The head of a three-year commissioning project for disabled artists has said that things are getting worse not better for many disabled people in the UK. Jo Verrent of Unlimited added that while progress has been made in the arts, much more needs to be done for there to be a level playing field.
Ahead of the United Nations’ International Day of Disabled People tomorrow (3 December 2015) Verrent calls for the sector to do more to integrate artists with disabilities into the fabric of arts programming.
Verrent argues that while we are right to acknowledge the achievements of disabled people, discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping are still rife and there is much to be done before we can truly celebrate.
In a statement published to mark the International Day of Disabled People, Verrent said: “Unlimited has achieved a huge amount in the past two years and are immensely proud of everything that’s been delivered. Yet it isn’t enough, not by a long way.
“Disabled artists are breaking through, but not in the numbers that are needed, not within leadership roles, not within programmes for rural area and small towns as well as bigger cities, not as headline acts rather than ones squeezed in on the fringe, not with the budgets, resources and support that many non-disabled artists command.
“Until we have disabled people present within each and every level of the cultural industries – as both artists and audiences – what is there to truly celebrate?”
Referencing the recent spending review, which saw unexpectedly positive news for the arts, Verrent said that disabled people and those needing social care have already been hit up to 19 times harder by cuts than others. “The playing field is still not even and it’s getting worse not better.”
But, she continued, International Day of Disabled People should be viewed as an opportunity to commit to change. “If we all make a conscious effort to change our behaviours and attitudes, at work and at play, we really will be able to make a difference across the world.
“Imagine disabled artists at every festival, in every collection, within all commission’s programmes. Imagine disabled audiences at every event and performance. Imagine disabled creatives on every selection panel, within the senior management teams of all venues and funding bodies.
“Now decide what you are going to do to play your part in making that a reality.”
Ambitious work
Delivered as a partnership between Shape and Artsadmin, Unlimited offers disabled artists funds and mentoring support to develop, produce and show ambitious work. Current commissions include projects by Liz Carr, Noëmi Lakmaier, Kaite O’Reilly, Aaron Williamson, Bekki Perriman, Jack Dean, Sheila Hill, Cameron Morgan and Claire Cunningham.
Morgan’s TV Classics Part 1, an exhibition and public art work that honours the past ten decades of television history, will be presented at Glasgow International 2016, before touring, while Williamson’s Demonstrating the World is an outdoor public performance intervention that interrogates the notion of the ‘alien’ or ‘other’ through an absurdly elaborate live reinterpretation of mundane YouTube ‘how-to’ videos.
Taking place in September 2016, Lakmaier’s Cherophobia is a live attempt to lift the artist’s tied and immobilized body off the ground by the force of approximately 20,000 helium filled party balloons.
Alongside the main commissions, Unlimited Impact supports young disabled artists and challenges venues to ‘up their game’. Work supported has included Sean Goldthorpe’s 11 Million Reasons, a series of photographs inspired by iconic dance moments in film which were revisioned with disabled people centre stage.
Unlimited Impact has also supported Celf O Gwmpas gallery to run a series of sessions with a group of six disabled young people. The support provides studio space to enable them to build on their learning and develop ideas and practice, as well as progress to other opportunities such as making an application to art school.
United Nations’ International Day of Disabled People, 3 December 2015. www.un.org/en/events/disabilitiesday
Unlimited is also marking International Day of Disabled People with the publication of Demystifying Access: a resource pack for the performing arts
