Our Creative Lab brings together selected international experts from the inclusive cultural sector with cultural practitioners from the performing arts in Germany.
INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, 15.10.2024, 2:30 pm until Friday, 18.10.2024, 1:00 pm
Location: Akademie der Kulturellen Bildung (Academy of Cultural Education), 42857 Remscheid
Target group: Artists and cultural workers from theatre and dance venues and the independent scene who already have basic knowledge and/or their own experience in the areas of access and accessibility.
Number of participants: max. 25 – 30 participants
Speakers:
- Nickie Miles-Wildin, theatre and audio director, filmmaker and workshop leader. Co-director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, former Artistic Co-director of DaDaFest
- Access All Areas / Helen Bryer, Director of Take Part and Train and Adam Smith, Associate Director of Take Part and Train
- Extant / Maria Oshodi, Artistic Director and Ben Wilson, Trainee Artistic Director
- Deafinitely Theatre / Paula Garfield, Founder and Artistic Director
ATTENTION: Unfortunately the program of Paula Garfield has to be canceled. Workshop B will take place on both days as a replacement (see below)
AESTHETICS OF ACCESS IN PRACTICE
For all those who (want to) work artistically with Aesthetics of Access in practice, this creative lab will be an absolute highlight!
Renowned artists from outstanding disabled-led theatre companies from Great Britain will provide deep insights into the aesthetics of their productions and their working methods and approaches.
Dive into theatre productions by, with, and for visually impaired people with Maria Oshodi and Ben Wilson from Extant. Helen Bryer and Adam Smith from Access All Areas introduce you to co-directing and co-moderating with learning disabled, autistic and non-disabled directors. Director Nickie Miles-Wildin shares with you her years of experience with artistic productions with mixed-abled teams and different disability perspectives. All speakers will also be available as coaches to answer your questions about the conception of your own productions. The choice is yours!
The Academy of Cultural Education in Remscheid, located in the middle of nature, has very beautiful, spacious, barrier-free event rooms in which your collective creativity can fully unfold from a wide variety of perspectives in exchange with international speakers and colleagues.
LANGUAGE: The creative lab takes place in easily understandable English spoken language.
Simultaneous interpreting into German spoken language is available during the entire creative lab if required, see “Accessibility”.
ACCOMMODATION:
Single or double room with shower, full board
ACCESSIBILITY:
All meeting rooms are accessible. The academy has a limited number of single and double rooms with varying degrees of accessibility – please be sure to specify your exact accessibility needs when registering.
We will provide the following assistance if needed, please be sure to indicate your requirements when registering:
- Professional simultaneous interpretation English spoken language – German spoken language
- Professional simultaneous interpretation German spoken language – German sign language (DGS)
- Peer to peer audio description
- Work assistance or mobility assistance on site
- Assistance dogs are welcome
CONTRIBUTION TO COSTS according to self-assessment
Category 1: 210 € + advance booking (e.g., students, freelance artists)
Category 2: 250 € + advance booking (e.g., employees of independent ensembles)
Category 3: 290 € + advance booking (e.g., employees of large cultural institutions)
Participation of personal assistance is free of charge.
For questions and further information contact:
Charlott Dahmen (she/her)
E-mail: charlott@un-label.eu
Phone: +49 221 5501544
More information on our Creative Labs
PROGRAM
TUESDAY
Seminar times: 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Aesthetics of Access in Practice – An Introduction / Nickie Miles-Wildin
Nickie will guide you through her diverse portfolio, which ranges from works for young audiences and solo shows to a West End musical. She will emphasise the importance of creative access and disabled narratives in the theatre context.
Introduction to the Work of Access All Areas / Helen Bryer and Adam Smith
Access All Areas produces award-winning performances by and with learning disabled and autistic artists. They are known for their innovative productions that create intimate moments of interaction between performers and audiences in unexpected places such as streets, online platforms, and public buildings.
Wednesday
Seminar times: 9:30 am – 12:45 pm / 3pm – 6:15 pm / 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Two parallel, full-day workshops – participants may choose one of the two workshops.
Workshop A:
Co-directing and co-facilitating with learning disabled and autistic artists / Access All Areas / Helen Bryer and Adam Smith
This workshop will explore Access All Areas’ co-creation methodologies and look at the working relationships between learning disabled, autistic and non-disabled directors. Together with you, Helen and Adam will interrogate the idea of what it takes to be a director and carry out practical exercises to find creative ways of collaboration.
Workshop B:
Demystifying Access / Nickie Miles-Wildin
Nickie will take you on a journey to create work by, for, and with disabled artists and audiences from the initial conception to production, Nickie will share her tools for turning access barriers into creative opportunities for all. Be prepared to play, be challenged, and develop your practice.
Evening Program
Introduction to the Work of Deafinitely Theatre / Paula Garfield
Deafinitely Theatre was founded in 2002 by Paula Garfield and is the first professional theatre company founded and run by Deaf artists in the UK, producing award-winning bilingual theatre in British Sign Language and English spoken language.
Introduction to the Work of Extant / Maria Oshodi and Benjamin Wilson
As the UK’s leading performing arts company created by visually impaired artists and theatre makers, Extant produces work for national and international tours. Founded in 1997, the artistic director and CEO of the company is Maria Oshodi.
Thursday
Seminar times: 9:30 am – 12:45 pm / 3:00 pm – 6:15 pm
Two parallel, full-day workshops – participants may choose one of the two workshops.
Workshop C:
How Do I Tell My Story in Creatively Satisfying and Innovative Way That Are Accessible to Visually Impaired Audiences? / Extant / Maria Oshodi and Ben Wilson
Dive into the multi-faceted world of making theatre with Extant, created by, with, and for visually impaired people. Discover exciting, innovative, and creatively satisfying storytelling in ways that are accessible to blind and visually impaired audiences. Together, Maria and Ben will explore with you how to rehearse, make shows, and collaborate with visually impaired colleagues in a way that empowers them and enriches the work of all. A critical look is also taken at the representation of blindness, from authentic to ableist representation.
Workshop D:
Authentic Deaf Theatre – How to Create Deaf-led Productions Accessible for All / Deafinitely Theatre / Paula Garfield
Replacement program: Workshop B:
Demystifying Access / Nickie Miles-Wildin
Nickie will take you on a journey to create work by, for, and with disabled artists and audiences from the initial conception to production, Nickie will share her tools for turning access barriers into creative opportunities for all. Be prepared to play, be challenged, and develop your practice.
Friday
Seminar time: 9:30 am – 1:00 pm
Presentation of the Results from all Workshops
Together with the respective speakers, participants of the workshops will present their respective work results and main findings.
Question & Answers
The concluding part of the creative lab offers plenty of space for participants to ask questions to all the speakers and for exchange and networking.
SPEAKERS
Access All Areas – Helen Bryer and Adam Smith
Access All Areas produces award-winning performances by learning disabled and autistic artists. Their work breaks down barriers and transforms the thinking about theatre. Learning disabled and autistic voices lead the way in every part of the company, telling their own stories and guiding others to become more inclusive.
Access All Areas engages communities and trains artists of the future through the Performance Making Diploma at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and through their own Transforming Leadership project. They work closely with film, TV, and theatre companies to make their work and processes more accessible.
They challenge exclusion at every level of our culture, whether that’s by Access Coordinating TV and film productions, training other Access Coordinators through the Screenskills HETV Skills Fund, or defining best practice in the industry as partners of the TV Access Project (TAP).
The work of Access All Areas has been described as follows: “A riotous upending of audiences’ preconceptions of disability and neurodivergence” (The Guardian on “Not F**kin’ Sorry”), “Leading the way for diversity in the arts” (Evening Standard), and “An immense achievement, a revelatory watch” (The Telegraph on “Imposter 22”).
The workshop will be led by Director of Take Part and Train, Helen Bryer, alongside with Adam Smith, Associate Director of Take Part and Train.
Extant – Maria Oshodi and Benjamin Wilson
Extant is the UK’s leading performing arts company exploring visual impairment to create unique and innovative artistic experiences and placing visually impaired people at the centre of everything they do: from the productions Extant creates, to the artists they support to build stronger careers, to the audiences they perform for and the participants they work with.
Since its foundation in 1997, Extant, under the leadership artists with visual impairments, Extant has produced eight ground-breaking national and international theatre tours including pioneering designs for three site-specific and multi-sensory productions. It has also supported eleven productions by associate visually impaired artists.
Maria Oshodi is a writer, consultant, founder, Artistic Director and the CEO of Extant. She is currently undertaking a PhD based on Extant’s 25+ years of work and developing an independent project, “A Trail of 2 Cities”, a reflection on London and Los Angeles by two blind African heritage artists.
In 2010, she was recognized as one of the 50 Women to Watch by the Cultural Leadership Programme.
She has appeared consecutively in the Disability Power 100 list, which was first published in 2015. In 2018, Maria Oshodi was nominated for a WOW (Women of the World) Creative Industries Award in the Bold Moves category.
Benjamin Wilson is a blind actor, director and audio description consultant. He spent five years as the Ramps on the Moon Agent for Change at Sheffield Theatres and is now Trainee Artistic Director at Extant.
Nickie Miles-Wildin
Nickie Miles-Wildin is a theatre and audio director, filmmaker, and workshop leader. An award-winning theatre maker, she is passionate about all forms of Aesthetics of Access and plays that address prejudice against disabled people.
She is currently Associate Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Prior to this she was Co-Artistic Director/CEO of DaDaFest and Associate Director of the world-renowned theatre company Graeae. Both organisations are run by Deaf and disabled arts professionals and have been campaigning for equity in culture since 1981. Nickie is also co-founder of TwoCan Theatre in Gloucestershire. Her recent theatre productions include The Little Big Things (Dramaturg and Associate Director) at @SohoPlace in London’s West End, Director for Little Bits Of Ruined Beauty, Leave The Light On For Me; her work for radio includes Love Across The Ages
The speakers from left to right: Helen Bryer, Adam Smith, Maria Oshodi, Benjamin Wilson, Nickie Miles-Wildin
