Find out about the growing network of organisations producing festivals or events (for films, performances, visual arts) relating to various aspects of disabilitiy art and culture.
During the Christmas holidays I took the opportunity to attend the 2nd 'Change Your Life by Music & Art' Festival in Bangkok, Thailand. It was a great event successfully run by The Network of Music & Arts for People experiencing Disability (NMAD) featuring artists from across Thailand and also Japan.
It was wonderful to renew friendships with singer Ni, Mr. Saksil and Ms. Manida from NMAD, whom Angela Jaeschke, Karen Roberts and I met at the Wataboshi Festival in Malaysia 2007. It was also great to make new friends with artists from Cambodia, Korea and across Thailand.
Mr. Sawang, from the Disabled People International - Asia Pacific organisation (DPI-AP) and the NMAD team are to be congratulated on their professional organization and delivery of such a wonderful festival. Their creative, no-limits, inclusive and fun filled approach to the arts and life in general is very infectious and really shone through. At Access Arts we look forward to staying in touch and discussing ways we might work together again in the future.
The "Art for All" project brings together children with and without disabilities through integrated programmes of visual, performing, and literary arts. UNESCAP organized the first art exhibition of their work in 1999. Since then it has steadily grown and now includes work from over 400 students and youth, both with and without disabilities, who are working with international artists from 10 countries.
This project is based on the idea that harmony and beauty will be created out of human differences. Various types of art forms are used as medium for students with disabilities to have better self-esteem, exposure to professional opportunities as artists, and to motivate them to participate in all aspects of society. Some graduates of the "Art for All" camp have become notable artists in Thailand.
AbilityFest - India International Disability Film Festival is a bi-annual event. This presents a unique and inspiring showcase of extraordinary films from around the world. Films by with and about people with disabilities, AbilityFest is a glamorous event bringing to the fore the philosophy of an inclusive society. The need for universal access is underlined from the word go, from captioned as well as audio described films to accessible venues.
The society, 'Association for Learning Performing Arts and Normative Action' is registered with the Registrar of Societies, Govt. of NCT of Delhi under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
The mission of the society is promotion of performing arts and facilitating holistic human development. The society essays the cause of spreading awareness among today's youth about rich cultural heritage of India. Through various art forms like music and dance and other courses painting, tabla playing etc., the society endeavours to evolve complete individuals proud of their heritage. The emphasis is on our inclusive and composite heritage.
Since 2006, ALPANA organizes the SAMBHAV learning performing arts festival in New Delhi.
India International Disability Film Festival, held in Chennai, is organized on the lines of Disability Film Festivals held around the world including in London, Melbourne, Paris, Munich, Moscow, Calgary, Toronto & Beirut. This film festival was first celebrated in 2005. The second scheduled for October 2007. AbilityFEST is a unique and inspiring showcase of extraordinary films from around the world - films by, with and about people with disabilities. The All India One Minute Film Competition is open to film enthusiasts from all walks of life.
VSA Arts is an international organization that creates learning opportunities through the arts for people with disabilities and is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Through its Arts in Acton program, VSA Arts showcases the accomplishments of artists with disabilities and promotes increased access to the arts for people with disabilities. Through its Education Programs VSA arts provides educators, parents, and artists with resources and the tools to support arts programming in schools and communities. Arts-based programs in creative writing, dance, drama, music and the visual arts implemented primarily through their affiliates located throughout the U.S. and internationally.
The disTHIS! Film Series showcases quality narrative, shorts, docmentary and feature films with disability themes beyond clichés. It is a monthly film series showcasing quality narrative, shorts, documentary and feature films with disability themes beyond the tragic/heroic trap moviegoers have come to expect.
LACDA "Top 40" is a juried competition featuring digital art and photography. All styles of 2D artwork and photography where digital processes of any kind were integral to the creation of the images are acceptable.
The NADC mission is to promote the full inclusion of audiences and artists with disabilities into all facets of the arts community. The NADC is a leading consultant in the arts and disability community and provides information aimed at artists with disabilities, arts organizations, museums, arts administrators, disability organizations and agencies, performing arts organizations, art centers, universities, arts educators, and students. This includes resource directories, annotated bibliographies, and related links and conferences serve to advance artists with disabilities and accessibility to the arts.
The Reach Film Fellowship is a granting program supporting filmmakers who have recently completed a film studies program and are producing socially relevant short films. Deadline July 15th 2009.
People with developmental disabilities as subjects and performers remain marginalized in the media. The Sprout Film Festival aims to raise their profile by showcasing works of all genres featuring this population.
SUPERFEST, International Disability Film Festival, is a two-day showcase of juried films, videos, television shows and DVDs held in the San Francisco Bay Area. This annual competition showcasing cutting-edge films that portray disability culture in all its diverse, complex, and empowering facets, is the longest running festival of its kind in the world.
The deaf and hard of hearing have been mostly left out of the movie-going experience. For the past several years, Cinema/Chicago has reached out to these communities by raising awareness of the multitude of high-quality subtitled films at The Chicago International Film Festival. At many Festival screenings, sign-language interpreters are present to facilitate participation by deaf audience members in the post-screening discussions.
Texans with Disabilities designed the Cinema Touching Disability film festival to improve perceptions and dispel common misperceptions that many people hold about disability. The powerful role that cinema plays in American culture makes a film festival ideal for this purpose. Movies, after all, reflect and shape the attitudes that people have about important social issues, including disability. Each year we show and discuss films that illustrate how well, and how poorly, people with disabilities are portrayed in motion pictures.
Abilities Arts Festival is a disability arts organization that promotes diversity, inclusiveness and the power of art as a means of enriching the cultural fabric of our communities. Since 2003, Abilities Arts Festival has been adding a new dimension to Toronto's diverse arts scene. Through multidisciplinary, visual, film and performing arts festivals and events, Abilities Arts Festival showcases artistic excellence by artists with disabilities. The 2010 program, taking place between September 28th and October 3rd will be announced shortly.
Aesthetica engages with contemporary art, contextualising it within the larger cultural framework. Founded in 2002, Aesthetica Magazine is one of Britain's leading art publications. Exploring the varied nature of the arts and recognising the dynamics of contemporary culture, Aesthetica pushes the boundaries and evokes debate around today's most important topics. Bringing a fresh perspective to the national forum, Aesthetica is at the forefront of contemporary arts by critically engaging with visual art, film, music, literature and theatre. Aesthetica will be available in stores across Canada from the beginning of December so keep an eye out for it in a store near you!
Balancing Acts: Calgary's Annual Disability Arts Festival (DAF) is a celebration of creative self-expression by people with developmental, physical or sensory disability, mental illness, brain injury, and/or chronic illness. Balancing Acts articulates distinct explorations, representations, and declarations of disability identity, highlighting the creativity of disabled performers, and offering artistic expressions that celebrate and challenge both the ethos and the perception of disability culture. Balancing Acts is produced by Stage Left Productions; a grass-roots, arts-based community development and social action company.
Creative Spirit Art Centre / VSA Arts Ontario is an International Affiliate of VSA Arts. The Creative Spirit Art Centre's goal is to provide art education and studio space to people with disabilities. The art centre is an environment where the disabled can create, exhibit and sell their art. Proceeds go to the centre and the artists.
Gallery Gachet is a unique artistic institution founded in Vancouver in 1992 that was named after Vincent Van Gogh's homeopathic doctor, Paul Gachet. The gallery aims to use the canvas of the outside work to educate and demystify the public on issues related to mental health and to advance the artistic discourse around these issues. The gallery provides artists informed by mental health issues with opportunities to exhibit, curate, perform, read, teach and to develop their leadership skills.
The annual Innoversity Summit held each fall in Toronto is a marketplace and a meeting place for those who work in the media and cultural sector (and those who would like to). With practical and creative workshops, panels and showcases, thought-provoking guest speakers, and many opportunities to pitch ideas or talents, Innoversity presents innovative ways to approach diversity as well as opportunities for creative professionals.
MAAWD works to combine the educational, social and cultural benefits of the arts to promote the personal, academic and professional growth of people with disabilities. It seeks to promote, educate and advocate for greater inclusions of artists with disabilities into Manitoba's society and art community, to foster and develop creative excellence among artists with disabilities and to promote awareness of and appreciation for art created by persons with disabilities.
The Media Access and Participation (MAP) initiative is a partnership between the Government of Ontario and Innoversity, a non-profit organization that connects the mainstream Canadian media with minority communities in an effort to foster a more diverse media landscape. The goal of the MAP initiative is to make the film and television industry more accessible for people with disabilities. Working together, representatives of the media industry, Ontario's Accessibility Directorate, and Innoversity, will develop learning tools to help broadcasters and producers make the media industry more inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities - both behind the camera, and in front of it.
Picasso PRO is a two-year project designed to provide a vital bridge between 'beginnings' and real integration for artists with disability and Deaf artists in the performing arts. Picasso PRO's goal is to help enhance and expand the choices currently available to performers, playwrights, directors, choreographers, designers and other aspiring and experienced arts practitioners. Picasso PRO offers stage related training and a program of workshops, presentations, and professional development opportunities provided in accessible venues.
This five day international disability film festival presents films and videos that focus on some area of disability culture, and productions on any subject that are produced, directed and/or written by a person(s) with a disability are the theme of this festival!
Pride Week is the fun and fabulous arts and culture festival that happens each year in Toronto. Pride Week celebrates our diverse sexual and gender identities, histories, cultures, families, friends and lives. Pride Toronto is committed to ensuring accessibility to all Pride Week events for information on Dis/Ability Resources http://www.pridetoronto.com/disabilities/index.htm. For individuals who want to get involved and volunteer at Pride send an email. For general Pride Week information visit the Pride Toronto website.
The mandate of ReelWorld is to recognize the excellence and achievement of emerging diversity in film, video, and new media. This is accomplished by meeting four main objectives: To showcase and promote the work of diverse film and video makers and film artists to Canadian and international audiences; To facilitate a forum where film and video makers and other film artists can interact and pitch their ideas to producers and investors; To bring together film artists from diverse Canadian communities to network, dialogue, share, critique, and support each other's work and relevant works from the international community; To provide training through seminars, workshops, and special events aimed at the racially and culturally diverse Canadian film and video making community.
Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival is an annual film festival that presents features and shorts touching upon the facts and mythology surrounding mental health and addiction. Each program focuses on a different theme. Post-screening panel discussions involve filmmakers, artists and people with professional and personal experience with mental illness and addiction. Rendezvous with Madness is produced by Workman Arts.
The Society for Disability Arts and Culture presents and produces works by artists with disabilities and promotes artistic excellence among artists with disabilities working in a variety of disciplines. The Society for Disability Arts and Culture are the producers of kickstART - a ground breaking disability arts festival held in Vancouver.
Stage Left Productions is a performance company exclusively engaging in professional artist-community collaboration. As a grass-roots arts-based community development and social action company, Stage Left's uses interdisciplinary performing arts to integrate marginalized people into the creative, artistic, and social life of our community. This is accomplished by providing safe and accessible space in which they can explore, define, and celebrate their culture; develop confidence, imagination, and artistic expression; contribute to the culture of our community in meaningful ways; and express both individual and collective identity.
International 4-day festival of films, visual arts exhibits, panel discussions bridging the gap between Canada's Deaf Culture and our neighbours across the globe.
(WIFT-T) is a leading internationally affiliated professional organization that recognizes, trains and advances women in screen-based media. It is dedicated to the advancement of women and underrepresented groups in screen-based media. WIFT-T offers a year-round slate of skills development, networking events and industry awards, providing the tools to succeed in Canada's global entertainment industry.
Workman Arts (formally known as the Workman Theatre Project) is guided by the principle that the creative process is integral to the quest for personal and spiritual development. Workman Arts' (WA) aim is to promote a greater understanding of mental illness and addiction through the arts, and support individuals with mental illness and addiction in their artistic pursuits. In the various artistic media, WA has produced more than sixteen original new Canadian plays, 13 Rendezvous with Madness Film Festivals, 7 Annual Being Scene Art Exhibitions, 4 multidisciplinary festivals and 1 international festival.
IntegrART is a symbol of Migros Cultural Percentage's commitment to diversity in the theatre and expanding the definition of culture beyond its normal boundaries. The focus of this year's edition is collaboration between able-bodied and disabled professional dancers.
Expanding the definition of culture beyond its normal boundaries encourages new aesthetic forms of expression. The works included in this series challenge the prevailing standardisation of physical attributes. The symposium demonstrates how the considerable potential of these works can be broadened.
Arts & Disability Ireland strives to promote the engagement of people with disabilities in the arts at the highest level; as audience members, artists, performers, participants, advisors and employees. Some of the stated objectives of Arts and Disability Ireland are: To provide an artistic programme that includes performances and exhibitions; to promote disability interests in arts organisations and arts interests in disability organisations; to provide training opportunities for career development and workshops on artistic skills enrichment.
Breaking Down the Barriers Disability Film Festival is organized by Perpektiva, a Russian non-governmental organization (NGO) that for nearly a decade has provided support to help people with disabilities live full and fulfilling lives. This juried festival showcases an international selection of films: feature, documentary, short and long forms, public service announcements and animation.
Festival Clin d'oeil is a European-wide multidisciplinary festival on deaf arts held over 3 days. It includes shows, screenings, exhibitions and workshops that bring together deaf artists from all over Europe.
Deaf Arts Now is a festival held every 3 years where deaf and hearing can meet, interact and take part of a big and eclectic deaf cultural event. Deaf Arts Now is also a workshop for deaf professional artists in Europe.
The Emotion Pictures Festival is organized by the Secretariat General of Communication - Secretariat General of Information in collaboration with the Greek Film Centre. The relationship between Documentary films and Disability is multidimensional and constantly evolving. This festival aims to increase public awareness and pave the way towards achieving full inclusion of disabled people in all aspects of society. Furthermore, it aims to encourage film-makers, either disabled or not, to take a keen interest in the field and address the widest possible public.
KynnysKINO is a Disability Film Festival that is part of project TARU, which works to develop possibilities for the disabled, immigrants and young artists.
Liberty is the largest disability rights festival, with street arts, theatre, music and dance that is aimed at everyone. This one-day event in Trafalgar Square showcases the talents of disabled artists, musicians, dancers and performers. There is also a variety of stalls and displays. Liberty is organised by the Mayor of London working together with deaf and disabled Londoners. Groups contributing to the development of the event include: Attitude is Everything, Shape, People First, Creative Routes, Greater London Deaf Association, GLAD, Regard and London Disability Arts Forum.
Under the title Occupation!, Theater HORA organizes an international theatrical festival in Zurich. Artists with disabilities, integrated artists' groups and internationally renown ensembles from Switzerland and eight other European countries are involved in this unique cultural project.
For almost 30 years Shape has been at the forefront of change, aiming to achieve access to the arts for disabled and deaf people; empowering people to enrich their lives through enjoyment of the arts and active participation. Shape is the country;s leading disability arts organisation, we aim to improve access to the arts for deaf and disabled people whilst supporting deaf and disabled artists to challenge perceptions and promote Deaf and Disability Culture.
The University of Victoria is sponsoring Engaging Disability 2007 (ED) a disability institute gathering community members, community organizations, government employees, students and university faculty to think about, discuss, learn and re-vision the meaning of disability. Engaging Disability comprises an opening panel session (March 12th, 2007), a seven-week lecture series (March 19 - May 7, 2007), a two-week Summer Institute (June 2007), a fall session university course for graduate and senior undergraduate students (September - December 2007), an ongoing film/performance encounters series (April - November 2007), a community book club (April - November 2007), and an art encounters series in local venues ( March - December 2007).
Back to Back Theatre creates new forms of contemporary theatre imagined from the minds and experiences of a unique ensemble of actors with disabilities, giving voice to social and political issues that speak to all people.
Based in Geelong, Australia, the company makes work locally and tours globally.
The mission of Accessible Arts is to promote full inclusion, access and cultural opportunities in the arts for people with disabilities through advocacy, education and information. Some of the services provided include: Supporting people with disabilities who want to become professional artists by creating supportive environments in which artists can develop their arts practice and gain business skills; Training arts workers who wish to work with artists with disabilities; Developing opportunities for people with disabilities to express their creativity; Giving voice to the lived experience of disability by providing a forum for work produced for and by people with disabilities and about disability.
It is a key service organisation for arts and disability in South Australia. Arts Access SA vision is for full participation in arts and cultural life for all South Australians and works to create opportunities for participation, employment, income generation and leadership for people with a disability in South Australia's arts and cultural life. The organisation has been at the forefront of the disability arts movement since its incorporation as Arts in Action in 1989. It is committed to supporting social integration, promoting the creative potential of the individual, encouraging the development of new skills, celebrating difference and advocating for greater accessibility in the cultural mainstream. AA-SA is a member of Arts Access Australia, the national network of peak arts and disability bodies from across the country.
The Awakenings Festival is much more than Australia's only regional disability arts festival! This dynamic, inclusive 10-day event draws performers and participants from around Australia to Western Australia every October. The festival welcomes and encompasses all levels of performance experience from grass roots to professional, featuring performing and visual arts that showcase the work of artists with disabilities.
The Other Film Festival screens new cinema by, with and about people with a disability.
The International Guild of Disabled Artists and Performers (IGODAP) is a collective of artists and performers who identify with impairment and/or disability. It seeks to inform members of ways to be more involved in disability and mainstream arts - rehearsals, seminars, training, media opportunities and articles to name a few. It also provides members with access to over 300 disabled artists around the world, with whom to discuss ideas, problems and strategies.
Arts Access Aotearoa is a Charitable Trust whose objectives are to ensure that people and communities of New Zealand have unhindered access to the arts, and opportunities to create, perform and develop their own arts. Arts Access Aotearoa works with organisations and communities of people with limited access to the arts, to stimulate them to undertake arts projects, develop their own arts activities independently and develop partnerships with funding organisations and art groups.
