Graeae Announces Free Online Training and Wellbeing Workshops For Deaf and Disabled Artists Affected By The Pandemic

Britain's leading disabled led theatre company, Graeae today announces Beyond: Develop, a series of FREE online wellbeing and CPD (Creative Professional Development) workshops for Deaf and disabled artists affected by the pandemic. This follows the company's launch last Summer of Beyond, a major new initiative, designed to remove barriers and transform the careers of Deaf and Disabled artists across the UK.

Covid-19 has hit every sector, in every corner of the country hard. Culture and entertainment is one of the worst affected industries and for Deaf, disabled and neuro-diverse creatives, already on its peripheries, hard won opportunities have fallen further and further from their grasp.

Beyond: Develop, offers a series of online sessions, aimed at supporting artists in finding new ways to move forward, whilst providing ways to diversify skills and remain resilient. Working alongside some of the best arts facilitators in the country, Graeae's bespoke sessions seek to empower participants to keep on keeping on, despite the world around them and their industry grinding to a halt.

With such facilitators as teacher and performance maker Lesley Ewen, Senior producer of the world's largest commissions programme for disabled artists Unlimited, Jo Verrent, casting director Sarah Hughes, actor, teacher and writer Funlola Olufunwa, Graeae's Associate Director Nickie Miles-Wildin and Graeae's Artistic Director Jenny Sealey, the sessions are made up of 12 Creative Professional Development sessions and 12 wellbeing sessions. More facilitators will be announced in the next few weeks.

Beyond: Develop is open to artists who are Deaf, disabled, Neurodiverse, living with a long term health condition, or who have faced barriers to training due to access requirements not being met. We know that many of those artists have lost work due to the crisis and are unsure of what the future holds for both their jobs, access to the arts and their plans for a creative career as a whole.

Graeae recognises the immense value of intersectionality across our communities which includes Black, Asian, ethnic minority and LGBTQIA+ artists and they welcome applications from all corners of the sector. They will endeavour to keep the numbers capped for each session, so that space is made for every voice to be heard and to ensure that all access requirements can be met.

Jenny Sealey, said:

"We're so grateful to The National Lottery for providing funding for this much needed new training and wellbeing programme; Beyond: Develop. COVID-19 has affected everyone across the arts and cultural sector so much, but Deaf and disabled artists have been particularly hard-hit. This new programme means we can ensure our community of Deaf and disabled creatives all across the country can be equipped with the skills, confidence and knowledge to forge onwards in their careers, and the tools to manage their emotional wellbeing as we go forward into a creative and calmer 2021." - Jenny Sealey, Artistic Director & CEO, Graeae Theatre Company

Participants can sign up at www.graeae.org from 12 noon on Thursday 21 January until 6pm on Tuesday 2 February. The application process is available in a variety of accessible formats.

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