Blog
Shut up and listen!
12/08/2010
Have you shut up and listened yet? Its a radio show and download produced by a steering group of learning disabled musicians aimed to promotes music made by learning disabled musicians from around...
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Liverpool Carnival
27/07/2010
Great weekend at Liverpool Carnival watching eye popping, ear busting performance after performance - with four stages to keep your eyes and ears on at any one time there was certainly plenty to...
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Unpacking inclusion with Candoco
20/07/2010
When we say ‘inclusive’ – what do we really mean? Who’s version of ‘inclusive’ are we working towards? How can inclusion be manifest throughout all levels of...
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Maybe .... Jon Spooner
12/07/2010
Great photo of Jon Spooner here who was the 'maybe' speaker at an event last week called 'Yes, No, Maybe' where trainers, coaches, facilitators and those who support the professional development of...
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Sync Intensives
12/07/2010
Great day last thursday looking at leadership, flexibilty, courage and fear with the members of Sync Intensives in the rather posh environment of the Wellcome Collection at Euston.
We were running...
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Yes, No, Maybe
10/06/2010
Just a quick reminder that Yes, No, Maybe now open for bookings – great speakers and workshops are lined up for this one day event on 9th July at the Wellcome Collection in London as part of...
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Placement programme
10/06/2010
The Arts Management Placement Programme has now officially started – and we had our first breakfast meeting yesterday looking at what diversity means – to us when recruiting for the...
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Gaia Tribe
10/06/2010
New skill to add to the cv – coil fabric pots. That’s what you get if you go to Gaia Tribe community camp for half term – new skills, new friends and 5 days without computers and...
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Running away to the circus
10/06/2010
Lots of my time at the moment is spent thinking about circus, especially ringmasters at the moment. I am working with Mish Weaver on her Unlimited Commission from London 2010, Bipolar Ringmaster...
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Articulate
10/06/2010
Had a great day with Shape delivering the first of the Articulate events. Articulate UK was a national event supported by the British Council and is followed by events in 10 London boroughs from now...
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Now unleashed…
10/06/2010
For the last 8 months I’ve been on a leadership programme called Leadership Unleashed and have attended development days focusing on four key words for leaders in the modern world –...
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What do quantum physics, hip hop and a 'sit down' comedian have in common?
21/05/2010
Have a look at yes, no, maybe in the list to the left - its an event ADA inc are runnning for CreativePeop!e and the Cultural Leadership Programme.
It features, and I quote:
Provocative takes on...
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Dancing in Yorkshire
05/05/2010
More training today with a short session at Yorkshire Dance looking at difference and diversity - and how we create an environment that gets us the info we need.
It made me think about the huge...
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The Big Dance
22/04/2010
Off to do some training today for the Big Dance on behalf of Shape. The Big Dance is the ultimate dance experience, says its website, and will take place in 2010 and 2012.
So what is it? Its 9 days...
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Who is on Sync Intensives?
15/03/2010
I've just put the names of the lucky 15 people who have gained a place on Sync Intensives up on the Sync website (www.syncleadership.co.uk) and its such a fantastic group that I wanted to share it...
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An Unlimited week...
08/03/2010
Last week I was involved twice with Unlimited - the strand of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad that will enable the UK to celebrate disability, arts, culture and sport on an unprecedented...
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Aimee Mullins
20/02/2010
Great new TED video...
The thesaurus might equate "disabled" with synonyms like "useless" and "mutilated," but ground-breaking runner Aimee Mullins is out to redefine the word. Defying these...
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After the Expo
18/02/2010
On 9th Feb, we ran an event for Sync South East in Farnham, called Expo. We're just putting together a series of sheets now - not so much notes from some of the sessions as prompts and suggestions -...
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Rita Marcalo video up at Sync
18/02/2010
Remember 'Involuntary Dances'? The dance piece by performance artist Rita Marcalo testing the boundaries between dance, epilepsy and audience?
We've just uploaded an interview with Rita herself at...
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Arts Management Placement Programme
16/02/2010
Its well recognised that disabled people and those from BME backgrounds find it harder to get paid work in the arts sector, and recent research in Yorkshire, conducted by Arts Council England,...
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Three words...
22/01/2010
What three words are going to underpin your actions this year?
Having read a great article by Chris Brogan, ( http://www.chrisbrogan.com/my-3-words-for-2010/), I decided to find three words that...
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Leading with passion
20/01/2010
I attended the second of four leadership days linked together under the programme 'Leadership Unleashed' (http://leadershipunleashed.co.uk/). Before Christmas I took part in the Insight day, and...
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Animated is 'Not Quite Right'
20/01/2010
Just wanted to let you know I have an article in the latest version of Animated looking at the work of Janet Smith, Caroline Bowditch and Marc Brew with Scottish Dance Theatre.
They are working on a...
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Involuntary Dances
14/12/2009
Rita Marcalo is a dancer and I recently went to see her latest 24 hour piece. My review, for Disability Arts Online, starts:
I’m at Bradford Playhouse waiting for Rita Marcalo to have an...
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Disabled Artists' Residency
14/12/2009
I was up at Dundee last week observing the disabled artists residency organised by Caroline Bowditch as part of her role as Scottish Dance Theatre's Dance Agent for Change.
It was a chance for me to...
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Christmas Soup?
14/12/2009
Up at Dundee Rep.. more about why on another blog entry... and saw this soup. Thought it so funny I had to share! Enjoy the festive season!
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Best training comment ever!
07/12/2009
I often run training sessions for a range of clients - and I usually get good feedback, partly because I'm so passionate about looking at new ways of moving towards equality.
I've not quite had a...
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Vote Audibility
25/11/2009
In case anyone is reading this on Wednesday 25th Nov and happens to be near a phone, can I just ask a small favour? If you have 10p to spare, please do Audibility a favour and phone this number to...
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Lunch with the ladies
25/11/2009
Back to Graeae again for a ladies lunch. Jen Sealey had drawn together disabled and non disabled women leaders for a lunch full of discussion, debate, thought and food.
We had to work hard for our...
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Graeae opening
16/11/2009
Last week I went to the opening of Graeae's new offices and rehearsal spaces in London - beautiful, light, flexible, funky and accessible.
It was great to be in such a fantastic location full of a...
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Meeting my hero...
10/11/2009
Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall was part of Ikley Literature Theatre this year, so I couldn't miss out on my chance to meet my hero (again! - I have driven him to Leeds once when he gave a reading here...
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The Shape of accessible events
26/10/2009
Last week I led another group of individuals through the Shape 'organising accessible events' course. I do enjoy delivering this training as every time its is so different due to the make up of the...
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What's your lovemark?
26/10/2009
At a recent day for Sync South East, I delivered an element based on two leadership concepts: lovemarks and Johari's window.
I love lovemarks - those brands or organisations that go beyond the...
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Lighting up the skyline
12/10/2009
Motion Disabled truly lit up the Leeds skyline last Friday - awesome is the only word to describe it. Thanks to Simon, Paul, James and Phil for making it all happen. AWESOME!
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Sync Tanking with Sync South East
30/09/2009
Spent monday working with members of Sync South East, a leadership development programme for disabled artists and artworkers in the south of England.
One of the tasks we worked through was accessing...
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Plan Ahead
23/09/2009
Last week it was Glasgow, this week it was Dundee (and in the summer it was Aberdeen and Edinburgh)... places I've been meeting with theatre venues and organisations as part of a development...
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Leadership Unleashed
23/09/2009
I heard a few days back that I was lucky enough to have been selected to take part in 'Leadership Unleashed' a programme being run by the Cultural Leadership Programme.
Its described as a...
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Richard's lit up in lights
02/09/2009
Spent the day yesterday at a Motion Capture lab in Teeside University with artist Simon McKeown and disabled athlete Richard Brook capturing Richard's motion as he played boccia, basketball and...
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Motion Disabled at Light Night Leeds
23/08/2009
This is an artists impression of what's going to be happening on the 9th October this year when Simon McKeown's Motion Disabled exhibition comes to Leeds as part of Light Night - and I can't...
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Up at the Fringe
18/08/2009
Had a great trip to the Edinburgh Fringe this year - disability viewing included Claire Cunningham in Mobile/Evolution (and congrats Claire on your Fringe Angel award!), Julie Cleves in Ups, Downs...
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Big Green Gathering cancelled
27/07/2009
Ok, this isn't about work but it is about the wider context in which work happens. And it is about difference and diversity and respecting the views of people who don't happen to think the same as...
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4th Plinth part two
16/07/2009
I did get to pop down to Trafalgar Square and it was great to see the 4th Plinth in action.
I had a quick chat to the team about the access requirements they had met so far, and it was interesting...
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Access to the 4th Plinth
08/07/2009
Been to Trafalgar Square yet? Seen the plinth with its assortment of human exhibits? I've not been down to see it yet, but I did have the pleasure of working with the team of people responsible for...
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Lots of Creative People with Creative Ambition
24/06/2009
My feet are aching after a hectic day of networking at Creative Ambition 3, the cdp event for cpd providers in the cultural sector.
It was great to catch up with old friends and make new ones - and...
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United Colours of Ballet
17/06/2009
Yesterday I went to see some dance classes run by Company Fierce and Northern Ballet School as part of a programme of work designed to widen the range of young people signing up for dance training...
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Lumps and bumps
04/06/2009
Earlier this year my youngest daughter had a lump removed from her head. A 'pyogenic granuloma' to give it its full name. Over the course of a few months it had grown into a popcorn sized thing in...
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Dance in Dundee
26/05/2009
I'm supporting Caroline Bowditch - the Dance Agent for Change based at Scottish Dance Theatre - to look at the impact of her post and so this week was up in Dundee, talking to some of the people she...
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What's Yorkshire like for disabled visual artists?
22/05/2009
Three Arts Council regions (Yorkshire, North East and North West) are looking into the opportunities and investment in disabled visual artists across the three regions.
I went to a meeting today...
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Stop Gap hit Barnsley
13/05/2009
I went to see Stop Gap's latest show at the weekend at the newly opened Civic Theatre in Barnsley (lovedly new building).
As usual, Stop Gap excelled - producing exceptional dance where inclusion is...
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Mind the Gap in Hong Kong
10/05/2009
On Saturday I took Tim Wheeler, the artistic director of Mind the Gap and Jez Colborne, a musician and actor who regularly works with them off to the station to begin their two week trip to Hong...
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Access to the flicks
10/05/2009
Interesting day on Thursday working for Shape and the Independent Cinema Office. We ran a day on making screenings more accessible for disabled people and had guest speakers too: Oska Bright talking...
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Look who is in the team...
30/04/2009
Just one more thing about my holiday and then I promise I will shut up about it (honest).
Sometimes I wonder if I've become a ''disability magnet'. When I go out on family holidays or days out, I...
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Sync-ing up the South East
27/04/2009
Better get applying if you want to get in on Sync South East - there are two programmes on offer, one for deaf and disabled artist, artsworkers and other arts professionals, and one for disability...
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Take a break
22/04/2009
Been off for a couple of weeks - just in case you wondered why things haven't been updated for a while!
I'm back now so normal service will be resumed soon!
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Moving On
30/03/2009
This one day event in Glasgow promised exploration, inspiration, and celebration - and it delivered all that plus provocation too. It was very refreshing to be in a room of people who didn't all...
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Planning for the south east...
29/03/2009
Want to know why Sarah Pickthall and myself were holed up in a London apartment last week typing, planning, talking and plotting?
This week sees the launch of Sync's new project in the south east -...
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Arts Vs Sports II
18/03/2009
It was the launch today for Arts Versus Sports - with great contributions of poetry, visual arts, performance and design work from all our artists.
Look on the Arts Versus Sports web page on this...
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Our View
13/03/2009
Its an exciting time for disabled people interested in arts and sports in the south east. A large multi agency programme called Accentuate is being developed, and at its heart is a project called Our...
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DDang!
11/03/2009
The Urdang Academy is one of the schools in the Dance and Drama Award (DADA) Scheme that is having great success reaching out to under represented groups - disabled students, those on low incomes and...
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That's my boy!
02/03/2009
If you happen to be near a TV this afternoon, and happen to get the CBBC channel (the children's own BBC channel) - do switch on to see my son, Jack Wheeler, make a solar powered Jacket with help...
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The evidence is in the files...
02/03/2009
Bird College is one of the few drama and dance colleges offering Dance and Drama Awards (DADAs). These bursaries are offered to talented dancers, performers and stage managers to support their...
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Syncopation
26/02/2009
The name for Sync came from syncopation - putting an emphasis on a usually unemphasised beat. Yesterday, in Brighton and London, I had the chance to hear first hand about what this change in...
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Half term in Scotland
18/02/2009
Is it a holiday? Is it work? Hard to say really. I've been in Edinburgh since Monday mixing business with pleasure.
I've managed to fit in a meeting with Scotland's Dance Agent for Change, Caroline...
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Happy Hearts
16/02/2009
Kids made us dinner - including soup and heart shaped bread! Hope everyone had a good day - either celebrating each other or celebrating singleness!
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Art versus sport
09/02/2009
My head is full of the cross overs between art and sport today, especially for disabled people - not a usual combination for me (I'm more usually into shopping than sport, truth be told).
Recently...
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Gathering of the great and the good
31/01/2009
I popped into Mind the Gap's fantastic new space yesterday, as I heard that one of my favourite people, Jenny Sealey from Graeae was in town (shortly to be Jenny Sealey MBE, that is - congrats,...
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Interesting reading
27/01/2009
I was in London yesterday at a meeting of trainers who work for Shape - interesting session looking at boundaries, 'voices' and impact - and the train I was travelling back on broke down so my 2 1/2...
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Back to work with a bang
17/01/2009
After a long break for Christmas, and a week working from home setting up projects and slowly settling back into the season, this week just gone was back to work with a bang.
So three days in London...
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Scratch Nativity
18/12/2008
I was invited to Mind the Gap's Xmas party last night - but didn't expect to have to perform! Staff, acting company members and any other attendees were divided into three teams and each group had 10...
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Sync 20 (part 2)
17/12/2008
Second day for Sync 20 saw us working with the other half of the fantastic people selected as part of Sync 20. Another great group of people; another set of challenging and interesting takes on some...
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Sync 20
08/12/2008
Back to work with a bang on Friday - a full day with half of the fantastic people selected as part of Sync 20. Sync is a development programme for disabled people engaged with leadership. Friday was...
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Snow!
04/12/2008
Nothing work related - because no chance of getting much work done today! The snow came down, and all three children are now off school or college. So I've given in and made mince pies instead of...
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Blast from the past
01/12/2008
My mum still has friends living where I grew up, who are obviously avid readers of every word in the local paper.
The East Kent Gazette - local paper for Sittingbourne, where I was brought up - has...
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Between a rock and a hard place...
28/11/2008
I had a hard decision to make this week about balancing work. I'm lucky, particularly in these credit crunching times, to have some steady streams of work from various clients. But what do you do...
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Do we need to know?
17/11/2008
Do we need to know if an artist is disabled? Does it affect what we think about the work? These questions, and many others, were part of two training days I ran in Bournemouth at the end of last...
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Dance Agent for Change
11/11/2008
Who can dance? Who can be a dancer? I was in Glasgow yesterday with Caroline Bowditch, Claire Cunningham and others pondering these questions. Caroline is the Dance Agent for Change based at...
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Open arts up to learning disabled people
11/11/2008
Last week I had the pleasure to chair a fascinating day focusing on how to include learning disabled people within the arts in Yorkshire.
Run by Arts Council England, Yorkshire and Mencap, the day...
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Snakes and Ladders
27/10/2008
I had a great day on Friday running a day for Shape called Articulate. It was designed to enable young disabled people to communicate their experience of transition. Also involved were those 'on the...
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an access owl?
21/10/2008
Yesterday I ran a training session for Shape in London on organising accessible events. I love running this course because there is always a real mix of people attending, all with their own stories...
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Getting bookish in Scotland
16/10/2008
For the last two days I've been having great fun up in Edinburgh working with the Scottish Book Trust setting the scene for their creation of their Disability Equality Scheme.
'I thought only public...
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Dancing into the mainstream
10/10/2008
Just started my yearly round of visits to dance and drama training schools to look at aspects of diversity, inclusion and access for DADA (Dance and Drama Awards Scheme). Its fascinating work because...
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slinky!
06/10/2008
I was in Bradford the weekend before last for the launch of the cultural olympiad - not that anyone in Bradford seemed to know thats why strange things were happening in Centenary Square!
There...
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What do the Watermill Theatre, Newbury and Stella Mann College, Bedford have in common?
26/09/2008
Stella Mann has probably trained performers that have gone on to work at the Watermill, but in this instance the thing in common is ADA inc!
Last week, I was training staff at both locations -...
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