Arts and Disability Festival

In the first ever Arts and Disability Festival in the Middle East, the British Council, in partnership with Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage in Qatar presented an exciting programme of live performances, exhibitions, installations, films, talks and workshops.

Hosted by Katara Cultural Village from the period of 15 – 30 March, the festival was one of the highlights of Qatar UK 2013, a year of events which celebrated and developed the partnership between Qatar and the UK in the fields of art, culture, education, sport and science.

All of the work had been created by leading British deaf and disabled artists, putting the spotlight on their artistic vision and originality, as well as providing a space to present their work and share their practice more widely. 

The work had been selected from The Unlimited programme, the largest ever celebration and exploration of disability arts which was a major element of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

The aim of the Festival was to raise awareness of disability both within the arts sector, and more broadly within society, to defy stereotypes, and change perceptions.

The Festival programme:

Dance Theatre:
Claire Cunningham & Gail Sneddon in partnership with National Theatre of Scotland.

Dance (with Live Music):
Remember When and Fusional Fragments, Marc Brew Company featuring Evelyn Glennie

Visual Art:
This Breathing World, Rachel Gadsden

Films:
Turning Points - Chris Tally Evans
Macropolis - Joel Simon
Creating the Spectacle - Sue Austin

Talks and workshop:
An opportunity to hear some of the exhibited artists speaking about their work and what influences it.
Wednesday 20 March : Rachel Gadsden and Claire Cunningham
Wednesday 27 March : Rachel Gadsden, Marc Brew, Joel Simon

Body Mapping Workshops:
Artist Rachel Gadsden lead this family-oriented painting workshop introduced you to the process of body mapping, a powerful tool to envision how life experience is stored in your body.