 2012, the world watched as Deaf and disabled people quite literally took centre stage in the spectacular and potentially game-changing Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. We couldn't have been prouder of what our Artistic Director Jenny Sealey and her co-director Bradley Hemmings achieved, and the cast of Reasons to be Cheerful performing Spasticus Autisticus to a worldwide audience of 2 billion people was an incredible statement.
News: Artist Shortlist Announced for the eighth Shape Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary
Euan’s Guide: Raising the bar, not the curtain, for accessible performances
Obituary: Lynn Manning (1955 - 2015)
Lynn Manning athlete, poet, actor, playwright and founder of the Watts Village Theater Company, died last Monday aged 60, after a year-long fight against liver cancer. In 2005 Extant Theatre brought Manning to the UK and toured his one-man autobiographical play Weights, which told his story of being shot and blinded by a stranger in a bar. Extant CEO Maria Oshodi has kindly allowed Dao to reproduce her tribute to a man she remembers as a warrior, brother and friend
News: Disabled artists take centre stage at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe
News: 'We All Bleed Red': Vince Laws creates inclusive artwork for local church
Poet and artist Vince Laws has created 'We All Bleed Red' for the church of St Peter & St Paul, in Oulton, Norfolk. He has previously received poetry commissions for LGBT History Month; has supported Kate Tempest as a performer, and is the creative drive behind some of Norwich's most happening happenings.
News: Diversity and digital media at heart of new £107k programme from Disability Arts Online
Disability Arts Online are today announcing the launch of Viewfinder, an 18-month commissioning, digital media and sector development programme funded by Arts Council England’s Grants for the Arts, to be run in partnership with Wikimedia UK, Sick! Festival, SPILL Festival, Carousel, the New Wolsey Theatre, Culture 24 and Goldsmiths Disability Research Centre.
News: The Shape Arts Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary (ARMB) 2015
The Shape Arts Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary (ARMB), set up in memory of sculptor Adam Reynolds to support mid-career disabled artists, is open for submissions until 27 July. This year’s successful recipient will be awarded £5,000 and a three-month residency at The New Art Gallery Walsall in January 2016.
News: The National Disability Arts Collection and Archive move forward to the next exciting phase
NDACA are pleased to announce the success of their Round 2 bid to Heritage Lottery Fund. With the total funding of nearly £1M, including support from Arts Council England and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Colin Hambrook interviews NDACA Project Director David Hevey about the hopes and ambitions for the NDACA Project, in its exciting next phase of building the dream in 2015-2018
News: Colston Hall takes the lead for BBC Music Day in Bristol
Colston Hall will play a leading role on the first ever BBC Music Day on Friday 5th June 2015 in championing disability and diversity in music and the arts. BBC Music Day will see the Hall welcoming a unique disability youth concert. The day will be a nationwide celebration of music with the aim of connecting communities and generations.
News: Towards Harmony: Innovative Composition for the 21st Century from Young Graduate Lloyd Coleman
News: Arts Council England announces pioneering partnership for disability and diversity
Led by New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, ‘Ramps on the Moon’ will bring together a collaborative network of seven National portfolio organisation theatres including New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and strategic partner Graeae Theatre - Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Nottingham Playhouse, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and Sheffield Theatres.
News: Creative Future: Nurturing Writing Talent At The Margins
News: Internationally acclaimed artist Sue Austin launches “Immersed in 360”
News: The Stay Up Late campaign re-launches
Stay Up Late is a charity promoting full and active social lives for people with learning disabilities. They are delighted to announce that they’ve been successful in receiving funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to develop the work they started with the launch of the Stay Up Late campaign back in 2006.
News: Unlimited 2015 - Round Two Commission Launch
News: Unlimited Launches New Commissioning Round with Nine Highly Ambitious and Diverse New Works
News: Deafinitely Theatre to tour new children’s production: Something Else
News: Tanya Raabe-Webber takes up residence at Project Ability
Acclaimed artist Tanya Raabe-Webber has been awarded a Grants for The Arts, supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, to be an artist in residence with visual arts organisation Project Ability, Glasgow as part of their International Summit for learning disability artists and their supported studios, 23 Feb - 25 March 2015.
News: Spirit of Achievement Arts and Culture Challenge Fund is now open
Spirit of 2012 (Spirit) has launched the Challenge Fund to empower and enable disabled people’s participation in arts and culture. The Open Grant round is looking for project applications across the UK, which create participatory opportunities for disabled people of all backgrounds, individually and with their families and friends.
Unlimited Celebrates A Year Of Supporting Outstanding Disabled Artists
"A programme that's bucked stereotypes and packed a powerful creative punch" Bella Todd, Time Out
UNLIMITED, the £3million programme delivered by Shape and Artsadmin, has concluded its first year supporting outstanding work by disabled artists, making an unprecedented impact on the cultural sector. Here's the round up...
News: Accessing London Theatre
In a joint-funded initiative, as part of the Visit Britain access project, The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) has launched a promotional video to highlight the wealth of access initiatives available across London theatre. Watch it here...
News: iF Platform Artists Announced
News: Shape Open 2014 Winner Announced
News: Febulous February
News: Kent-Based Deaf Visual Artist Cycling to Paris to support Shape
News: flip announce launch of support for nine Disabled Artists in Scotland
A new initiative to support the next generation of disabled artists in Scotland is being launched by flip - disability equality in the arts - and other National Arts organisations offering 9 opportunities for disabled artists across Scotland to develop their artistic practice or career through an individualised programme of mentoring and support.
News: FACT in Liverpool support exciting upcoming project Madlove by artist James Leadbitter
FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) has been successful in an application for £29,870 of funding from the Wellcome Trust. The money will allow FACT to realise an exciting participatory installation called Madlove by artist James Leadbitter as part of next spring’s Group Therapy exhibition.
News: Heart n Soul’s Allsorts: The Listening Season
News: UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) 2014
This year’s UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) will examine the appalling treatment of veterans who became disabled after fighting in the First World War. UKDHM was set up to celebrate disabled people’s lives and explore the history of negative attitudes and their consequences, and runs from 22 November to 22 December every year.
News: Unlimited opens the second round of submissions
Unlimited, the initiative which supports disabled artists to create and present exceptional work across the artforms, announces the opening of the second round of submissions for commission funds. Disabled artists and companies who are creating new disability-led work are invited to apply.
News: Artists Commissions Announced to commemorate historic anniversaries in 2015
News: Welfare Reform threatens Graeae Theatre Company
News: Jon Adams wins award for Democracy Street
News: Together! 2014 Disability History Month Festival
Following a busy summer Together! are delighted to announce the programme for the Together! 2014 Disability History Month Festival. Highlights include the festival launch and private view of the Open Exhibition; Krip Hop Nation's workshop and performance; The Hands Project on International Day of Disabled People; the Together! Disability Film Festival and the launch of a poetry anthology and end-of-festival party.
News: Stopgap Dance Company and The Point launch the iF Platform
The iF Platform (Integrated Fringe) is a unique opportunity for companies and artists producing work with disabled and non disabled artists. It will showcase the best integrated work from the UK at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 23rd – 30th August 2015 to coincide with the British Council Showcase year.
News: Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2014 at the V&A - Winner Announced
News: Johnny Crescendo's Piss on Pity Complete available on digital media
News: Inclusive theatre company Taking Flight tackles Disability Hate Crime with tour of secondary schools in Wales
This Autumn, Taking Flight Theatre Company will tour a specially commissioned play, Real Human Being, to secondary schools across Wales, to educate young people about the impact of Disability Hate Crime (DHC) on the lives of disabled people. The project is funded by the Welsh Government under the Equality and Inclusion grant.
News: Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2014 Shortlist Announced
News: Disability Arts Touring Network: One Of Us Will Die: A hilarious new take on love
News: DaDaFest International 2014: Art of the Lived Experiment exhibition announced
News: Disability Arts Touring Network: Krip-Hop Nation bring a unique international platform for disability Hip-Hop artists to the UK
News: Disability Arts Touring Network: The Ugly Girl Tour
A wildly comic twist on the stereotype of a queer, disabled, intellectual trouble-maker, featuring an international cast of disabled actresses including Liz Carr (Silent Witness) and Julie McNamara (Let Me Stay). This no-holds barred musical about what it means to be the quintessential Ugly Girl adrift in a comically hostile universe is full of slapstick, music and dark humour. Presented as part of a tour to develop disability arts.
News: From sea to sky: Artist Sue Austin takes wheelchair to dizzy new heights
News: Extant's Aerial Unlimited research and development project takes flight
News: Channel 4: Does It Matter? World War 1 Shorts
With two million British servicemen disabled by World War One, society's attitude to disability had to change. Co-produced by Artsadmin and Xenoki and co-commissioned by Channel 4 and 14-18 NOW, WW1 Centenary Art Commissions, five disabled artists present unorthodox takes on the legacies of war and disability through a series of short films.
News: First Graduates in Diploma in Performance Making for adults with learning disabilities
Sue Austin’s Underwater Wheelchair Team Needs Your Vote!
News: Mayor announces plans for Liberty Festival
News: Announcing Southbank Centre’s second Unlimited Festival 2014
Arts Council announces investment plans for 2015 to 2018
Today Arts Council England announced details of its investment plans for the next three years including its new national portfolio of arts organisations and museums representing a major public investment in England’s arts and culture.
News: Unlimited launches T-shirt design competition and exhibition opportunity for young disabled people
Unlimited today opened submissions for its ‘Your Slogan Here’ competition, offering young disabled people under 26 living in England and Scotland the opportunity to design a slogan and/or image for a T-shirt that will be exhibited at the Southbank Centre during Southbank Centre’s Unlimited Festival in September 2014.
News: DaDaFest International 2014 Announced
DaDaFest is proud to announce its Twelfth Festival, Art of the Lived Experiment, taking place 8 November 2014 – 11 January 2015. DaDaFest International 2014 presents a breathtaking array of high quality disability and Deaf arts from around the world, which will challenge thinking, ignite debate and celebrate disability culture - with comedy, music, dance, and visual arts - providing excellent entertainment for everyone.
News: Staff Benda Bilili to perform at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall for DaDaFest International 2014
News: International artist brings Gift to Bradford Festival
News: Latitude Festival awarded the Silver level of the Charter of Best Practice
Attitude is Everything is very pleased to announce that Latitude Festival(17th- 20th July) has been awarded the Silver level of the Charter of Best Practice. The Silver award is in recognition of the ongoing efforts of Festival Republic, the festival organisers, to build upon event access and inclusion at the site on a yearly basis, which has resulted in a loyal Deaf and disabled customer base.
News: Attitude is Everything announces new Patron, Lord Tim Clement-Jones CBE
News: Stopgap Dance Company awarded funding from the Arts Council’s Strategic touring programme
News: Spirit of 2012 Trust awards £500,000 for UNLIMITED IMPACT
News: Unlimited Programme Launched in Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts
News: Fittings Multimedia Arts are awarded funding for Missing!
News: Funding of over £400,000 announced helps support disabled artists to create ambitious and high quality work
UNLIMITED today announced over £400,000 of funding to support 26 disabled artists across the UK to create ambitious work covering all genres. Funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England (ACE) and Creative Scotland (CS) & led by Shape and ArtsAdmin, the 2014 round of the programme aims to build on the successful legacy that was at the heart of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, which celebrated the work of disabled artists on an unprecedented scale.
News: Signdance Collective International visualise radio in their musical BAD ELVIS
News: Shape’s Great Art Auction Goes Live At Bonhams!
News: Spanish artist and musician Neil Harbisson develops device enabling him to interpret colours as different musical frequencies
In 2004 Neil Harbisson and Adam Montandon developed The Eyeborg - an electronic ‘eye’ that allows colours to be perceived as sounds. The Eyeborg is a small sensor placed at eye level, held in place with a cable that transports colour information to a computer or chip. The electromagnetic light waves are turned into sound frequencies that are heard as musical notes. In partnership with Vodafone, Harbisson has now recorded the colours of Barcelona’s Palau de la Musica using mobile technology to compose a unique score.
Disability Arts Touring Network
News: UK's Cultural Legacy 'Unlimited' sets a precedent with Disability-led Selection Panel
‘Unlimited’, the three year UK commissioning programme supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England which supports disabled artists in developing and showcasing ambitious and high quality work across the UK and internationally, has announced the recruitment of a selection panel with over 75% of quality candidates elected being disabled people.
News:Four Deaf Yorkshiremen cast rehearse new comedy!
Obituary: In Memory of Sandy Easton
News: Disability Industry Heavyweights Launch of 'Unlimited' Partnership
News: Yinka Shonibare helps Disabled Artists get into Shape this Christmas
News: Photographic artist Lynn Weddle aims to bring the lives of young carers into focus through Living Portraits
Lynn Weddle has recently been awarded an Arts Council Grants for the Arts to work collaboratively with Sound Artist Anya Ustaszewski to create a series of living portraits depicting the environment and lives of young people across the South East. The artists are working with a range of young carers support groups to find participants for their artistic programme.
News: Zinc Arts' Kindness Flashmob bring smiles to Southend
News: Jodi Mattes Trust announce the winners of the JODI Awards 2013
News: Attitude is Everything announces new Patron Paul Maynard MP
News: Winston Churchill Fellowship is awarded to Artistic Director of Spare Tyre
News: Shape announce winner of Adam Reynolds Bursary 2013
News: Arts Council England announces national delivery partnership for Unlimited II
News: CoolTan Arts wins Innovation Award
News: Touch Art Fair pioneers a new approach to presenting visual arts
The Touch Art Fair is the first ever tactile art fair in the UK. On exhibition at 35 Marylebone High Street, London W1 from 17 - 20 October the fair is organised by pioneering french artist Scratch Adelia. Jake and Dinos Chapman have created a gigantic new piece of work especially for the event amongst fifteen other international artists working in the haptic arts.
News: Groundbreaking Performance Making Diploma at Central School of Speech and Drama
News: Yinka Shonibare MBE announces winning artists for Shape Open 2013
News: Oska Bright: the most ‘out there’ film festival on the planet
News: The Enrico Charles Humanitarian Organisation (E-C.H.O) Literary and Music Awards
News: CoolTan Arts shortlisted for Guardian Charity Awards from 1300 entrants
News: 900 Years of Light: Multimedia performance at Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral will be the setting for a multimedia response to the building’s 900 year history and the contributions that craftspeople have made during that time. 900 Years of Light is the culmination of Cathedra 900, an Arts Council England funded project by visual and multimedia artist Mark Ware. For the last 18 months, Mark has been exploring the Cathedral and interpreting its art and architecture through photography, abstract photomontages, 3D artwork and sound.
National Paralympic Day featuring Liberty Festival!
News: Signdance Collective International announce a new BBC Radio 4 drama - 'Bad Elvis' - an innovative play visualises radio
News: Jos Boys to publish 'Doing Disability Differently' - a new book on Disability and Architecture
Jos Boys invites DAO readers to suggest buildings they like for a book aimed at architects, exploring how they can be more engaged and creative around disability in their design work; so that accessibility and inclusive design become integral to their design thinking and doing, rather than as just an afterthought at the end of the architectural process.
News: Yinka Shonibare announced as patron and selection panel judge for the Shape Open 2013
News: DAO evaluates its award from the Office of Disability Issues 'Strengthening DPULOs Programme'
News: Grace Eyre's disabled-friendly Sussex Beacon Open Garden in Hove
DAO has been publishing a profile of work by Grace Eyre members since summer 2012. Sheila McWattie reports on Grace Eyre members' participation in a vibrant community gardens scheme across Brighton & Hove in partnership with The Sussex Beacon, due to open to the public from 29-30 June 2013
News: Pallant House Gallery’s innovative project, Outside In, wins prestigious Charity Award
Heads Up Film Series Launches
Heads Up, a series of films which have been produced as part of the Creative Case has been published today by Arts Council England through the Creative Case website which is managed by DAO. The 8 films feature a number of arts professionals and arts organisations who discuss their involvement with the Creative Case and what it means to them and are being released in two batches with the first four live now.
News: CEDA Music Acclaim
Exeter-based Community Equality Disability Action (CEDA) have just been awarded £100 as runners up in the recent Sound Beam 25 competition.
News: Graeae shines a light on rights at the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF)
News: Lisa Simpson uses the Simpson Board to set up a pilot course to support disabled choreographers in collaboration with Merseyside Dance Initiative
Lisa Simpson is seeking funding to support disabled choreographers using new technology developed by Adam Benjamin. Lisa and her colleague, Ray Rooney, have set up a social enterprise company to help disabled dancers and their teachers unlock similar potential. Sheila McWattie reports on the initiative
News: Driving Inspiration win Hollywood animation award with ‘Light Up the World’ – a global collaboration for Paralympics London 2012
Catalyst Arts success for DAO and StopGap
Blue Apple Theatre take their production Living Without Fear to the Houses of Parliament
News: Top poet and playwright Lemn Sissay to judge new literary award with Creative Future
News: Welsh short film screens at the Middle East’s first ever Arts & Disability Festival
News: filmpro presents 'COnscription'
News: The Basement presents Sick! a Festival of Contemporary Performance
News: Picture This… Oska Bright Film Festival picks up special award in Canada
News: Six Deaf Explorers embark on journeys to support arts development and cultural exchange
News: The Art House secures funding for development of Wakefield’s Drury Lane Library as artists’ spaces
Heritage Lottery Fund announces support for Shape and the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive
News: B.Right.On Festival celebrates Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transexual History Month with poetry, art and culture
News: DaDaFest joins Go ON Gold
News: Ali Briggs Appointed As Agent For Change at The New Wolsey Theatre
News: British-Bangladeshi artist Sanchita Islam presents The Rebel Within at Rich Mix, London
News: Jenny Sealey wins Liberty Human Rights Arts Award
News: Graeae wins Promotion of Diversity at the TMA awards
News: ITV launches world’s first children’s storybook app with sign languages
News: Birds of Paradise Theatre Company announces its new creative team
News: Liz Crow's latest work to be featured at SPILL Festival
News: Online launch of DaDaFest commission 'Rhapsody for Clarinet and Wheelchair Basketball Team'
Created by Jonathan Hering and Jack Whiteley 'Rhapsody for Clarinet and Wheelchair Basketball Team' is a groundbreaking audio-visual work, that combines music, sound design, film and sport. Commissioned by the Bluecoat, and premiered as part of DaDaFest 2012 the film has now been launched online.
News: DaDaFest organisers reflect on festival’s 2012 success
News: Together 2012 Festival to continue during Disability History Month
News: Experience Oska Bright International Festival - The Digital Space
Oska Bright is the award-winning, international festival of short films made by artists with learning disabilities. Over the last decade, it has screened hundreds of films from around the world, enabling learning disabled film-makers to blaze a trail for their artform. You can now watch Oska Bright films via the on-demand channel at www.thespace.org
News: Unlimited: The Dean Rodney Singers prepare for lift off at the Southbank Centre!
News: Aylesbury Paralympic Flame Celebration spotlights world class Deaf and disabled arts
News: Paul Cummins: 'English Flower Garden'
Fine ceramic artist Paul Cummins has made more than 12000 individual flower heads for a series of 6 unique art installations at some of the UK’s most beautiful historic houses and socially significant public sites. The project is an Unlimited commission and is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
News: Jon Adams exhibits 'Look About' at Pallant House Gallery
News: Together! 2012 at London Pleasure Gardens cancelled
News: Lou Birks directs Paralympic Opening Ceremony film
News: Signdance Collective to feature as part of London 2012 Festival Showtime
News: Southbank Centre launches Unlimited festival of groundbreaking new works by Deaf and Disabled Artists
News: Disability Rights campaigner Paddy Masefield OBE, has died, aged 70
News: RADA provides new opportunities for young people with impairments
News: Blue Touch Paper carnival team up with a Brazilian dancer troupe
News: Brazilian dancers arrive in Bournemouth for Diverse City's 'Battle for the Winds'
News: Jon Adams recognised by Royal Society of Arts
News: DaDaFest 2012 Announce Full Festival Line Up
News: uScreen reaches the Semi Finals of the National Lottery Awards
Accentuate is delighted to announce that uScreen, led by Screen South, has reached the Semi Finals of the National Lottery Awards. uScreen offers young deaf & disabled people the opportunity to make films online using a range of free accessible film-making tools with live showcases and workshops.
News: DaDaFest 2012 commissions North-West based artists for Niet Normaal: Difference on Display
News: Shape Arts announces winner of the Adam Reynolds Bursary 2012
News: Solar Bear launches Deaf Theatre Club across Scotland
News: Unlimited Global Alchemy
News: YOU can play a part in preserving the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive
News: Unity Festival International Disability Arts Festival in Cardiff
The Unity Festival, created by Hijinx Theatre, is taking place between 21 – 30 June and will showcase and celebrate the best in inclusive, disability and learning-disability arts from Wales, the UK and around the world, promoting positive images of disability and social inclusion to audiences
News: Vital Xposure, one of Arts Council England's latest National Portfolio Organisations, launches
News: Turning Points by Chris Tally Evans
News: DaDaFest gets a makeover!
Innovative Liverpool-based disability and deaf arts organisation Disability and Deaf Arts will now be known as DaDaFest – taking on the name of its best known event, the critically acclaimed international festival. In line with this name change, the entire DaDaFest brand has received an overhaul including a vibrant new image and website design.
News: Technophonia: New Music for a Unique Ensemble
News: Tin Bath Theatre presents Bee Detective
Channel 4 unveils new ‘Big 4’ installation
News: Adam Reymolds memorial Bursary 2012 Shortlist Announced
News: Unlimited: Ready, steady, go!
News: DAO is pleased to announce Diverse Perspectives project
Multimedia art project to be staged at Exeter Cathedral
News: Adam Reynolds Bursary
News: DaDaFest 2012 presents Niet Normaal - Difference on Display
From Fri 13 July – Sun 2 September, the Bluecoat will be given over to this landmark exhibition, which will feature the work of over 30 internationally renowned artists including new commissions, each addressing a definitive question of our time: ‘what is normal and who decides?’ specifically focussing on language as freedom and language as imprisonment.
News: Arts Council England announces successful capital application in the East Midlands
News: Action Space to give organisations' archive to Sheffield University
Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company closes
Blue Eyed Soul Dance have announced that they are to close at the end of March 2012. The company grew from a residency with CandoCo Dance Company in 1994. From its base in rural Shropshire and with the support of Arts Council England it explored, developed and delivered a highly successful and extensive programme of inclusive dance, locally, nationally and internationally.
News: Unique Wheelchair Dance project awarded London 2012 Inspire mark
Folk in Motion, a unique new folk dance project for wheelchair users, has been granted the Inspire mark by the London 2012 Inspire programme. The London 2012 Inspire programme recognises innovative and exceptional projects that are directly inspired by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
News: Disabled artist makes streets her canvas in the build up to London 2012
A street in High Wycombe will be creatively transformed in March as part of a cultural programme celebrating London 2012. Conceptual disabled artist, Zoe Partington, has worked on developing a creative response to how disabled people navigate through urban spaces and the impact this has on them emotionally and physically.
Ten years on and Electroboy comes to the screen
News: Successful applicants for The Space announced
New Gold set to enjoy two-week theatre run
News: National Lottery seek nominations for best arts project
News: DaDaFest Wins The Lever Prize 2012!
New Exhibition Invites Art on Disability
News: First Quarter of Shape Diamonds Programme Announced
News: Launch of InSync
Diversity should be about opening up and expanding our thinking, with everyone benefiting from different perspectives and alternative points of view. That’s why this week Sync - a leadership development programme funded by Arts Council England – is expanding its membership to everyone interested in leadership and diversity through a strand called InSync.
Hope Whitmore asks for stories from people with autism
Hope Whitmore has recently received support from Graeae Theatre Company for the background research of a play she is writing called Off Key. She is hoping to hear from people with autism about difficult situations they have been in, and especially about the experience of ‘coming-out’ as autistic to those close to them.
Hare-raising news about Disability Arts organisation
News: Mind the Gap win Award
News: Paralympic Torchbearer nominations
News: Attitude is Everything publish State of Access Report
DaDa on the BBC Big Screens
News: Benjamin Zephaniah takes up chair of Creative Writing at Brunel University
News: 'Loud and Proud' Lizzie Emeh wins AMI award
News: Artists take centre stage for diversity at the AMIs 2011
News: AMIs 2011: Royal College of Physicians and Shape win prestigious award for ‘inspired’ exhibition
News: Heart n Soul's Beautiful Octopus Club
News: DadaFest 2012: Dates and theme announced
News: Extant Theatre awarded ‘Best Paper’ at UbiComp, Beijing
Extant's paper 'Haptic Reassurance in the Pitch Black for an Immersive Theatre Experience' was awarded best paper at the international technology conference UbiComp 2011 in Beijing, China.
Five Needles a short film by Deaf Director Julian Peedle-Calloo
News: Heart n Soul’s Media Team launches Paralympic Games website
News: CoolTan Arts walk with Arthur Smith in celebration of World Mental Health Day 2011
News: The Creative Diversity Network (CDN) to announce Cultural Diversity Network awards 2011
Disabled Avant Garde: Stage Invasion
News: Theatre company Spare Tyre develops programme to medically benefit older people with dementia.
News: Struggle for Equality’, A History Project by Bournemouth People First
Bournemouth People First, a charity run for and by people with learning disabilities, were delighted to be awarded a grant of £49,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to support a new 18 month project called ‘Struggle for Equality’.
News: Liverpool’s DaDaFest Lever Prize 2012 Winners
News: Arts Council England announce the final round of Unlimited commissions
News: Finalists in the Best Arts Project category of The National Lottery Awards 2011
Vital Xposure present 'The Knitting Circle'
Liberty 2011: London's Disability Arts Festival
The Creative Case Symposium
The Arts Council of England will launch the Creative Case - a new approach to diversity, during a day-long public symposium in Manchester on Monday 12 September.
Profile: The Orpheus Centre present The Tempest
News: Gary Thomas' The Dog and the Palace wins Inspire Mark
News: Drake Music presents In Translation: Distant Interiors
Preview: Revealing Culture: HeadOn - Portraits of the Untold by Tanya Raabe
Preview: The Beaten by film-maker Simon Mckeown
News: Video artwork by Chris Tally Evans has been selected for VSA in Washington DC
News: Heavy Load released The Ting Ting's ‘That’s Not My Name’
News: Mind the Gap’s chickens fly the coop to feature at Summer festivals
Why did the chicken cross the road? Which came first the chicken or the egg? Mind the Gap’s talented cast of learning disabled professional performers hatched a plan to answer these and other less poultry questions in their new street theatre piece, ‘Chicken Coup!’ which toured festivals during the summer of 2011
'My Song': diary of a scriptwriter
Attitude is Everything goes to Glastonbury
News: Shoot Your Mouth Off's spanking new website has gone live
Profile: The Way Out: The Disabled Avant-Garde
Profile: The Knitting Circle by Julie McNamara
Having a first outing at the Soho Theatre, London, from 21-23 February, The Knitting Circle is an exciting new work in progress, reuniting director Paulette Randall and writer / producer Julie McNamara. Based on the testimonies of people who survived the asylums closed in the 1980s and 90s.
Interview: Tony Heaton discusses Shape's Animate artists' talks[
Animate will explore the rich history of Disability Arts, through a programme of talks and workshops. Colin Hambrook asked Tony Heaton, sculptor and Chief Executive of Shape, what he plans to talk about himself, and what he is looking forward to hearing about from the artists leading these events?
Profile: Turning Points
Profile: Blind with Camera at DadaFest 2010
Profile: Filmpro present FAT
Interview: Matthew Miller talks about Fabrica's House of Vernacular exhibition
Profile: StopGAP Dance Company present a new double bill - Trespass
Profile: Deafinitely Creative
Profile: Accentuate
Over the coming months DAO intends to report on a range of events taking place under the Accentuate banner. Accentuate is funded by Legacy Trust UK which is creating a cultural and sporting legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, SEEDA and the regional cultural agencies. Screen South is the home of Accentuate.
Dysarticulate: a DIY intervention from Creative Campus
News: ‘Resistance’ campaign urges MPs to sign up to charter as disabled people fear relaxation of assisted dying laws
Disabled people from across the UK came together in Westminster on 3 June 2010 for the launch of a new campaign to ensure legislation prohibiting assisted suicide and euthanasia remains in place
Shape Animate Podcast: Julie McNamara on the hospital years
An Interview with Maysoon Zayid
Profile: Kit Wells - The Figure in the Urban Landscape
Profile: Jasna Nikolic talks about her Outside In show Eterniments at Pallant House
Heart n Soul celebrate double MBE awards to Pino Frumiento and Mark Williams
South London arts organisation Heart n Soul celebrated recent MBE awards to director Mark Williams and founder artist Pino Frumiento in the Queen's New Years Honours on Wednesday 31 March. Heart n Soul Now toasted the royal recognition at the Albany arts venue in Deptford, where the organisation has been based for 24 years.
Profile: BBC Radio 4 presents David Bower in 'A Small Piece of Silence'
Profile: Garry Robson's Raspberry - a musical inspired by the life of Ian Dury
Cultural Olympiad Unlimited commissions announced
Shape Animate Podcast: Allan Sutherland talks about Tony Heaton
Artist and Writer Allan Sutherland talks about the work of artist Tony Heaton, part of the Shape Animate series of workshops.
Interview: Samuel Dore talks about film-making and deafness
Interview: Julie McNamara discusses her theatre practice, part of Shape Animate
CoolTan Arts premieres three films at the British Film Institute
Profile: Rethink Parliament
Parliamentary Outreach have launched an innovative new initiative designed with mental health group, Rethink. Colin Hambrook reports on how the project is engaging with communities of disabled people, within the mental health arena, who have traditionally been disengaged from the democratic process.
Interview: Noemi Lakmaier discusses her work for Shape's Animate programme
Profile: Dada-South takes a role in Accentuate
Profile: Cultural Olympiad present Discovering Places and Open Weekend
News: Liz Crow reached The Guardian's 'Top 10 from Trafalgar' list
Winners revealed at DaDaFest Awards 2009, Liverpool
Disability Arts Online Highly Commended in 2009 Jodi Awards at the V&A
Disability Arts Online has won its first national accolade. The site was highly commended at the Jodi Awards, announced December 2, 2009 at the Sackler Centre, V&A, in London. The national and international Jodi Awards celebrate the best use of digital technology in the service of access to culture for disabled people.
Oska Bright 4th International Festival of short films
Oska Bright 2009 runs from Tuesday 17 to Thursday 19 November 2009 with different screenings each day. As well as daily screenings Oska Bright includes Master Classes, mentoring sessions, a fabulous awards ceremony and a closing party with live music. The festival kick off with an inspiring workshops for people with learning disabilities wanting to learn how to make films.
Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow launches Rethink Parliament project
Video: Disabled Avant Garde
Inside story: Resistance by Liz Crow
Profile: London 2012 launches Unlimited Cultural Olympiad programme
Profile: Jon Adams: The Goose on the Hill
Profile: Magpie Dance and the Siobhan Davies Dance Company
Profile: Decibel Performing Arts Showcase
Profile: 'Outside In' 2009
'Outside In' is on show at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, West Sussex, 4 August – 8 November 2009. The exhibition provides a platform for artists who are marginalised due to health, disability or other social circumstances. Marc Steene, Head of Learning, explains some of the reasoning behind the competition, due to become a national event by 2011.
Video: Juan delGado presents The Flickering Darkness
Profile: Parliamentary Outreach present Breaking Barriers
Arts Versus Sports: from a disability perspective
Driving Inspiration
News: Established visual artist Sally Booth wins coveted art prize
Sally Booth, a well-known visually impaired visual artist, beat competition from artists across the UK to be announced as the recipient of the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2008.
StopGAP Dance Company
News: STAGETEXT
Katherine Araniello on her character 'Terminal Services' in Late at Tate
Late at Tate - an artist intervention in Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries - was recently curated by Vauxhall’s art laboratory, Beaconsfield. The concept behind the evening was the idea of creating a terminal space, with an array of arrival and departure points, in which only the surreal applied.
Gus Cummins: ICTAL
Caroline Cardus: Hidden Battles
Jon Adams: Word Wall
Open Studio with Noëmi Lakmaier
Ruth Gould: Creative Force in Disability Arts
Cirque Nova begins training aiming for 2012
Kaleido
StopGAP Dance Company
The Heroes say Goodbye
Next Year in Auckland
Art Disability Culture
Interview: Noëmi Lakmaier Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary winner
Tanya Raabe: Artist on the Edge
Interview: Chris Hammond talks about Full Circle Arts
Tales from the Boarders
Attitude At Liberty
Victoria Waddington
Oska Bright Film Festival
Tony Heaton: Squaring The Circle
National Disability Arts Collection and Archive
Review: Sophie Woolley presents 'When to Run?'
Andrew Roberts
Drake Music Project
Creative Routes
Peter Campbell: The pleasure madmen know
Karen Sheader
Juan delGado
Benedict Phillips: Invisible Apartheid of Words
Lara Varga
Interview with Lou Birks
James Aldridge: Inside-Out
Nancy Willis: Early Days
Colin Hambrook
Simon Cooper: My Virtual Reality World
Interview: Pádraig Naughton: The Power of Touch
Joe McConnell talks to Pádraig Naughton about his journey as a visual artist with a sight impairment.
Adam Reynolds: an Obituary
Art + Power
Interview: Cathy Woolley
Melissa Mostyn talks to Cathy Woolley about her work and inspiration as artist and friend.
Sue Williams: Urban Regeneration
National Disability Arts Collection and Archive
Colin Redwood: Sound Sculpture
Paddy Masefield Award
Oska Bright Film Festival 2005
Julie McNamara: Pig's Sister
An interview with Philip Patston
Danny Start
LDAF Disability Film Festival
Paul Cade: Sanity for Vanity
Liz Crow: Frida Kahlo’s Corset
Lesley Child fondly remembered
A tribute to a great disability arts activist
Alison Jones: The Smell of Honey
Laurence Clark: The Jim Davidson Guide to Equality
Artsadmin Digital Bursaries 2004
StopGap dancers on the move
Signs of a Diva - an interview with Caroline Parker
The New DAIL Magazine (2004)
Celebrating Disability Arts
Celebrating Disability Arts is the title of a publication by Allan Sutherland reviewing 20 years of Disability Arts practice.
Club Attitude
Art Through Touch
Dave Lupton: Crippen Cartoons
Wild Bunch club night
Damien Robinson: Songbird
News: The Way Ahead: DASH Training Initiative
Colin Hambrook talks to Jayni Anderton of Disability Arts Shropshire, about her recent training initiative.