Arts and Disability Networking Pilot Mayo
Arts and Disability Networking (ADN) Mayo was a pilot programme aiming to increase local capacity in the area of arts and disability.
ADN offers training and support to personnel from venues and arts organisations as well as individual artists as a means of extending the scope of arts and disability practices, and promotes the presentation of high quality professional arts and disability work in local venues.
The Arts and Disability Networking (ADN) Pilot was initiated by the Arts Council as a means of delivering on its commitments as expressed in Partnership for the Arts: Arts Council Goals 2006–2010, and in response to the need for strategic networking and capacity building in the area of arts and disability at local level. The Arts Council established a partnership with Arts & Disability Ireland and Mayo County Council Arts Service in 2008 to develop and pilot an effective networking model.
ADN Pilot in Mayo ran from 2008 to 2010 and included:
- Disability Equality Training (DET) to arts venues in Mayo (Áras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet; Ballina Arts Centre; Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle; Custom House Studios, Westport; and Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar ) and 13 individual artists from across the county.
- A follow-up programme which included a visit to the Altered Images exhibition in Ballina Arts Centre and a series of support visits to individual venues. The purpose of these visits was to assist venue staff in identifying and addressing access issues, not only in terms of physical access but also in terms of the broader organisational approach to programming, marketing, staffing and governance.
- Members of Scannán film-makers’ group participating in a Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company workshop, Ballina, 2009
- Organisation of two events to showcase and promote quality contemporary arts and disability work:
- A four-day residency by the Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company, a professional group of learning-disabled actors from the UK, in November 2009. The Lawnmowers delivered a series of workshops for learning-disabled artists and film-makers in Westport and Ballina. They delivered a masterclass for theatre practitioners from the region, which took place in Castlebar, and they performed their latest show, Cabaret of Fools, in the Linenhall Arts Centre to an audience of 115.
- A screening of 40 short films by learning-disabled film-makers in December 2009 to an audience of 100 in Ballina Arts Centre. This was under the auspices of the Oska Bright Film Festival, a Brighton-based organisation run by and for people with learning disabilities.
- The Oska Bright team delivered a film-making masterclass to members of Scannán, a Ballina-based group with experience of making documentaries and animated films. Tom and Mary, a short film written, produced and directed by the Scannán group, was audio described in Ireland and screened as part of the festival.
- Publication of Shift in Perspective: An Arts and Disability Resource Pack
To assist artists in realising their artistic ambitions and to make it possible for people to extend and enhance their experience of the arts
Partnership for the Arts: Arts Council Goals 2006-2010
Members of Scannan Technologies participating in a Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company workshop, Ballina 2009