25/3/2015

Disabilityandthearts:thebestoftimes,theworstoftimes|Cultureprofessionalsnetwork|TheGuardian

Disability and the arts: the best of times, the

worst of times
Introducing a new series on disability arts, producer Jo Verrent looks at some of the key issues
affecting disabled artists and organisations in the sector
Jo Verrent
Monday 23 March 2015 12.30 GMT

oud be forgiven for thinking that disabled artists had never had it so good.
Unlimited the commissioning and support programme for disabled artists, where I
am senior producer will on 26 March announce a 1.5m investment for its next
round of commissions.
Then theres the British Council, which has ve works by disabled artists within the 30
chosen for its showcase at the Edinburgh fringe festival 2015. Graeae theatre company,
the Dundee Rep and Derby Theatre have a mid-scale tour with an integrated production
of Blood Wedding. Jess Thom from Touretteshero is giving the annual disability lecture
at Cambridge University and her show Backstage in Biscuit Land is on at Brighton festival
before a two-week run via Battersea Arts Centre.
What else? Production company Vital Xposure, which operates under the creative
leadership of disabled artist Julie McNamara, recently touched down from a tour of
Brazil, before heading straight to Canada to the Picture This Film Festival, where many
lms by UK disabled artists are shown. Im just back from a conference in Qatar that
focused on access and included the rst exhibition of disabled artists at the prestigious
Museum of Islamic Art. The list goes on
All marvellous? Everything rosy?
Well, no. Lets not forget whats going on at a grassroots level.
In 2014, a survey by Scope found that two-thirds of the British public feel uncomfortable
talking to disabled people, while more than a third think of disabled people as not as
productive as everyone else. It also found that four in 10 disabled people have been
denied a job because of an employers attitude to disability, and showed extensive
evidence of widespread discrimination and hate crime against disabled people. This,
remember, is after 2012 and the improvements in public perception following the
Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Access to Work, the government-funded support service for disabled people in work, is
being increasingly criticised for the ways in which it often seems to be limiting rather
than oering support. Changes to the service, announced as recently as mid-March, are
not exactly going to make things better, especially for deaf people, who are the hardest
http://www.theguardian.com/cultureprofessionalsnetwork/2015/mar/23/disabilityartsbestworstoftimes?CMP

1/3

25/3/2015

Disabilityandthearts:thebestoftimes,theworstoftimes|Cultureprofessionalsnetwork|TheGuardian

hit. Then theres the Independent Living Fund, which looks as if its still going to close,
no matter which political party wins in May. Doing so will severely limit the
opportunities available to the disabled people currently supported at this level.
Is it any better in the arts? In the 2014 national portfolio organisation shake-up, Arts
Council England (ACE) announced that the number of disabled-led organisations part of
its portfolio was set to fall from 13 to nine (a fall of 30.8%) from April 2015. This means
that disability-led organisations now make up a little over 1% of the portfolio with less
than 0.5% of ACE funding as a whole.
That said, its not all doom and gloom. ACE is determined to shift its stats and approach.
In December 2014, chair Sir Peter Bazalgette announced an additional 6m to support
the creative case for diversity. Its an approach that will see the creative potential of
diversity and equality as an opportunity to enrich the arts for artists, audiences and
wider society.
There are also lots of new initiatives out there pushing to make a dierence. For young
people trying to get into the arts sector theres Shape Arts and its Inspiring Futures event:
an open day for young disabled people on 24 April that focuses on progression routes
into the creative industries, ranging from the visual arts to performance, theatre, music,
lm, museums and cultural management.
Even within the cultural sector, things are slowly getting serious about inclusion too. The
London Theatres Consortium is engaged in a pilot project (thanks to funding from
Unlimited) opening doors and getting artistic directors to talk directly with disabled
actors, directors, writers and more to change what we see on our nations stages. Join the
debate via the #Equalstages hasthag.
Scope responded to the startling statistics mentioned earlier by launching a campaign
called End the awkward, which supports employers and the general public to face up to
what might be awkward for them to educate and inform them, and then simply ask
them to get over themselves.
Last week, mac Birmingham and Dash held the Awkward Bastards symposium to take
the concept of awkward even further, by challenging and exploring the concept of
diversity.
One of the thornier issues raised at the event was about labelling: arent disabled artists
just artists? Well, yes and no. All artists are artists and in a perfect world, no one
would need to take on a label just to gain funding, nd a way in or get taken seriously.
But thats currently not the case and by identifying positively, it could be argued that
disabled artists can gain a voice and a platform that can push them further, faster.
For some artists, its a matter of identity. If their work is informed directly or indirectly
by their experiences as a disabled person, then it makes clear sense for them to identity
as a disabled artist. Many disabled people see the word disability positively. I do, for one.
Being a disabled person is part of the way I see myself in the world as much a part of me
as being a woman or any other label.
Perhaps its this identication that can be the shift that alters societal perceptions
http://www.theguardian.com/cultureprofessionalsnetwork/2015/mar/23/disabilityartsbestworstoftimes?CMP

2/3

25/3/2015

Disabilityandthearts:thebestoftimes,theworstoftimes|Cultureprofessionalsnetwork|TheGuardian

around disability that stops us all being so awkward. If you know that the person who
painted that image, starred in that play or composed that exquisite symphony was a
disabled person, would it start to challenge your expectations of what disabled people
can achieve? If you get to see disabled people equally and widely represented within our
culture popular, street and elite thats got to start shifting something.
Jo Verrent is senior producer at Unlimited
Get in touch if you have a story for our new disability arts series
Join our community of arts, culture and creative professionals by signing up free to the
Guardian Culture Pros Network.
More comment

Topics
Disability
Theatre
Policy
Finance
Diversity

http://www.theguardian.com/cultureprofessionalsnetwork/2015/mar/23/disabilityartsbestworstoftimes?CMP

3/3