What does it mean to be disability-led? Jo Verrent unveils the realities of running the disabled led arts organisation Unlimited.
It’s not enough for disabled people to make art, the context they make it in matters too.
I’m the director at an organisation called Unlimited which commissions disabled artists to create exceptional work. At Unlimited, we describe ourselves as ‘disability led’. That means our staff, our board, our core decision making processes are all made by people, groups and teams that are as a minimum 51% disabled people.
We are proud, delighted and determined to be (and to stay) disabled led – it matters hugely. It’s not enough for disabled people to make art, the context they make it in matters too.
Any art making by disabled artists can, of course, be brilliant. Historically however there has been distortion, censorship, control and coercion within some contexts where disabled artists have made work – think of all the collections of work that exist from hospitals and asylums that are named after the doctors of patients. Where the artists are unknown, the doctors or institutions own the work, gain the credit and the cash. Think that’s in the past? I can name a large number of directors, choreographers, curators and collectors who are non-disabled and still working from this model – all far more prominently acclaimed (and well paid) than the disabled people they collaborate with or whose work they benefit from...Keep reading on Sync Leadership.
It’s not enough for disabled people to make art, the context they make it in matters too.
I’m the director at an organisation called Unlimited which commissions disabled artists to create exceptional work. At Unlimited, we describe ourselves as ‘disability led’. That means our staff, our board, our core decision making processes are all made by people, groups and teams that are as a minimum 51% disabled people.
We are proud, delighted and determined to be (and to stay) disabled led – it matters hugely. It’s not enough for disabled people to make art, the context they make it in matters too.
Any art making by disabled artists can, of course, be brilliant. Historically however there has been distortion, censorship, control and coercion within some contexts where disabled artists have made work – think of all the collections of work that exist from hospitals and asylums that are named after the doctors of patients. Where the artists are unknown, the doctors or institutions own the work, gain the credit and the cash. Think that’s in the past? I can name a large number of directors, choreographers, curators and collectors who are non-disabled and still working from this model – all far more prominently acclaimed (and well paid) than the disabled people they collaborate with or whose work they benefit from...Keep reading on Sync Leadership.