access

space to move

| vornster

Rosa Francesca reflects on her recent Hatching Residency

Impetus and Intention

In early 2024 I suffered an illness that rapidly took over my life. I had been experiencing joint issues for a few years, and because of this illness I quickly deteriorated further to the point that I could barely walk or speak and became an ambulatory wheelchair user. I fully expected to be totally unable to walk by the end of the year, however after spending time in hospital I was able to massively improve my health and found myself gaining back my mobility.

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What would happen if we used Citizens’ Assemblies to crowdsource arts policy?

| vornster

Communities would be engaged and empowered and arts policies would be invigorated, says Janet Vaughan, co-artistic director of Coventry-based artists company Talking Birds, whose work focuses on the relationship between people and place.

Attempting to banish the consultation fatigue of four years’ involvement in the preparation for Coventry’s time as UK City of Culture in 2021, and desperate to understand what value ‘ordinary people’ placed on arts and culture, Talking Birds called a Citizens’ Assembly in the city on arts, culture and creativity.

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A Room to Breathe 

| Charlie

Sam HH reflects on her Nest Residency

The Nest Residency gave me so much more than I had ever imagined it could.  So this is not just about what I did but what I gained. Not just creatively but personally. I had never been given space like this before. It felt greedy. Privileged. It felt overwhelmingly scary. I felt guilt – taking up space when it could have been used for someone else. Especially as I felt like I was maybe tricky.

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Difference Engine up for national award!

| vornster

[PRESS RELEASE] Coventry theatre company Talking Birds has been shortlisted in the prestigious Stage Awards 2019. The company is a finalist in the Innovation category for its mobile access tool, The Difference Engine, which allows D/deaf and hard of hearing audiences to access captions/subtitles, via their mobile devices, for performances that would otherwise be inaccessible to them.

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