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Featured Project and FYI : Opportunities

The Accentuate Programme consists of 15 projects which seek to offer new opportunities to promote the talent and skills of disabled people within the South East.  We also try to approach things a bit differently and by focussing on talent and critically assessing quality, we aim to create a cultural shift in attitudes towards disability.  Usually we feature one project in this section, but in this edition we will combine our project feature with the FYI section, telling you about some of the up and coming opportunities that are available in three projects.  We will also announce the successful artists for Go Public.

Collaborations!

This project is being delivered by Creative Junction and is part of a wider initiative called Create, Compete and Collaborate.

_Collaborations!_will bring together a series of new creative teams, each comprising an established deaf or disabled artist, an emerging deaf or disabled artist and a deaf or disabled athlete, working in partnership with international artists or networks. Each team will produce a thought-provoking and inspirational new art work.

Collaborations! will form 13 new creative teams between now and 2012 – 4 in 2010 and 2011 and 5 in 2012. In accordance with the aims of the CCC programme, each project will be directly informed by young people. This will include a minimum of 2 workshops where young people will be invited to respond to and interact with the concepts and themes explored in the piece. The year one projects will commence in July 2010 with the first workshops taking place in September and a final exhibition / performance taking place in January or February 2011.  

Creative Junction are seeking expressions of interest from both emerging and established deaf and disabled artists (from any art form), initially for the first year, who would like to be considered for the new teams. They are also seeking expressions of interest from deaf and disabled athletes, of any sporting background and initially for the first year, who would like to be considered for the new teams. Athletes should live in or train primarily in the South East region and have been born in 1983 or later (in accordance with the CCC definition of ‘young person’).  Please see the Accentuate website for more details on both of these opportunities.  The closing date for the artists is 9th June and athletes 16th June.

The first Collaborations! project will kick off imminently with a new piece of work called New Gold.  Inspired by the forthcoming 2012 Olympics, New Gold takes a fresh look at contemporary attitudes to ‘competition’ and ‘winning’ by drawing on the stories of Paralympians and Olympians. This production is from award-winning Signdance Collective, an innovative international dance music theatre company lead by deaf and physically disabled dance theatre artists.

As part of their innovative work with local young people, emerging artists and established international artists, Signdance Collective will also be joined by Bucks -based paralympian, and medal winner (Beijing Olympic/Paralympic Games) Naomi Riches.

Signdance Collective will be bringing their latest collaboration New Gold to the Gateway Studio at Buckinghamshire New University, High Wycombe between 4.30-6.30pm on Tuesday 1 June; 3pm-5pm on Thursday 3 June; 3pm-5pm on Friday 4 June; and 3pm-5pm on Saturday 5 June, prior to an extensive UK and international tour later this year.

Paralympic Region

This largescale project is delivered by Buckinghamshire County Council and Museums, Libraries and Archives.  This is an exciting opportunity to become involved in one of the first projects to receive an Inspire Mark from London 2012

Driving Inspiration

Driving Inspiration is one of number of strands within the Accentuate project ‘Paralympic Region’, which aims to ensure that the South East’s role as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement is recognised by the world.   Driving Inspiration brings together Paralympians and disabled artists to work with young disabled and non-disabled people in schools. As well as celebrating the South East as the birthplace of the Paralympics, it aims to inspire young people, breakdown barriers to difference and provide opportunities for disabled artists. 

The projects with 10 schools across the South East (5 of which are in Buckinghamshire, and 5 across the rest of the South East), vary in length from 4 -10 days. The pilot work in 2009, consisting of 5, 2 day projects led to a 15 minute piece of music, a mass of artwork, 20 posters, (which will be going into tourist information centres across the SE for 2012), and some dances, all inspired by the Paralympics, ambitions and the wonderful artists leading the work.

We are interested in working with disabled artists from all artforms and will offer training/mentoring opportunities for those who are emerging disabled artists. There will an appointment of up to 10 artists, in addition to the project’s established artists, Rachel Gadsden, Caroline Cardus and Signdance Collective. There is a fee of £200 a day plus travel and materials.

Please see the Accentuate website for more details about how to apply.  The deadline for applications is Tuesday 8th June.

uScreen

uScreen is the innovative Accentuate project which is creating new web access for 14-25 year old aspiring film-makers.  Screen South are delivering uScreen.

uScreen is a cutting edge fully accessible website, which comprises three main accessibility tools which aims to provide young people aged 14-25 years across the South East the opportunities to share, learn and collaborate on film-making. The site which has taken 6 months to build will launch this Summer at a series of workshops and film festivals across the region.

Working with partners itfc (London based Audio Description/Caption), BBC Blast and BBC Regions we are offering young people a series of free workshops to learn about how to make film more accessible through audio description and stock frame animation with disabled animator Andy Gibbs, Magic Hour. “Buttermouth, directed by Andrew Gibbs, is a poetic and melancholy evocation of blindness” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

The workshops kick off on Saturday 24 July 2010 at uScreen @ Summerscreen Festival in Oxford, (24-25 July in Dover tbc) followed by 6 August with BBC Blast at K2 in Southampton and 22 October in Crawley.

Jo Nolan, Chief Executive Screen South

“Screen South is very excited and proud to launch this really exciting project which really raises the bar in terms of inclusivity. uScreen offers unrivalled accessible web tools  to support online learning as well as a programme of live events and festivals.

James O’ Hara, ****Managing Editor, itfc Audio Description

“uScreen’s audio description functionality is a unique step to giving users the power to create more inclusive, meaningful films for a wider audience. Finally! itfc are delighted to be supporting Screen South with the rollout of this brilliant site.”

Go Public

Go Public is an Accentuate project which is giving disabled artists a chance to produce new art works in public places across the South East.

This initiative is being delivered by Dada-South working with Artpoint and they have awarded three disabled artists £55,000 to take their work into the public realm.

Sarah Scott, Lorna Giezot, and Zoe Partington-Sollingerwere selected after a competitive commissioning process and 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 is hoping to use shopping centres to project viscerally-powerful audio and visual representations of journeys made through public spaces by disabled people.

Sarah Scott is aiming to explore the impact of outdoor yoga sessions on disabled participants. This will be captured on film and in conjunction with a disabled fine artist. 

Lorna Giezot’s work appears in collections including Tate Modern, but she has never before undertaken a large-scale work of public art for permanent outdoor display. She plans to make and install a door and doorway made from weatherproof transparent resin that will glow with light and feel warm to the touch.

Lorna said: “Doors represent a spectrum of emotions depending upon how they are presented. There are notions of prevention and ‘the unknown’ when closed, secrets and the forbidden when locked, but also of opportunity, adventure, possibilities and the future.”

She added: “The ability to look through the sculpture to see what is on the other side breaks down that fear of ‘the unknown’ that is associated with many metaphors, including disability and disabled people.”

“I want to create something that everyone can connect with and relate to.”

Stevie Rice, Director of Dada-South, said: “We are delighted that these exceptional artists have been selected. I have no doubt that the work will engage and challenge audiences’ perceptions and will give a much needed opportunity for disabled and Deaf artists to present their work in the public realm.” 

Kevin Wilson, Director of Artpoint, the public art agency for the South East, added: “Go Public has enabled Artpoint to further understand the needs of disabled artists in the South East. It continues to be a very rewarding process to support disabled artists in all stages of their development.”

 


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