Go There! - Introduction

Arts Council England, South East (ACE, SE) and Dada-South offered bursaries of up to £800 to disabled and Deaf artists and arts professionals to attend DaDaFest International 2008 in Liverpool between 4^th and 7^th September 2008.

The bursaries were administrated by Dada-South. Eleven disabled and Deaf artists applied, and all of whom were offered the opportunity to attend either some or all of the festival.

The artists were:

The bursaries were offered to disabled and Deaf artists and arts professionals with the anticipated outcomes:

• an action research visit for artists and promoters/producers to DaDaFest International 2008 with a view to informing the development of south east showcasing of the work of disabled and Deaf artists
• an opportunity to increase the dialogue, debate, networking amongst south east artists and managers on work created by disabled and Deaf artists
• Creative and professional development opportunities for disabled and Deaf artists to experience disability-related and inspired work to support the development of their own creative practice or programmes of work.

The bursaries were towards covering the following costs:

• Accommodation
• Travel
• Subsistence
• Festival pass
• Additional access costs

Bursary winners were required to:

• Meet daily at DaDaFest International 2008 with the other bursary winners
• Provide ACE,SE and Dada-South with a Feedback evaluation form by 12^th September 2008
• attend a feedback briefing at Arts Council England, South East offices in Brighton during September/October 2008

They were also required to

• Provide ACE,SE and Dada-South with a completed review of, or response to, 2 performances, exhibitions, debates or events by 12^th September 2008

or

• An overview review/report in response to DaDaFest International 2008

or

• a daily blog to appear on disabilityartsonline (dao) detailing your experiences and time at DaDaFest International 2008

or

• an opportunity to feedback in a media of their choice (drawings, photographs, film etc) and for this to appear on either dao or Dada-South websites or both.

This provided the artists with a range of ways in which they could feed back to Dada-South about their experiences in ways that were wholly accessible to them and inspiring for both Dada-South and ACE, SE.

Each artist found the trip to be of real value and beneficial to them. Some of the reports and responses to DaDaFest International 2008 will be seen here shortly.

Artists were also asked to complete a feedback form outlining their responses to specific questions.

Some artists produced huge amounts of written work, whilst others fed back more emotional responses through film and images. All but two of the artists attended a feedback session in October 2008 at Arts Council England, South East offices.

The learning on the part of Dada-South has been vast and the responses from the artists will feed into the shaping of the showcasing programme to be delivered 2009/10 and 2010/11.