People
A tribute to the amazing people of the North East Disability Arts Community
A tribute to the amazing people of the North East Disability Arts Community
The first disability focussed company with disabled people and learning disabled peoples’ experiences at its heart in the North East was The Lawnmowers Theatre Company, set up in 1986. In addition, as a result of the late Geof Armstrong’s driving force and connections to London Disability Arts Forum and The Workhouse Cabarets, along with a core of other disabled artists, activists, disabled peoples groups and arts organisations, the Northern Disability Arts Forum, known as NorDAF, was established in 1991. NorDAF aimed to showcase the talent and experiences of disabled people in new ways, and also to forge a much needed sense of community. This section shares some of the people who have been involved in disability and disabled-led arts over the years. It is not yet comprehensive and please be assured that no one has deliberately been left off this list. It is a piece of work which will grow and develop over time.
Geof Armstrong
Geof Armstrong was a powerhouse of the early disability arts movement, beginning his work at London Disability Arts Forum and then establishing both the National Disability Arts Forum in the North East. He was instrumental in setting up the Northern Disability Arts Forum for the region. Geof founded the Workshop Cabarets in London, giving artists a space to develop, and share their experiences and artforms. A lively, vocal and passionate community sprung up from them. Geof was hugely influential in terms of his support for artists and the movement, and also as a voice to challenge mainstream arts and policy making organisations on their lack of support for disability equality. Geof sadly died in 2020 and is a huge loss to our community. You can read a beautiful tribute to him here on the Disability Arts Online website from Colin Hambrook.
Tribute to Geof Armstrong by Colin Hambrook |
Lisette Auton
Lisette Auton is a dynamic artist currently working in the North East in the renewed disability arts scene. She is an accomplished practitioner who uses her influence and activism to bring about change in the arts with all partners on projects she is part of or leading. Lisette says she does stuff with words, and she most certainly does: disabled writer, activist and creative practitioner. Her film with Rob Irish, Writing The Missing - The River Cycle won the Journal Culture Award Performance of the Year 2020. Lisette is an award-winning poet; 2019 Early Careers Fellow for Literature at Cove Park; TSS Publishing list of Best British & Irish Flash Fiction. Debut novel The Secret of Haven Point forthcoming from Penguin, February 2022. Her play with Richard Boggey, Chop Burn Dissolve received a premiere rehearsed reading at Alphabetti Theatre recently and was shared both online and to a live audience to reflect the times. She is currently focused on Writing the Missing.
www.lisetteauton.co.uk |
Audrey Barker
Photo caption: Publicity for Audrey Barker’s installation Delivering Messages at Darlington Arts Centre, 1993, from the collection of NDACA, the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive.
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Entry by Gill Crawshaw
Audrey Barker (1932-2002) was a pioneering British disabled artist whose practice embraced issues around disability, accessibility and different forms of communication. Based in Cumbria, close to Hadrian’s Wall, for most of her life, she had strong links to the North East. In the 1960s she studied, and later taught, at Newcastle University. In the later stages of her career she specialised in creating multi-sensory environments, designed with disabled people in mind, but intended for everyone to enjoy. Another Way of Seeing was installed at the Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, in 1987, and proved so popular that it was repeated at the Laing Gallery, Newcastle, the following year. In 1989 the ambitious Festival of the 5 Senses was organised by Barker and a team at Wentworth Leisure Centre in Hexham. It attracted thousands of people, many of whom were visiting the bowling alley, swimming pool or next-door supermarket. Presenting art beyond the gallery was important for Barker, to reach out to people who wouldn’t go to an art gallery. She made further installations for arts and non-arts venues, including Cramlington Library and Darlington Arts Centre. Barker described her work as “using the ‘languages’ of disability as an art form”. While her art was for everyone, it had its roots firmly in disability culture. Further information Gill has been researching Audrey Barker’s life and work, and blogging for Disability Arts Online. Here are some of her posts: https://disabilityarts.online/blog/gill-crawshaw/slides-galore-starting-my-research-into-audrey-barker/ https://disabilityarts.online/blog/gill-crawshaw/two-disabled-women-artists-who-left-a-lasting-legacy/ https://disabilityarts.online/blog/gill-crawshaw/compartments-audrey-barkers-artworks-from-the-1960s/ https://disabilityarts.online/blog/gill-crawshaw/a-cross-on-a-map-visiting-the-area-where-audrey-barker-lived/ |
Caroline Bowditch
Caroline Bowditch is Chief Executive Officer of Arts Access Victoria in Australia, her home country. Caroline was previously based in the UK for 16 years and for much of that time she was either based in or had work connections in the North East. Caroline is an artist, dancer, choreographer, writer, teacher and catalyst for change. She worked in both disability arts and the mainstream with great ease. Highly professional, she is a fantastic communicator and popular practitioner who brought great disability equality influence to all of her interactions and work. Caroline's work was created on a number of scales from very large outdoor work, through to intimate studio based pieces, all beautiful and with stunning impact. Past productions include Weren't You Expecting Me?, Leaving Limbo Landing, Falling in Love with Frida, Snigel and Friends, Torque, Fathom, and Proband.
Her UK website can be viewed here to find out more about her time here. Caroline Bowditch |
Lindsay Carter
Lindsay Carter was an incredible singer-songwriter, activist and performer. She was a member of Get Off our Back and Grin and Bear It Theatre Companies, and was part of a musical duo called Creatures From The Lawn. Lindsay was a poet and spoken word artist who championed the disability arts scene in the North East for many years. She was a Board member of Arcadea and a long time campaigner for the equality of disabled people in all areas of life. She was involved in many actions around disability equality and always had style. You can read about her small intervention outside the Lit and Phil many years ago when her poem was selected to be read but she couldn't access the building, as a wheelchair user, though the front door due to the steps. She gave out printed copies of her poem, cakes and daffodils to the audience. Lindsay was a wonderful writer who probably didn't know her own talents. Sadly Lindsay died far too soon and is hugely missed by the disability arts community.
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Sarah Crutwell
Sarah, an exceptional poet, spoken word artist and facilitator, is an integral part of the Teesside scene. Sarah is a depressed anxious feminist who is mostly found wearing pyjamas or wearing clothes which look suspiciously like pyjamas. A writer, spoken word poet and creative event organiser from the North East of England, Sarah’s work explores ‘the things we lower our voices to talk about’. With a background in theatre, her performance is engaging, honest and highly emotive. Her poetry takes on issues such as mental health, sex, gender, politics, ingrained sexism and a woman’s right to make her own decisions. In 2020 Sarah launched the F*ckable podcast interviewing disabled people to discuss disability and sex.
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Lisa Dennis
Lisa Dennis is a long serving member of the disability arts community in the North East. She was a member of both Get Off Our Backs and Grin and Bare It Theatre Companies, performing and writing many comedy sketches and songs. She was in their productions of Feckless and I am Society. Lisa was also a member of Invisible Cabaret, Sycorax Women's Writing Group and Disability Theatre Lab. She has performed in the North East and around the country in disability cabarets. Lisa also collaborated with The Fugertivs, giving them lyrics for one of their protest songs, and sometimes performing.
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Paula Greenwell
Paula Greenwell was a groundbreaking pioneer of disability rights. An academic, lecturer, writer, performer and artist she was Chair of National Disability Arts Forum (NDAF) for many years, she also became Chair of NorDAF. Paula had a fundamental role in developing disability arts in the North East. She talked with passion about how her diagnosis as an adult with MS made her feel regarded as 'a breed apart' in much of society, she was pitied and felt strongly that nothing about her life should be perceived as a tragedy. She used intellect and wit to challenge stereotypes of disabled people and fought hard to bring about change for the status of disabled people. "Longevity is unimportant. The contribution one makes to life is. If I die next week or in twenty years on is irrelevant. I will have contributed toward changes." You did Paula. Thank you.
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Gobscure
joey (play) was New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich testing ground commission produced in association with greyscale. 2019 society of authors award for waters of life (poem length of afon wysyg (river usk) with welsh poppies, the site of britains last insurrection to date and widened horizons). francis chagrin award from sound & music / sage gateshead summer studio residency 2019 developing ships-ov-fool. rose carved in rain forthcoming solo exhibition, newbridge project gateshead. forthcoming solo show provoked to madness by the brutality of wealth developed as part of BOOST : the Third Angel Mentoring Scheme 2019 in association with Sheffield Theatres. They are a Future’s Venture Foundation Radical Independent Art Fund Artist in association with Edinburgh Printmakers. They are also a recipient of a 2021 MGC Futures bursary.
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Luke Hardwick
Luke Hardwick worked with Arcadea on many occasions, performing original material he had created at cabarets. He was also a member of the Disability Theatre Lab. Luke took part in the BBC Talent Fund and was told on many occasions that he was 'television-ready' but that there were no parts for actors who were wheelchair users at that time. Luke is pictured in this image, used for 21: The Last Avant Garde disabled artist portraiture exhibition, in a motion capture suit. He is working with Simon McKeown on his internationally renowned series, where Simon aimed to capture the movement and physicality of disabled people.
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Pauline Heath
Pauline describes herself as an enthusiastic professional in the arts sector with a wide range of experience. "I am a writer, performer and visual artist. I've even done stand up comedy. I trained in acting with Graeae theatre company and toured in their much acclaimed production of Mother Courage. I did a performing Arts Degree at Newcastle College which was a major achievement for me, given the barriers that still exist in much arts training for disabled people. I have lots of experience working with learning disabled people, and across all disability. I have been awarded a number of Arts Council grants to create work, and presented my one woman show Never-Neverland at ARC earlier this year. I also created a production called Occupation which looked at the impact of Government cuts on disabled people. It had four professional actors and a community cast of 12".
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Kev Howard
Kev Howard is a freelance artist, photographer and musician working nationally and internationally. He collaborates with many artists on socially engaged projects and works with many schools and community groups. In 2017 Kev created an exhibition called d-Formed, which was seen by over 30,000 people, looking at disability in societal terms and also highlighting the surgical experience of many disabled people. The powerful exhibition looks at the body, the disabled body and its sculptural form. The piece is also politically charged and relates to disabled people's experiences of government policy. Kev also created innovative video work of experimental sound and visuals. Kev was recently award a distinction for his MA in Art at Teesside University.
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Hamzeh Al Hussien
Hamzeh Al Hussien is a disabled artist from Syria who arrived in Gateshead, North East England, five years ago as part of the UK’s Syrian Resettlement Programme. He was first introduced to performing during his six years in Za'atari refugee camp where he trained with a Spanish NGO in physical theatre. He performed in various productions, and facilitated drama and theatre projects with disabled children. He says, “As a disabled man, I want to show what I can do and that I am able to achieve whatever I want despite my disability. I want people to come away from my performances thinking ‘don’t give up, just keep trying’. I love music, so there’s lots of dance and movement in my shows. And they tell a story of a journey, my journey, and it’s all true.”
In 2023 Hamzeh toured the highly acclaimed 'Penguin', produced with Curious Monkey and supported by D6: Culture In Transit. 'Penguin' is an extraordinary story which takes you on a personal tour of the places he knows best. His village in the Syrian mountains, Za’atari camp in Jordan, Gateshead and inside his mind: a place full of music, dancing, fantasies and marbles. Hamzeh invites the audience to be his childhood friends, to hold up the moon to light his way, and into his dreams, brushing the dust from his clothes...and taking the stage. https://hamzehalhussien.wixsite.com/hamzeh/about |
Paul James
Paul James is the Senior Creative Associate (Children and Young People's Programme) at Live Theatre. He established the multi award-winning Education & Participation Department at Live Theatre in 1998 and has directed and produced numerous projects. Paul has worked with many writers associated with Live Theatre including Lee Hall, Tom Hadaway, Michael Chaplin, Julia Darling and Paddy Campbell. He has also directed two productions for Monster Productions that went on national tours. Prior to this Paul worked as an actor for a variety of theatre companies including the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, Bristol Old Vic, Talawa, Northern Stage, Mercury Theatre, Colchester, Liverpool Everyman, Northumberland Theatre Company, Live Theatre and various community theatre companies.
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Lady Kitt
Lady Kitt (they/them) is a socially engaged artist, researcher and drag king, based in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Kitt describes their work as "Mess Making as Social Glue, driven by an insatiable curiosity to explore, share and (gently) incite the social functions of stuff that gets called art". Using crafting, performance, chatting and research they create objects, interactions and events. Since 2018 Kitt’s work has particularly focussed on the potential role of collaborative creativity in organisational development.
Some of the things that have happened as part of their work are: super-sized origami boat races, policy change & the creation of an international feminist art magazine for, and by, children. Kitt is co-lead for Social Art Network (SAN) North East, trustee for Crafts Council UK, and member of global art activism movement Nasty Women (NW). Kitt's work has been selected for inclusion in The Institute for Art and Innovation (Germany), “Social Art Award 2019 Book” and recently shown at Atlanta Contemporary (USA) and Saatchi Gallery London (UK). Kitt is currently Maker in Residence at Durham University 2020-21 (UK), recipient of an Arts & Heritage 2021-22 “Meeting Point” award and one of nine "Constellations" artists with UP Projects and Flat Time House (London, UK). https://www.lladykitt.com |
Hello Little Lady
Hello Little Lady is an artist and creative practitioner using visual, written, audio and participatory practices to explore the Dwarfism community’s lived experiences. Her debut exhibition ‘You’re Just Little’ in 2018 revealed the obstacles, challenges and societal assumptions people with Dwarfism face every day. The participatory elements participants from the Dwarfism community in the U.K, the U.S.A, and Australia that challenges the notion of perspective and gaze on the gallery wall. Steph’s passion is to give a voice and the platform to the Dwarfism community through creative arts. To enable and empower Dwarf people to be in control of how their narratives and stories are published in a world that often ridicules and objectifies our bodies within society rather than showing compassion and understanding of this disability. Her work explores the themes of accessibility, othering and the tensions between the disability and society.
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Kim McDermottroe
Kim McDermottroe is most well-known locally for the fantastical creatures she brings to life for the flagship Northern Festivals. Yet Kim’s work is deeply rooted in the real. For Kim, as a child, drawing was a way to get closer to the fascinating world of animals. Naturally Kim was drawn to work with animals but she soon realised that her true passion was in art and the creatures she could capture, create and bring to life on paper and through sculpture. Soon she was creating new worlds of her own and imagining the creatures which could populate these worlds. Kim sees worlds behind our own world which describe our internal landscapes and dreamscapes. Her work runs, hoots, flies and climbs straight out of the boundary between the real and the imagined - a menagerie of impossible beings. In 2019 Kim was selected as one of the F:entrepreneur #ialso 100. A campaign showcasing 100 female entrepreneurs who multi task in their business.
Greener Lavelle – Kim McDermottroe |
Simon McKeown
Professor Simon McKeown is an award-winning, international visual artist renowned for his work which touches on and considers disability. His work has been seen all over the world and involves movement, motion capture, games technology, inflatable structure and large-scale outdoor projections and performances. Cork Ignite was seen by over 10,000 people and Prometheus Awakes, a large scale commission, was part of the 2012 celebrations across the country. Simon is currently exhibiting No Passengers a DaDafest in Liverpool and has a large scale projection project in St Helens called We are Still Here. He is also an academic and is a lecturer at Teesside University.
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Julie McNamara
JulieMc McNamara has been a leading figure in the UK disability arts movement since its beginnings, working extensively internationally in theatre, film, comedy, cabaret and music, with a following across the world. JulieMc is not from the North East, nor based here, but has regularly come North to both share her work, and also support the work of North Eastern artists over several decades. She worked as a Disability Arts Ambassador for NorDAF, and brought her plays Pig Tales and Pig's Sister to the North. JulieMc has compered many, many cabarets here, and has supported and mentored various disabled artists from the region. It felt important to pay tribute to her contribution to the Disability Arts scene as she has brought so many new and intersectional audiences and artists to the work of our movement. Julie was director of LDAF and founded the groundbreaking Disability Film Festival. She is a playwright, director, performer and academic and was founding Artistic Director of Vital Xposure Theatre Company contributing key thinking and practice to Disability Arts.
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Colly Metcalfe
Colly Metcalfe is a freelance deaf performer, actress and writer based in the North East. With an extensive background in physical theatre and improvisation, Coll brings a wild elegance to her storytelling, drawing her audience into the very centre of her world. Coll draws on her experiences as a deaf person and incorporates sign language into her delivery, offering a visual third dimension to her words. Colly has developed her own bold and unique style of writing and performance which brings together the deaf and hearing worlds, and is a regular performer and digital maker in the last couple of years, her work captivating audiences.
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Paul Miller
I am the founder and Director of Rory’s Studio and as a Deaf British Sign Language user, I strive to illuminate Deaf Culture within mainstream forums. I graduated from Newcastle College in 2005, with a foundation degree in animation and illustration. I began my professional career as an illustrator, working in collaboration with writer Julia Donaldson on her children’s book Gruffalo. Since then I have worked extensively as an ambassador for Deaf awareness and won awards for my film work. My work includes Driving Inspiration, a short film for the Paralympics, Gothrella, a theatre production made for Deaf and hearing children and families, which involved working in collaboration, with a team of eight professional artists. In 2015 I was appointed a Director of Surface Area Dance Theatre CIC. In May 2017 I travelled to Tokyo, Japan to collaborate with Japan Deaf Theatre and begin a creative dialogue with company members to explore thematic concepts found in the Ginger Bread Witch, which was supported by Arts Council England’s, Artist International Development Fund, recently adapted to a children’s theatre production at Northern Stage.
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Aidan Moesby
Aidan Moesby is an artist, curator and writer who explores civic and personal wellbeing through a body of work that is at once playful, intimate, questioning and deeply human. His practice is a socially engaged one, rooted in research and response – in conversation of many kinds. He works extensively within arts and health and has a particular interest in the spaces where art, technology and wellbeing intersect. Aidan regularly curates and participates in events and discussions which centre these ideas.
Underpinning his work investigating the dual crises of Climate Change and Mental Health is an exploration into the relationships between the outer ‘physical weather’ we experience, and our ‘internal psycho-emotional weather’. Equally likely to be found beyond formal arts institutions as within them, his practice includes both Disability Arts and mainstream representation as artist and curator. As a Curator, Artist, Writer and Thinker he works nationally and internationally across physical and digital platforms. https://aidanmoesby.co.uk |
Happy Pills
The Happy Pills were a fixture of the disability arts scene in the late 1990s and 2000s. Writing their own material, self-described as a mix between rock and roll and punk, they wrote about the experiences of disabled people and mental health survival. They performed at many cabaret nights in the region and were part of Grin and Bare It Theatre Company and the Disability Theatre Lab. In this image they are in costumes of Mimosa Lounge Characters who were roving characters performing at the Sage Gateshead and South Tyneside College Diversity Week.
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Black Robin
Black Robin is an Irish disabled artist based on the North East, specialising in the documentation of the work and work processes of disabled artists, with material spanning 20 years. He documents original processes and uses both film and photography. He also uses a specific form of portraiture exhibition to give disabled subject a voice and to give disabled people visibility. He has documented theatre, film, community, visual art and dance projects, as well as working a digital artist creating projections within performance with a number of disabled artists.
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Tom Shakespeare
Tom Shakespeare's contribution to disability thinking, ethics, writing and culture is almost immeasurable. He was very much an integral part of the Disability Arts movement in the North East and was one of the founding members of the Northern Disability Arts Forum. An academic, social scientist and ethicist in other areas of his life, Tom has also written and performed. At Arcadea's Mimosa Festival in 2006 Tom performed his theatre lecture No Small Inheritance at The Sage Gateshead (pictured) and a devised piece of performance art Falling and Laughing with Topsy Qur'et was presented at The Mimosa Cabaret at the Star and Shadow Cinema. Tom also served as Chair of Arts Council England, North East for many years, an expert in many areas of the arts, but certainly an impressive and important influence around promoting and championing disability equality.
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Karen Sheader
I have been composing and performing disability-related songs, sketches and film scripts for 25 years. Profoundly influenced by the 'old guard' including Ian Stanton and Johnny Crescendo, for a while I found my tribe. Over the past twelve years I've been working for Shoot Your Mouth Off, co-created with my friends Steve Carolan and Derek Mathews, we have built a unique and far-reaching body of video productions with learning disabled actors and crew, with 42,000 subscribers to our YouTube channel! I've continued to write and record songs with the Karen Sheader Band, but for the past few years have felt quite isolated, so it's wonderful to have this opportunity to share work with old and new friends.
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Kate Stanforth
Kate, 28, from Northumberland is a dancer, model, activist and runs an award-winning inclusive dance academy.
Kate was training to be a professional dancer before she became unwell and since becoming a wheelchair user has adapted her dancing to fit her condition and mobility aids. Kate works regularly with dance organisations to advise on inclusion with cross-sector partnerships with both brands and dance examination boards. She recently has had prime-time TV features (like The Last Leg and Steph’s Packed Lunch) and even had a number of documentary’s following her dance academy; including one by BBC One Show. Kate is keen to challenge the industry perception of disabled dancers and has published pieces in high profile places, including The Guardian and Metro. As well as dancing, Kate engages in a range of activities from public speaking to modelling which all bring a better representation of disability and dance. She has recently collaborated with a number of high-profile brands, including worldwide dance brand Capezio, and become the first wheelchair user on the Disney UK Events team. Kate’s dance academy, although relatively new in the field and with no mainstream funding, has 5 disabled people on the team who she’s supported into work and over 200 members worldwide. She has trained dancers for auditions, shows and for fun and has an ‘open door’ policy for all students. Kate has won multiple awards, including being named in the Top 100 Most Influential Disabled People in the UK, A 'Woman of the Year' 2021 + 2022, and, Wellbeing Practitioner Award for 2021. The Dance Academy was given a 'Highly Commended Award', named The Guardians Favourite Cheap Fitness Class (next to The Body Coach!) and named No2 Best Inclusive Dance Class by Cosmopolitan. Kate also has an impressive volunteering record, with over 3,000 hours and her own charitable organisation, Project Parent, having reached over 2,000 families nationwide. https://www.katestanforthacademyofdance.com/more-about-me |
Neil Tinning
Neil 'Twink' Tinning was involved in the disability arts scene, NorDAF and Arcadea for several years. He is an incredible photographer, who has also advised BBC's Eastenders on their portrayal of mental health. At the tender age of 21, Neil was invited to be the photographer for the band The Jam. He did this for two years, iconically capturing them in their final year together. In 2006 at the Mimosa Festival Neil's Unseen photographs of The Jam were exhibited at The Mushroom Works, with Jam drummer Rick Buckler coming along to the opening. It was a packed and buzzing event, and from which a book and a poster exhibition in London came. Neil has a collection of photographs relating to explorations of mental health.
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Kim Tserkezie
Kim Tserkezie is a multi award-winning film and broadcast TV producer, presenter, writer and actor based in the North East. She is a highly influential practitioner with a career spanning comedy, drama, children's TV and documentary. She came to the public's attention when she played Penny Pocket in the award winning Balamory, representing a character who was a wheelchair user on mainstream TV for several years. After Balamory however, Kin is on record as having said that she found the only parts coming up were medically related and she wanted to see and show more than that. In 2019, Kim was named as one of the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK (Shaw Trust Power 100) and in 2020, she won a Royal Television Society Award for best drama performance for her leading role in Obsession (BFI Network).
Kim runs her own production company Scattered Pictures About – Scattered Pictures |
Vici Wreford-Sinnott
Vici is an award-winning playwright and theatre director who has worked in Disability Arts and Theatre for almost 30 years in the UK and Ireland. She is Artistic Director of Little Cog, the North East’s premier disabled-led theatre company and is Co-Founder of Cultural Shift, a strategic artistic platform for disabled artists. Vici is committed to rich, multi-layered theatre which brings a new aesthetic and engage audiences in new ways with previously untold or mis-told stories. Having worked nationally and internationally, Vici is Associate Artist at ARC Stockton, Artistic Directing Collaborator with Full Circle Theatre Company – an ensemble of learning disabled theatre makers and has a scholarship for a practice-based PhD in Disability Theatre at Teesside University. In this image Vici is playing Sister Bernadette, a mock figure convinced she can assist wheelchair users up stairs with sprinklings of special water.
www.viciwreford-sinnott.com |