Tough Summer It has been a very tough summer, with my condition flaring up more frequently, and staying for longer than usual. Hence I haven’t posted a blog for some time and I haven’t been working creatively either. This I have found comes at a cost; when I am ill, is when I need my creativity most. It has a very therapeutic effect as well as giving me a reason to get out and move around. Without it, depression starts to get a foothold and everything becomes harder, both for me and my...

I have recently been elected to the Executive of the Artists Union of England.  There has never been a time more relevant for unions or when thay have been needed as much as today in the face of pernicious austerity and dogmatic cuts that benefit the rich and leave the poor to get poorer. As Disabled Artists we are doubly dammed in the current econmic climate. More information can be found here http://www.artistsunionengland.org.uk Artists’ Union England is a new trade union for...

I have been appointed the Disability Associate for Salisbury International Arts Festival. I am looking at the organisations activity within a Disability context.  For exampe one of my first 'actions' was to ask all the staff what came to mind when they heard the word 'Disability' and when had they felt 'Excluded'. Next up provoked them to think about their language - I am not there to tell, or be perjorative - more to catalyse self and organisational reflection -...

Roll up Roll Up Change your disabled babies here Fucked it up the first time. Have another go. But can I say Can I ask What happens to the old one? Recalibrate We have the means We have the method You mean Intervention Experimentation? Call it as you will The less names We say the better But surely not Abortion Termination Death Camps Dignitas? No. Not those Not no longer We can fix them Put them right Make them some how useful But how Hasn't all these things been tried before And left them...

We the people of Gritsalt
Are free to stand
On little yellow boxes
And exclaim
About the shame
For we have grit
And we have salt
And we will cut
And we will sear
With little fear
For we are the people of Gritsalt

Disability Arts Online is delighted to announce that it will be launching a brand-new website on 7 June, as part of its Grants for the Arts project, Viewfinder. The website will feature both new functionality and design, including a much-needed rebrand. 

Shape Arts and Artsadmin have been awarded £1.8m by Arts Council England to deliver the third Unlimited programme from 2016 until 2020.

From the 21-25 June, Intoart will present a pop-up exhibition in Fitzrovia, central London, to fundraise for their ongoing studio programme that provides much-needed access to art education and exhibition opportunities for learning-disabled and autistic artists.

Inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu, Complicite’s The Encounter brings the limits of human consciousness into startling focus in an ambitious national and international co-production. Review by Colin Hambrook.

The Last Resort commissioned by Brighton Festival is a site-specific sound journey in which artists Rachel Champion and Tristan Shorr welcome an audience, in pairs, on a journey through a barren, industrial area of Portslade beach, reimagining the location in a science fiction context. Review by Liz Porter. 

Silent Faces are an emerging integrated company and their physical theatre show Follow Suit has been awarded the iF Bursary at this year’s Brighton Fringe. Review by Colin Hambrook.

The Ricochet Project - a contemporary circus collaboration at the Dome - presented Smoke and Mirrors at Brighton Festival’s Corn Exchange on 8 May. Review by Colin Hambrook

National Theatre gives Nikolai Erdman’s classic Soviet-era satire, The Suicide a modern, urban reboot. It plays the Lyttleton Theatre 14 April – 25 June. Review by Simon Jenner.

Thompson Hall was commissioned by Outside In and HOUSE to produce a new solo exhibition, Home Away from Home for the HOUSE Festival in Brighton. The exhibition runs from 30 April – 29 May at the Regency Town House. Review by Colin Hambrook.

Letting in the Light, a light-box exhibition organised by Bobby Baker’s charity Daily Life Ltd, lit up the streets of Stratford during the dark winter months of this year and showcased the work of artists who have experienced mental distress. Elinor Rowlands spoke to her about the impact of the exhibition and the charity’s new project, Roving Diagnostic Unit.

Artist Esther Fox explores genetic screening, disability and the ethical discussions surrounding her right to exist, in Pandora’s Box, her forthcoming sculptural installation in the Science Museum’s ‘Who Am I?’ gallery. She spoke to Anne Teahan about the work.

Silent Faces are an emerging integrated company and their physical theatre show Follow Suit has been awarded the iF Bursary at this year’s Brighton Fringe. Stopgap’s Lou Rogers caught up with them as they prepare for the debut performance on 9 May at the Sallis Benney Theatre, following the iF Not Now When? Part 2 event.

Using a sophisticated visual language and brutally honest monologue developed by the ‘all-singing-all-dancing-all-mental’ cast and crew, Musical Mental Health Cabaret debuts at Attenborough Arts this June. Alice Holland meets Priya during rehearsal to find out more about the show and Priya’s work developing new techniques and expressions for artists with mental health issues. 

Artist, Bekki Perriman first received Unlimited R&D funding for The  Doorways Project in 2014, which took the form of a photography exhibition. She has since gone on to receive a further Unlimited Commission to expand the work into a site-specific sound installation that will tour to several sites. Joe Turnbull spoke to her about the work and the experiences which shaped it.

As part of a Catalyst project, working with Stopgap, Salisbury Arts Centre and The Point, Dao-ista Alice Holland took on the task of producing a crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for a show by disabled punk performance poet Rowan James: 'It's For You To Say'. Here she gives some background to the thinking behind the project.

Emma Stephenson is a London based artist/illustrator working mainly on reportage projects and themes. Her latest project is about her perspective on the world from her wheelchair.

Nick Lewis is an author, poet and artist. He is currently working on a serialised novel based on his experience of living with MS. We are delighted to share three chapters from the author's work-in-progress: ‘Travels With My Self’.