But that concept is being turned joyfully on its head via a heart-shaped door, a “tunnel of love”, mirrors, multi-media installations and a healthy dose of cheeky humour on London’s Southbank this summer.
Wayne, Heart n Soul’s Tunnel of Love
The theme of love, as perceived by artists with learning disabilities, is explored in arts organisation Heart n Soul’s latest venture at the Southbank Centre.
I’ve blogged and written articles before about the arts charity’s collaborative, awareness-raising, thought-provoking and frankly bloody good fun events and projects. Its latest move, Tunnel of Love, part of the Southbank’s Festival of Love, gives a conceptual nod and a wink to the fairgrounds of yesteryear – and it is more of the inclusive, stereotype-shattering same stuff that the arts outfit has a reputation for.
According to the London-based organisation, Tunnel of Love “raises a rare opportunity to consider a notion that seems to put society back in the 60’s once again: our attitudes to how people with learning disabilities conduct personal relationships and develop sexual behaviour”.
The Fish Police perform at a recent gig
On Wednesdays until the end of August, Tunnel of Love will also feature live performance from a host of Heart n Soul artists, there are sessions from the likes of artists like singer Tilley Hughes (pictured) and the project includes the chance to catch three-piece band The Fish Police (pictured). For full information, check the Heart n Soul website.
The festival and related events run until the end of August and the charity’s annual club night multi-media extravaganza, the Beautiful Octopus Club will be back at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 6 September for the sixth year running.
Lisa Johnson of the writing group Story Balloons (pic: Jonathan Raimondi).
Lisa Johnson is a writer. The 30-year-old from Sheffield recently had a book published, a collection of poems, songs and stories put together with fellow authors from her writing collective. Today she will take part in a workshop in her home city, explaining the creative process and encouraging others to write.
She says of Story Balloons, her weekly writing group: “It is something I look forward to.” Uptown Boy, her poem about love, she adds, makes her feel “very happy”. “I always wanted to write,’ she says, adding that writing has changed her: “I feel more confident, proud of what I’ve achieved.”
Story Balloons helps counter stereotypes and improve confidence, and has led to a published book – read more in my piece in the Guardian
This year’s campaign week celebrates people overcoming adversity, prejudice and ignorance and it’s a welcome moment to focus on the positive amid the social and political inequity faced by people with learning disabilities (you can follow events and issues on Twitter using the hashtag #LDWeek14).
So today’s post is linked to something I’ve blogged here before, in a piece on a thought-provoking arts project run by the charity Creative Minds. There is growing – although unfortunately as yet not mainstream – debate about “learning disability arts”, and the quality of work being produced by people with learning disabilities.
Obvious bias and sibling pride aside, so many friends and family have been genuinely surprised and impressed – and no, not in a patronising way – when I’ve revealed the creation they’re admiring has been crafted by my sister. Seriously – why would I hang crap on my walls (unless from an elephant and painted by Chris Ofili)?
She may not be a conversationalist or a writer, but pictures speak a thousand words and what she’s made is bold and beautiful. That said, Raana still produces her signature lozenge-shaped bullet cars and blobby, squat people (the hair is always spiky – a hangover from her boyband-loving days…these pieces are most definitely not on my walls), but here’s a taster of why I love what she does:
Secondly, while thinking about an art-related post, I came across some powerful pieces of work produced by members of Outside In. Based at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, the project is a platform for artists “who find it difficult to access the art world either because of mental health issues, disability, health, social circumstance or because their work does not conform to what is normally consider as art”.
The pieces here are by artists who happen to have learning disabilities.
Aeroplanes & Spades, by Manuel BonifacioMusicians, by Michelle RobertsHippo, by Neville JermynHarry Potter Books, by Josie Goddard
The works should trigger some questions about “outsider art” and the gap between the treatment of and attitudes towards people who have learning disabilities and those who do not. What the Outside In project calls “the idea of there being an ‘us’ and ‘them’”. As one of the project’s award-winning artists, Carlo Keshishian, believes that “Outside In can function as a mouthpiece to project the voices of quieter people.”
That’s what we need – more people listening to and acting on the wishes of those whose voices (and by voice I mean profile, choice, representation, status) are not as loud as those in the “mainstream”.
And finally, take another look at the photographs of the artwork on this page. Ask yourself this, if you didn’t know, how many of the pieces would you genuinely have thought were produced by people with learning disabilities?
* I can’t end this post without signposting you to the colourful creations here by “industrious artist” Connor Sparrowhawk, aka LB, currently being sold in postcard and print form to raise funds for legal representation at the inquest. Connor died in a specialist NHS unit last year and the #JusticeforLB campaign is pushing for answers about his death and raising awareness about learning disability – this letter signed by more than 500 people, explains the issues and necessary action. Colour, Connor Sparrowhawk
A young participant contributes to collaborative art project the Kingswood Draw
Making art as well as historic buildings more accessible is something I’ve blogged about before, so I wanted to share these images (all by photographer Martin Brown) from a collaborative event which encouraged people to get creative in a London landmark.
The Kingswood Draw, part of the International Collaborative Drawing Project, brought together people of all ages from south London over Easter. The international project is described by artist organiser Ivan Liotchev as “an internationally travelling project that invites people from diverse communities to create large drawings together.”
The day at Grade II listed mansion Kingswood House in Dulwich featured giant drawings, an interactive light and film installation, knitting and edible art. More than 400 participants aged from two right up to 87 took part in 22 different workshops. More images of the event, which was produced by Emergency Exit Arts for Southwark council, are here:
A close up of a collaborative drawing Mother and daughter draw together New work on drawing begins while a finished canvas hangs in the background Finger knitting Creating edible art Finger knitting A finished piece of art in the background, while work begins on a fresh canvas
Photographer-led workshop, part of the Meet me at the Albany project
One in six of us – that’s 10 million people in the UK – are over 65 years old. By 2050, this number will have nearly doubled to around 19 million, or one in four, according to government figures.
In a recent Age UK survey, more 77% of respondents said they are looking forward to living longer but 91% said something needs to be done to help us all lead a better later life. The survey of 1,480 adults also suggested that most of us (83% of those questioned) believe negative perceptions of later life must change.
The onus is largely on health and social care organisations – hospitals and care homes – to improve the treatment of older people (not least as cuts decimate support for the most vulnerable). But communities themselves and some innovative local projects are also doing much to tackle social isolation and change attitudes.
One unusual scheme in London is doing just that. I know the Albany arts centre in south east London through the work of the fantastic charity Heart n Soul, one of almost 30 groups that use the venue as a base (read more about Heart n Soul in this previous post).
The centre is now hosting a creative day club for the over 60s – the kind of stereotype-smashing thing that sticks two knitting needles up at anyone who dares assume day care for older people is about flower arranging and endless cups of tea.
Proving that older people can be just as innovative, artistically edgy and downright clown-like as their younger counterparts, the Meet me at the Albany project involves everything from circus skill tasters, to neo soul music performances and spoken word sessions with “poet from the pub” Simon Mole and fellow leading wordsmith Malika Booker.
The image above is from a recent workshop with photographer Manuel Vason, an artist who sees his practice as a constant battle against the impossibility of reaching ‘presence’. Think cutting edge rather than Kodak moment.
The project is produced by the Albany and participatory arts company Entelechy Arts, which has worked for more than two decades with people in care, younger people and those with learning difficulties and complex disabilities. It is also a direct response to the issue of loneliness among our ageing population and has been created with the support of Lewisham council’s adult social care staff “to ensure the effective dovetailing of the programme with targeted provision for those with greatest need”.
As well as creative workshops and performances from established artists, participants can have a home cooked hot meal and drinks. Sessions take place every Tuesday at a cost of £6 (all materials are included in the price and there is no charge for personal assistants and carers). The scheme is targeted – rather wonderfully I thought – at “anyone over 60 who’d like another place to call home”.
At 80, Velda is the sole carer for her husband Henderson who recently had a severe stroke. She is fully signed up to the Albany ethos: “[It’s]…good to leave your home, to get away from your four walls and come together, use your imagination and do things that are worthwhile rather than just housework. I enjoy making new friends – people you never knew before. [My husband has]… known me for 51 years and he never knew I could draw.”
Just last week Age UK launched its Love later life campaign encouraging people to think differently about getting older, and demonstrate that older people have a valued role in society (see clip below).
The campaign urges us all to think that it’s never too late to try something new. Down at the Albany, Velda and her peers are ahead of the game.
“Ageing is not an illness”: Age UK’s new television advert
Research from Goldsmiths University recently suggested that wealthier people are more musical. While it’s obvious that higher income families find it easier to stump for private piano lessons and expensive instruments, music has a place in boosting inclusion and there are some great community-based projects that not only make music more accessible, but aim for social impact in the process.
Take the Sage Gateshead, which is halfway through a four-year cultural exchange scheme with a Brazilian government programme called Santa Marcelina Cultura (Santa Marcelina Cultura manages São Paulo state government’s music education and cultural inclusion project – Projeto Guri). The project aims to improve arts education and boost social inclusion in both Sao Paulo and the North East.
The scheme is funded by the British Council’s transform arts and creativity programme. The Sage’s musicians and teachers have travelled to Sao Paulo to find out how music, learning and social inclusion are combined in Brazil, while a Brazilian team came to the North East last year. Below, two participants – one from each country – explain the benefits of their innovative musical scheme:
Kat Davidson from the Sage Gateshead Kathryn Davidson, 29, from Fenham, Newcastle, folk strand leader, learning and participation, Sage Gateshead “We’re about to enter the second leg of the second year of the project. Each visit is around two weeks long and involves observing practice, learning from each other, sharing ideas around social pedagogy and music education, and teaching. The two weeks are incredibly intense and informative.
For me, the first leg in 2012 was about getting to know Guri and what they do and weighing that up next to what we do. There are many differences but also many similarities in our own teaching styles but there is always the underlying theme that everyone deserves high quality music education. I was very proud when the Guri team came to Gateshead, I was proud to ‘show off’ the Learning and Participation department. The second trip to Sao Paulo was where I really began to understand my role and understand how the music that I teach and that I love is relevant.
We had a ceilidh for over 200 Guri young people and in the run up, the Guri staff reflected that they don’t use much, if any, Brazilian folk music. Much of it disappeared when the Portuguese invaded, and the post Portuguese music is often full of religion. What some people said is that seeing how British folk music can be used to teach rhythm, pulse, work in choirs, to teach intervals, to be a story for no other reason than to sing a good story, will make them investigate further their own traditions.
The ceilidh was my most favourite moment of both my times in Sao Paulo. My Brazilian colleague Paulo and I co-led this ceilidh even though he has never ‘called’ ceilidh dancing before and I speak minimal Portuguese! We had a ceilidh band made up of Sage Gateshead musicians and we had guest spots from some of the youth groups that we’d been working with… a wind band of young Brazilian musicians on saxophone and horns playing traditional Northumbrian music. Over a cold beer afterwards we all reflected that our own traditions are so close that they are normal, they’re ordinary. Placing the ordinary in an extraordinary context allows it to be fresh again.
The main challenges are in the circumstances that the young people who come to Guri live in. The Guri social team, who are absolutely outstanding, work with each and every young person to enable them to get the best from their learning, to fully engage with the programme. Sometimes that means holding their place for them for a few weeks whilst they have time to deal with the outside world. Sometimes it can take the social team visiting their home and working with their family, and sometimes it can be as simple as making sure they’ve had a good meal in their stomachs so that they can concentrate.
Often these young people will travel three hours to Saturday rehearsals, their transport is paid for and they receive meals and snacks to sustain them. Sao Paulo is a wonderful city but like all cities it is full of contrast, of huge wealth and incomprehensible poverty.
My own personal learning was huge, from trusting the music that I am passionate about to my confidence in my own teaching. Lots of the wider learning is still on-going, ‘what is a democratic music education?’ has become the research question. Both Sage Gateshead and Guri Santa Marcelina promote social inclusion and help people from different background to mix. How many Brazilian teenagers get the chance to work with a group of musicians from the North of England?
How many teenagers from Gateshead get the chance to work with musicians from Brazil? But it’s more than social inclusion, it’s about the promotion of social mobility and the belief that if you seize the opportunities offered to you, and you work hard, then there is no reason that you can’t succeed. If we can instill that within music education, be that in the formal classroom or in an out of school club, then that learning stays with the young person and seeps in to their self belief in English or Maths and they believe that if they set their mind to it and work hard they can accomplish anything.”
Daniele De AlmeidaSanta Marcelina student – Daniele de Almeida, 17
“I am currently enrolled as a music student at Guri Santa Marcelina (GuriSM) education programme and member of GuriSM Youth Choir, an auditioned choir in the institution. The Sage Gateshead team was invited to work with GuriSM Youth Choir in October last year.
The exchange project between GuriSM and Sage Gateshead is focused on “what is a democratic and inclusive music education?” and also involves many diverse activities like workshops, seminars and performances. A real highlight for me was when we held and took part in a Ceilidh dance. There were so many people and so many English tunes. I really felt as if I was over here in a traditional English Ceilidh.
During the exchange I have found the most challenging moments the discussions around democratic and inclusive music education, particularly around the questions of what it is and how to promote it? It is a very emotive subject and you can explore it very deeply. It was also the first times students had participated in discussions about education in Guri Santa Marcelina. The size of both projects (Guri Santa Marcelina and Sage Gateshead) means the subject and the work that goes on is much more complex than I thought. However, this complexity drives both institutions to look for solutions and not give up.
Projects like this foster the contact among people of different backgrounds. With such contact I believe the horizons broaden; and this encourages inclusion to take place.
I believe that this sort of music exchange between great partners brings about knowledge of culture from different places. I think collectively it can better inform citizens than if you are trying to do it by yourself. It is much more than just entertainment!
One of the moments that sticks in my head is that one day Ed Milner, head of music learning at Sage Gateshead, was on the bus with all of us students and we asked him what he had enjoyed the most. He answered “You all!”
It has been an amazing, life-changing experience.”
Gold Run, an opera at Glyndebourne (pic: David Illman)
“People say to me how great it is that I ‘help’ people with learning disabilities to make their own films but I don’t do this out of charity. Far from it. I do what I do because I am excited by the amazing talents of the people I work with. Filmmakers with learning disabilities have an ability to offer a view of the world that I don’t. I couldn’t even dream of the scripts that our members write.” So says Will Sadler from Beacon Hill Arts in Newcastle, reflecting just one view about “learning disability arts”.
It’s the same sentiment expressed by Richard Phoenix, who runs music organisation Constant Flux, and who I’ve quoted elsewhere on this site : “Often when I talk to people about working with people with learning disabilities in music I encounter the “Aww…. That’s so nice” attitude, which isn’t intrinsically wrong in any way but it seems to me to represent a feeling that people with learning disabilities are only capable of emotionally neutered art, of things that are ‘nice’ and ‘happy’ which from my experience is completely off the mark.”
So what does that phrase “learning disability arts” mean to the public? What constitutes “good art” is a notoriously subjective and personal view, but what is the quality of work being produced by people with learning disabilities? How is such art produced, judged, presented or received differently to “mainstream” art? How far do non-learning disabled artists who collaborate with people who have a learning disability lead the project – and what standard of art is produced?
The Brighton-based project, Creative Minds, is hoping to lead a much-needed national debate about these kinds of issues. Funded by the Arts Council, Brighton and Hove city council and the John Ellerman and Paul Hamlyn foundations, Creative Minds is run by a committee of learning disabled artists who want to “challenge perceptions of their work being labeled as ‘good therapy’ and have a national discussion about its quality and how that can be defined”.
Horse, watercolour by Carol Chilcott
Leading arts charity Carousel is facilitating the project with some good food for thought already given a platform via the Creative Minds website and the first in a series of conferences will be held in Brighton a week today, on Monday 10 March.
The aim is for learning disabled artists to showcase their work and lead discussions about it. The conferences are targeted at their peers, arts organisations, critics, funders, venue programmers and anyone interested in learning disability led arts
Performances, art and discussion includes Action Space London, Chris Pavia and Stop Gap Dance Company, Corali Dance Company, Face Front Theatre Company, Oska Bright Film Festival and Rocket Artists.
Laundry Boy, Face Front Theatre
The Creative Minds steering committee explains that “as individual artists and performers we have had our work not taken seriously when we have shown it in theatres, galleries and on stage”. The group’s aim is “to change peoples ideas and perceptions and the way they see us”.
Hopefully the project and conferences will lead to a high profile debate that reaches beyond the learning disability arts sector.
As performer Bethan Kendrick writes on the Creative Minds site, “Having a learning disability informs your art and helps you produce work of a high quality. I have found that my confidence has grown because I perform my work to audiences. Thinking about quality will help you develop your skills, especially as you work with your company and your director. I take my performance work very seriously. This gives me great confidence in my art.”
• The Creative Minds conference is on Monday 10 March, 10am to 5pm at the Brighton Dome, Church St, Brighton (the venue is wheel chair accessible)
• Constant Flux presents the Fish Police on tour from next month, see website
How blurred are the lines between work and leisure, thanks to the impact of technology on our working lives? Does anyone still really work only an eight hour day? And what about the rising numbers of self-employed people in our changing economy?
These are among the questions prompted by a new exhibition about the world of work, Time & Motion: Redefining working life, from FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) and the Royal College of Art’s Creative Exchange Hub.
The show uses art and archive materials to look at everything from clocking on at the factory gates to remote, online ways of working.
Among the varied works is a piece from Cohen van Balen about mass-manufacturing, 75 Watt. The video commission focuses on a product with no useful purpose (apart from to choreograph a dance performed by the labourers making it). 75 Watt, from Time & Motion
Another piece, Electroboutique’s iPaw, shows a dog who passively scrolls through apps on his tablet, reflecting how technology might trap its users. Electroboutique’s iPaw, from Time & Motion
Irony dictates that I can’t get to the exhibition due to work deadlines, but, fittingly, I’ve checked out the exhibition online. It’s worth a look.
* Time & Motion: Redefining Working Life is at FACT in Liverpool until 9 March.
I recall listening to Radio 4’s The Archers as a teenager on long hot summer afternoons; the “heatwave” summer of 1976 springs to mind. As with listening to cricket, the radio soap helped me to relax and I warmed to its quaint and easy listening style. I would not have envisaged all these years later that I would be involved with the programme – and with such a controversial storyline.
I’ve been advising The Archers on the storyline about the depression experienced by the character Darrell Makepeace. The Archers is moving with the times. It remains a quintessentially English portrayal of village life, but also has to echo the modern age and remain current. Just yesterday, new figures were published on use of the Mental Health Act in England, showing that the number of detentions, which has increased by 12 per cent in the last five years, exceeded 50,000 in 2012/13.
Controversial, contemporary plotlines will appeal to the listeners, but Radio 4 must get the balance right by keeping its traditional support base whilst acquiring a younger audience. The Archers is the world’s longest running radio soap opera and the station’s most popular non-news show with more than 5 million listeners.
With this in mind, I began offering advice on the character Darrell and his spiralling fall into depression about three months ago. As part of the Time To Change media advisory service, my role was to try to add as much realism and sensitivity to his presentation. This differed so much from my previous advisory role for the character Zak Dingle in the soap Emmerdale. Why is this so?
Well, Darrell is a character who has hit rock bottom and, in doing this, has not only caused much pain to himself but also to those around him. Chaotic and unpredictable would be just two words to describe this. He is also very manipulative. The Archers’ listeners appear divided in their opinions about this. I remain very enthused that we have highlighted the devastation of depression, its indiscriminate nature, and the “loose cannon” impact.
Emmerdale’s Zak endeared himself to the viewers as he was deemed a “loveable rogue” The fans empathised with his plight. But Darrell is not so endearing and his manipulative behaviour has only served to isolate him from most fans.
Therein lies the challenge for me, and the producers themselves – to promote more understanding and acceptance of mental illhealth, and its indiscriminate nature. I received praise and criticism – in equal measure – from listeners, and that’s fine. I no longer lose sleep at night worrying about criticism; it opens up a debate and encourages more dialogue around mental health that so far there is a reluctance to do.
This work is challenging because, by my very nature, I am a sensitive person. I have had to grow a thicker skin since to take the blows but the praising comments helps to ease the pain. The criticism at times to my role and advice taken has been quite personal, but I can only give advice from my own perspective.
I have a passion to promote more understanding of mental health and eradicate stigma from society. I hope The Archers’ storyline will help transform people’s attitudes to mental health.
* The first national Time to Talk Day takes place on 6 February, aiming to spark a million conversations about mental health. Part of Time to Change, it highlights how little things – sending a text, a chat over a cup of tea- can make a big difference to someone with mental health problems.
Artist Rachel Gadsden’s works on her new project in parliamentDid you know Big Ben isn’t the name of the clock or the tower at the Houses of Parliament, but refers to the great bell inside the building?
How about the fact that the word “parliament” comes from the French, “parler”, meaning “to talk” (and yes, politicians could do with less rhetoric and more action).
These were just two facts my eight-year-old daughter pounced on during a recent family-friendly project at the Houses of Parliament.
This week is Parliament Week, a country-wide series of events that aim to engage people with parliamentary democracy. While the Houses of Parliament is one of the most instantly recognisable buildings in the world and children know its name, what goes on inside it is usually either a mystery or rather dull (unless, my daughter points out, you’re talking about Guy Fawkes).
Our recent visit was part of this year’s Big Draw event, although it reflects the ethos of Parliament Week. It involved an art workshop led by artist Rachel Gadsden to create four new works. Gadsden (who I’ve written about before here and here) is known for disability awareness raising work.
Saint image, by Rachel Gadsden
Gadsden’s ground-breaking project – the first time that the public has had the opportunity to contribute to artworks that will form part of the parliament art collection – is sponsored the Speaker’s Art Fund. The scheme involves the artist combining her own art with pieces created by the public in a series of workshops in Westminster Hall. The aims is to create new contemporary images based on mosaics of the UK’s four patron saints, St George, St David, St Andrew and St Patrick, which are in parliament’s central lobby.
Out visit included a “family-friendly” guided tour about the history, architecture and artwork in the Houses of Lords and Commons. The tour, according to my eight-year-old reviewer was “interesting but a bit too long” (I’d have to agree, despite the engaging anecdotes, an hour and 15 minutes with one stop to sit down can be difficult for most primary school pupils).
However, she “liked the information, like hearing that alarm bells sound in some buildings around parliament to call the MPs to vote”. She was loved some of the Tudor portraits after studying the period at school and was intrigued by the Queen’s robing room. Looking around the Commons and Lords has made some rather woolly concepts a little more accessible and real; she spotted the Commons on television recently, commenting that she had stood in the same room as the MPs.
After the tour, we joined workshop members creating everything from pencil drawings to mosaics based on the art they’d seen in parliament. As Gadsden says, “the subject matter is not set in stone and this is above all an ‘imaginative’ project, and participants contributed a range of drawings to which include interpretations, but also creations which express their personal identities.” Now the workshops are completed – participants’ original drawings were photocopied and included within the saints paintings that Gadsden is creating – the artist is working on the pieces and the public and MPs will have the chance to view them next year.
Work in progress in Westminster Hall, Houses of Parliament
Gadsden, who has the eye disorder retinoschisis and lost the sight in her left eye this year, explains that her work is “underpinned by the notion of disability, viewed from a positive perspective.” As she says, “I just take every day at a time and concentrate on my inner vision rather than what I see with my eye”.
Gadsden has always championed the belief that disability is not regarded as a barrier to success; in 2007 she became the first contemporary artist in residence at Hampton Court Palace and was commissioned for London 2012 by Unlimited, the arts and disability programme launched for the four-year arts programme, the Cultural Olympiad.
Art workshop in parliament
The artist adds: “I hope that my artistic practice stands as an example of the importance of the right of freedom of expression: addressing issues relating to disability and, by doing so, contributing to the process of bringing about cultural change. So this commission has given me the opportunity to not only collaborate with the public at large to create the new ‘Saints’ paintings…but also to give a new younger audience the opportunity to visit parliament for the first time, and to have the chance to see the House of Lords and Commons and learn about the procedure of parliament as part of the overall process…it is vital for young people to have the opportunity to understand parliament”.
Given the current debate about increasing social mobility and aspiration, part of the solution is not only making “authority” more accessible – encouraging young people and people with disabilities to visit the, for example, the government’s seat of power, – but inviting people, once they set foot inside, to take part in something as creative and inclusive as an arts workshop.
* Rachel Gadsden tweets at @rachelgadsden
* Information about parliament’s education service is here, including its latest plans to create a dedicated education centre for children and young people.
* Social care provider Dimensions is hosting an accessible Question Time event this week, which I’m involved in, more details here
