WHAT’S CHANGED? 2013-16
Cutting Edge Design Ltd., Edward J Richards – August 2016 Photos of Tony Heaton, Manick Govinda and Jo Verrent on pages 1 and 3 by Rachel Cherry for Unlimited
Back in 2009 before the scheme yet to be called Unlimited was promoted to disabled artists, LOCOG recognised that applicants would benefit from informed support and guidance throughout the 2012 process. It was a great moment when Shape won the commission to provide that support. Following the success of 2012, and to build ambition, we were delighted to partner with Artsadmin and Jo Verrent to further deliver the Unlimited commissions programme – the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. We continue to learn from each other as we promote and celebrate the creative work of disabled artists. Tony Heaton, CEO, Shape Arts
Artsadmin is proud of its partnership with Shape Arts and Jo Verrent. Our long-standing commitment to developing and producing innovative, risk-taking work has been enriched through working with these talented artists who are pushing the boundaries of mainstream culture. The legacy that is developing in the sector through Unlimited’s Allies amplifies our vision for the arts to be a voice of change. It is amazing to see what we have all been able to achieve in collaboration. The possibilities are indeed unlimited. Manick Govinda, Head of Artists’ Advisory Services, Artsadmin
1960 – Dr Who, TV Classics Part 1, Cameron Morgan
5 In 2013, Shape Arts and Artsadmin were awarded funds from Arts Council England to deliver the Unlimited programme following the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. It has been an incredible opportunity – and responsibility – to take Unlimited forward, and keep it true to its values: creativity, ambition, quality, diversity and equality. The offer has been irresistible and we’ve attracted additional funding from Creative Scotland and Arts Council of Wales, funds from Spirit of 2012 for Unlimited Impact, and most recently, through Arts Council England’s Ambitions for Excellence, funds for Unlimited International by partnering with British Council. Our partners and Allies make Unlimited happen and the artists make it the success that it is. What’s Changed?’ gives you a snapshot of what that funding has delivered within the last three years. We’ve gathered a selection of quotes from articles, press releases, reports, blogs and interviews from the artists, Allies and funders we’ve worked with to show you how Unlimited harnessed the enthusiasm and energy of the UK cultural sector and supported 103 talented artists to achieve extraordinary art. So, what’s changed? Jo Verrent, Senior Producer, Unlimited
Backstage in Biscuit Land. Photo by Jonathan Birch
“
7
From the humble biscuit… Support from Unlimited made me feel valued as a disabled
artist. This wasn’t simply because they provided financial resources to help develop my ideas, but because I was nurtured by a community of disabled and non-disabled people in the process.
“
This gave me the confidence to extend my creative expression.
And at a time when hard won equalities are under intense pressure, supporting disabled people’s visibility within cultural life feels
particularly important. I strongly believe that art has the power to
bring about widespread social change; Unlimited is a great example of this process in motion. Jess Thom, Touretteshero
Touretteshero’s Backstage in Biscuit Land was given R&D funding in 2014, supported by Arts Council England. It is a flexible theatre
performance for small and medium venues that incorporates stand-up, storytelling, singing, swearing, games – and a lot of tics. It has been performed in 48 venues across the UK, including Battersea Arts Centre and DaDa Festival, as part of the lead up to Hull City of Culture 2017 and toured in the US and Canada. Later this year it goes to Melbourne. Over 9,000 people in the UK have seen the performance - and as a result of their success, they got a van (search ‘Tourettesmobile - The Ultimate Superhero Van, by Ebay’, it has been viewed over 5 million times.)
The Flickering Darkness (Revisited). Photo by Juan delGado
“
9
...to the flickering darkness Juan was keen to try something new in his approach
to Audio Description (AD). Although the work does not include dialogue, a lot of information is relayed through a soundscape. The main consideration was that language was objective and not interpretive. We included a separate track with Juan’s commentary
“
that was more poetic and included the artist’s interpretation…
We also translated the captions and AD into Spanish [the work is filmed in Columbia and Juan is Spanish]. As AD and captions are
not widely used there, we were excited about bringing these new elements to Spanish audiences. Çağlar Kimyoncu, from a blog for Unlimited Impact Juan delGado’s The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) was an
Unlimited commission in 2014, supported by Arts Council England.
The immersive multi-screen installation explores ideas about urban territory, displacement and economy. It had additional funding via Unlimited Impact to tour to Tyneside Cinema and LCB Depot in Leicester. Unlimited Impact supported Juan and his team to employ Çağlar Kimyoncu to review the installation’s access for disabled audiences.
Wendy Hoose. Photo by Eamonn McGoldrick
“
11
Crossing boundaries… Big laughs hit you from every direction: from the BSL
interpreter who takes a break to eat a Creme Egg at the same time as the actors; from the captions which come complete with cheery
“
emoticons, high-street logos and vulgar graphics; from the audio describer, a privately educated prude who keeps up a withering
commentary far beyond the requirements of her job; and, above all, from a cocky yet vulnerable James Young and a defiantly sexy Amy Conachan […] It makes a plea to look beyond physical appearances and job titles to see people as they truly are.
★★★★ Mark Fisher, Guardian Birds Of Paradise and Random Accomplice’s Wendy Hoose was
an Unlimited commission in 2014, supported by Creative Scotland.
In a frank and hilarious sex comedy, Jake and Laura search for love in all the wrong places. It was part of the Made in Scotland Showcase in 2014 and has been seen by 4015 people at performances in nine UK venues, including a run at Soho Theatre, London.
Leonie Bell, Creative Scotland
“
“
Unlimited is creating real change through artistic excellence, bringing real equality, valuable support and much needed diversity.
Photos by Aidan Moesby and Toby Smith
“
13
…and committing to change The festival has an active equality policy but wanted to
make a step change. We developed an idea of a two-way exchange: a specialist freelance programmer who would bring their expertise and in return we would offer the chance to deepen their experience. Unlimited’s support is crucial to the success of this initiative in a
“
number of ways: as a respected and knowledgeable sounding board
and source of advice and support; as a well-networked and effective
way of reaching potential candidates; as a match funder for the risky first stage of the initiative; and as a ‘badge’ to endorse what we are trying to do and give it credibility and profile in a sector which may know nothing about the festival. Helen Keall, Festival General Manager, Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival
With funding from Unlimited Impact, supported by Spirit of 2012, the Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival created a Disability
Associate position. They appointed Aidan Moesby, one of Unlimited’s commissioned artists in 2014, to bring a fresh perspective and critical eye to how the 2016 festival was programmed, communicated and delivered with a remit to subvert, contextualise, challenge and provoke.
The Dinner Party Revisited, Katherine Araniello
“
15
Let’s get digital…
“
The critical and popular response to The Dinner Party
Revisited at Southbank Centre confirmed Katherine as one of the most significant artists in the UK, whose work tests the limits of
performance and the possibilities of disability art in provocative and exciting ways. Lois Keidan, Live Art Development Agency
The Dinner Party Revisited is artist Katherine Araniello’s most audacious, ambitious and large-scale live work to date, combining improvised performance with live streaming technology, video and random interactions with audience members. Katherine was inspired by Dinner for One, a comedy sketch made for TV in 1963, and used this as a template in which she could subvert and exploit clichés surrounding disability. Katherine Araniello’s The Dinner Party Revisited was an Unlimited commission in 2014, supported by Arts Council England. The work premiered at Southbank Centre Unlimited Festival 2014. A book of photographs, creative responses, first-hand accounts from performers and critical essays on Katherine’s work by contributors Lois Keidan, Marcia Farquhar and Aaron Williamson was published in 2015.
Singing in the Rain. Photo by Sean Goldthorpe for People Dancing commission
“
17
...counting the reasons
“
The exhibition showed ‘incredible vision’ and conveys
an important message for choreographers, programmers and dance professionals everywhere. By placing disabled people centre stage and showing what a body can do when they are allowed to inhabit these spaces, they ask ‘why more disabled people are not seen on the stage and screen?’ Caroline Bowditch, artist and trustee of People Dancing Inspired by iconic dance movements in film, each image was re-imagined with a cast of professional and non-professional
disabled dancers. The project took place in 12 indoor and outdoor locations with 21 separate shoots and over 160 people involved. Sean Goldthorpe’s 11 Million Reasons (produced by People Dancing) was funded through Unlimited Impact, supported by Spirit of 2012. It went on to be presented as part of Bounce Festival 2015 in Belfast and toured to, among other locations, Nottingham, Southampton, Plymouth and Valencia (Spain), with over 14,500 people seeing it at the Curve in Leicester alone.
The Doorways Project. Photo by Bekki Perriman
“
19
Living in doorways… The stories are really challenging to listen to, and some of
them do make you feel uncomfortable, but that doesn’t mean they
“
shouldn’t be heard. The situation for homeless people is so messy and so hard to get your head around – there are so many layers of
complexity… I want to humanise the experience of homelessness. The stories are about friendship, or loss, a sense of belonging, or of being invisible, fear or anger − emotions that we can all identify with, even if our circumstances are different. Bekki Perriman, quoted from an interview in Apollo Magazine
Bekki Perriman’s The Doorways Project was an Unlimited commission in 2015, supported by Arts Council England. A site-specific sound installation, it explores homeless culture through the personal stories of society’s most silenced people. It was first shown at Summerhall as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015 and has toured to Brighton Festival, and FACT and Metal in Liverpool.
Janice Parker, Artistic Director, Janice Parker Projects
“
“
I don’t think Unlimited is done… There’s a lot of catching up to do, not by the artists, but by the rest of the world in giving them the opportunity to develop their practice.
Cosy. Photo by Farrows Creative
“
21
...and getting cosy with old age When the lights go up at the end of Kaite O’Reilly’s Cosy,
you might find that you have to pick yourself up off the floor This play fights you and your natural urge to ignore the inevitable; it provokes and can reduce you to tears like any
“
and put an ice pack on your face for the clobber it gives you.
great fighter […] This production stirs and questions our ideals of life and death in a beautiful and sensitive manner. It will make your heart pump and your belly shake. A thoughtprovoking night that is not to be missed. Denis Lennon, Art Scene in Wales Kaite O’Reilly’s Cosy was an Unlimited commission in 2015, supported by Arts Council of Wales. The performance is a darkly
comic look at three generations of women as they share the joys and humiliations of getting older. It premiered at Wales Millennium Centre in Spring 2016 and received four star reviews from The Stage, Wales Online, The Arts Desk and British Theatre Guide.
“
“
The impact across the cultural sector in the UK will be significant in supporting creative professionals to celebrate their diversity. Amanda Loosemore, Arts Council Wales
I am Joan. Photo by Barney Witts
“
23
Collaborative touring What Unlimited Impact does is demystify the idea that
access is a very niche, expensive, difficult thing to achieve. Actually
“
it’s giving people the confidence to be like ‘I can make really small
changes and actually have a really accessible, open environment in my festival’. We need to be trailblazers in taking work that’s made by everyone to these communities. That’s what the Collaborative
Touring Network is about and that’s what Unlimited Impact want to achieve as well. Rosie Scuddon, Collaborative Touring Network Project Manager, BAC
Unlimited Impact partnered with Battersea Arts Centre’s Collaborative
Touring Network, a cohort of regional UK arts festivals, to support access improvements for regional audiences. With funding from Spirit of 2012, Unlimited Impact supported: performances, training for producers; mentoring for Hugh Malyon by Doorstep Arts; Strike A Light Festival in Gloucester to run an Arts and Mental Health Day, which has now become
“
an annual event and support Viv Gordon in I am Joan.
Oliver Williams, Spirit of 2012
“
The team have very helpfully changed our thinking and definitions – working with them has moved us over to adopt the social model of disability.
British Council delegates, Southbank Centre Unlimited Festival 2014. Photo by Rachel Cherry
“
Become an Unlimited Ally
“
Opportunities
25
Wearing the Unlimited badge on our festival programme
felt like a really active, positive, public statement. We are proud to be part of the movement. Laura McDermott, Director, Fierce Festival
(now Creative Director at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton)
Allies are arts organisations and venues looking to take action to include disabled people in everything they do. This could be making your venue and communications more accessible, commissioning new work by disabled artists, hosting an inclusive professional development opportunity, or devising your own initiatives. Allies span scale and art form, across the UK and internationally. Contact us to find out more (details on page 28).
213 Things About Me, Richard Butchins. Still from film
“
Artist Commissions
“
Opportunities
27
We are witnessing a real step-change since the launch of
Unlimited in 2012. Our artists are helping to define the international disability agenda and quite literally changing lives. Neil Webb, Director Theatre and Dance, British Council In March 2017 Unlimited will award a number of commissions
to develop, produce and show ambitious projects by outstanding disabled artists and companies across all art forms. There are three strands of commissions: Main (Commissions and Research
& Development Awards), International Commissions and Emerging Artist Commissions. Comprehensive briefs, guidelines, FAQs and application forms are available at weareunlimited.org.uk and the application portal opens on 3 October 2016. Deadline for Expressions of Interest is 7 November 2016.
“
“
Works supported by Unlimited are widely recognised as intelligent, provocative and exciting. Morwenna Collett and Tandi Williams, Making a Difference? Report
Assisted Suicide: The Musical. Photo by Manuel Vason
About Unlimited
29
The Unlimited commissions programme aims to embed work by disabled artists within the cultural sector, reach new audiences and shift perceptions of disabled people. Unlimited is delivered by Shape Arts and Artsadmin. It is a strategic investment programme for diversity created by Arts Council England, funded by the National Lottery. Additional support is from Arts Council of Wales, Creative Scotland, Spirit of 2012 (for Unlimited Impact) and the British Council. The work of many Unlimited commissioned artists feature in Southbank Centre Unlimited Festival, London (2014 and 2016) and Tramway Unlimited Festival, Glasgow (2016).
Joyce Wilson, Arts Council England
“
“
Unlimited is encouraging risk-taking in a sector that had previously not felt that it could.
30
Unlimited’s team 2013-2016 At Shape: Emily Crowe, Sara Dzidak, Jhnink Sarker, Fiona Slater, Isabella Tulloch At Artsadmin: Clara Giraud, Rosie Holden, Oliver Longhurst, Simon Overington-Hickford, Selma Willcocks Plus Jo Verrent and all the other staff at both Shape and Artsadmin who work so hard to support the programme. And thanks to our panelists: Ruth Gould (Chair) and Tamsin Ace, Chenine Bhathena, Sara Beer, Caroline Bowditch, Cathy Mager, Wendy Martin, Carole McFadden, Tim Nunn, Sarah Pickthall, Marc Steene, Aaron Williamson and representatives from Unlimited, Shape, Artsadmin, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales and Spirit of 2012.
Get in touch
info@weareunlimited.org.uk
/weareunltd
weareunlimited.org.uk
@weareunltd
unlimitedimpact.org.uk
/unlimitedonfilm
Delivered by
“
“
Work doesn’t just spring from nowhere, it needs
to be nurtured and it needs time to grow and develop
so that artists, programmers, producers and audiences believe in the validity of it. Lyn Gardner, The Guardian
UNLIMITED AWARDS
Dancer Ian Johnston Theatre
Craig Simpson
Fragmenting the Code(x) Aidan Moesby and Pum Dunbar Visual Arts Edmund the Learned Pig Fittings Multimedia Arts Theatre
2014
The Way You Look (at Me) Tonight Claire Cunningham Dance
Solar Bear
No Strings Attached
Jason Eade
Let Me Stay Vital Xposure Theatre
Chloe Phillips
The Flickering Darkness (Revisited) Juan delGado Visual Arts
DaDa Fest Young Writers Group
Where’s My Nana? Kazzum Theatre
Nye Russell-Thompson
Unstrapped Louise Coleman Combined Arts
John R. Wilkinson
The Doorways Project Bekki Perriman Sound Installation Brain Pete Edwards Combined Arts
England
Wales
“To open the eternal worlds, to open the immortal eyes” Blake Lea Cummings Visual Arts
Representing some of the emerging creatives supported by Unlimited Impact Kim Simpson
A Fall from the Icarus Line Nicola Hunter (formerly Canavan) Visual Arts
213 Things About Me Richard Butchins Visual Arts
Ted Shiress
2015
2015
Commissioned
Pioneer[03] Maki Yamazaki Digital
TV Classics (Part 1) Cameron Morgan Visual Arts
Tom Wentworth
Research & Development 2014
Scotland
Exhaustion Simon Fildes Visual Arts
Cosy Kaite O’Reilly Theatre
KEY Commissions
Wendy Hoose Birds of Paradise & Random Accomplice Theatre
Richard Newnham
Seasons 4.0 Sonia Allori Music
Sean Goldthorpe
Exposure Jo Bannon Theatre Otherwise Unchanged Owen Lowery Literature
Lara Dajao
Ring the Changes+ Chisato Minamimura Dance
Flight Paths Extant Upswing and Yellow Earth Combined Arts
The Drawing Rooms Ailís Ní Ríain Combined Arts
Hayley Davies
The Dinner Party Revisited Katherine Araniello Visual Arts
Adjustment by Degrees (Dis-Oriented) Aaron Williamson Visual Arts
Madlove the vacuum cleaner Combined Arts
The Deaf and Hearing Ensemble
The Doorways Project Bekki Perriman Sound Installation
Demonstrating the World Aaron Williamson Visual Arts
Grandad & The Machine Jack Dean Literature
Doorstep Arts
Cherophobia Noëmi Lakmaier Visual Arts Cherophobia Noëmi Lakmaier Visual Arts
Assisted Suicide: The Musical Liz Carr Theatre
Him Shelia Hill Theatre
Drake Music
Backstage in Biscuit Land Touretteshero Theatre
Not Dead Sheila Hill Theatre Diverse City
Jo Bannon, Exposure. Photo by Manuel Vason
UNLIMITED AWARDS
UNLIMITED IN NUMBERS
1,797
317 Allies
0 0 ,0
performances, exhibitions, screenings, events
0 9 £4
g n i r o t n e M g in
Showcas
Access
seen by 132,059 people
£932,000
S T U D I O
Commissions and R&D awards
Training
Scotland 46.1%
(Thanks to Edinburgh Festival Fringe)
72
North 18.6% audiences across regions/nations
10,113 Midlands 16.6%
YouTube views Monthly readership of
1,433
BLOG
Wales 1.4%
South East 4.0%
Young and emerging artists
23
South West 2.1% London 11.2%
14,893,782 ‘opportunities to see’ Unlimited’s activities in the media
(print, online, TV and radio)
Impact Funded Projects
131,091
unique visitors
LIFE FORCE ALTAR/ER, Lea Cummings
UNLIMITED IN NUMBERS