We would like to make it clear that there is no one right answer, or one right way, to work in an inclusive, artistic environment. Facilitators, dance teachers and youth workers must use their own experience and intuition to decide which path is best for the group of people they have in front of them. This can change depending on so many factors that it is impossible to be given a rule book. These activity sheets are a collection of ideas and examples of what has worked in different situations and circumstances in the past to illustrate possible answers to the questions.
Proposed by:
Collective from group discussion
Main points:
- Challenges can be seen as opportunities! Funding, assistants, pricing, working with an inclusive group can evoke deep emotions, positive as well as negative. We have enough passion to find solutions to these issues – we are dedicated to changing the world, one performance at a time. We are activists.
- Everybody has a history with disability, it’s not only for our groups, but also for the wider outside world.
- Sometimes the language is different. The participants are the subjects, not the objects of the artistic process. We are creating a new culture and pushing these boundaries and limits.
- With this way of working, you never know what’s going to happen, which path it will take and what the end product will be – it is an organic process.
- We are doing something inclusive in a non-inclusive society, our constant challenge is to fight against these stereotypes.
- Dance technique/ambition is also important in inclusive art – improvisation isn’t the only way to work, we should also be able to use more traditional forms of dance and art techniques.
- We fight to bring our inclusive art to places where people would usually go to experience art – at a national and/or international level for instance.
- It would be nice to be able to stop talking about ‘inclusion’ and just understand that all art practices are automatically inclusive.
- To be a part of the educational field because youngsters are the future and will be the ones leading the way and setting the example in the future.
- For everyone to be able to be artists and participants. Erasmus plus gives us the opportunity to be able to develop these tools and connections across countries, cultures, and other differences.
- Everyone takes this moment with them and keeps it forever.
Hints/tips for facilitators:
Make sure that the ‘accessible’ rooms and transport options you book for your participants are, in fact, accessible to all their needs (no steps inside rooms or before lifts, is the lift big enough, can wheelchairs be folded etc.).
Use this checklist to be sure and to avoid disappointments. Check_list_accessibility_venue.docx – Google Docs
Pictures/Links:
