Schedule of Events

Plenary Schedule

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Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Time: 08:45 – 18:00
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Venue: Gateway Theatre
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Free, ticketed
08:45
Registration Open
09:15
Welcome Address
Prof Tommy Koh (Founder, ART:DIS)
 
Guest-of-honour Address
Eric Chua (Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and Ministry of Social and Family Development)
 
Opening Remarks — Mapping the Arts & Disability Landscape in Singapore
Angela Tan (Executive Director, ART:DIS)
09:40
Performance 1 — DANCE DRAMA: Breakthrough Journey (FILM)
ART:DIS in collaboration with BiG-i, featuring Luqman B As'ad, Ammar Ameezy, Timothy Lee, Eileen Tong, Pang Yi Wei, Nur Arianty Binte Djonaede
Witness how an international call for collaboration ignited the formation of an inclusive dance collective to champion inclusion and diversity in stage representation.
09:45
Panel Discussion 1 — From Access to a Future of Disability-led Leadership: Individual Aspirations and Equitable Representation
The arts thrive on diversity, not just as a cultural form but also as a creative field offering innumerable ways of reimagining our present and our futures. How might the Arts & Disabilities sector be collectively conceived from the perspectives of artists, producers, and leaders within our communities? How do we shift conversations of inclusivity for disabled persons from that of culture access to equitable representation in leadership within the arts and cultural sectors? What does the future look like?
Dr Azariah Tan (Pianist and Educator, Board Member, ART:DIS), Dr Balbir Singh (Advisor and Founding Chair, Down Syndrome Association), Eric Chua (Senior Parliamentary Secretary, MCCY, MSF), Sky Shen (Singer-Songwriter). Moderated by Maureen Goh (Former Executive Director, ART:DIS).
10:40
Tea Break
11:10
Keynote 1 — Art. Freedom. Care.
Project Art Works (UK), represented by Tim Corrigan (Creative Director) and Katie Taylor (Creative Programme Manager)
Project Art Works collaborates with people with complex support needs, their families and their circles of support to enable authentic expression and self-representation through art making. The archive of work, produced over 20 years, offers a unique record of the lives of people often made invisible in cultural life and wider society. This keynote address will introduce Project Art Works' practice, from studio-based activity to training, advocacy and peer support for families, offering insights into the ways in which the organisation and the artists it works with have disrupted entrenched dynamics of representation in the art world and beyond.
 
Panel Discussion 2 — Bridging Community-based Engagement to Professional Pathways: Intervening in Complex Culture Systems
The work of D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent communities are important and relevant voices that add to the diversity of our culture landscape and narratives, contributing and partaking in cultural content and production. Developing and sustaining professional careers for artists with disabilities require particular interventions, scaffolds, and support systems within our current cultural climate. What changes are necessary for the advancement of such opportunities and possibilities? How do we intervene in complex culture systems and disrupt preconceptions about what people with disabilities can or cannot do, who they are, and how they live?
Tim Corrigan (Creative Director, Project Art Works), Roger Lee (Parent-Guardian of Performing Artist Timothy Lee), Ranae Lee-Nasir (Visual Artist and Educator), Claire Teo (Actor, Director, Singer, Lyricist, Script Writer). Moderated by Alecia Neo (Co-Founder of Brack and Artistic Director of Unseen Art Initiatives).
12:30
Networking Lunch
13:30
Performance 2 — BEYOND DIS:PLAY: Wheel You Love Me? (LIVE)
Performance by Sky Shen
Through contemporary songs created from lived experiences, Sky reflects on the right to love and to be seen as an equal human being.
13:45
Keynote 2 — The Happiness of Each Person is the Happiness of Society
Kyoko Suzuki (Arts Executive Producer and Deputy Director), BiG-i International Communications Centre for Persons with Disability (JPN)
The BiG-i International Communication Centre for Persons with Disabilities was established in Osaka in 2001 by the Japanese Government as a centre for artistic and cultural activities by persons with disabilities. For more than twenty years, the BiG-i has been creating an environment where anyone, including persons with disabilities, can participate in art appreciation and creative activities. BiG-i provides advice and coordination to theatres and museums across the country, sharing their programmes and techniques. Through their international networks, they also develop co-productions with overseas organisations such as the production DANCE DRAMA: Breakthrough Journey in collaboration with ART:DIS. This keynote address will introduce the work of BiG-i and reflect on ways of supporting artistic activities by persons with disabilities as well as the results of such programmes.
 
Keynote 3 ‐ Studio A: Supporting Individual and Social Outcomes for Artists with Intellectual Disability
Gabrielle Mordy (CEO and Artistic Director), Studio A (AUS)
Studio A is one of Australia's leading supported studios for professional artists with intellectual disability and a social enterprise initiative of Studio ARTES Northside. Through Studio A, our artists consistently exhibit and sell their work, receive major commissions and even licence their intellectual property. Four Studio A artists were finalists in Australia's major portrait prize The Archibald in 2022. Studio A's program works in complement with Studio ARTES which delivers more recreationally focused creative programs for adults with disability with a focus on building life skills. This keynote address will outline how Studio A artists achieve their professional outcomes and how Studio A and ARTES programs work in collaboration, paying particular attention to the personal and social outcomes these creative programs produce including improved self esteem and social cohesion.
 
Panel Discussion 3 ‐ Reframing Meaningfulness and Empowerment in Community-based Care Services
With the growing number of arts programmes in Social Service Agencies and Special Education Schools in Singapore, how might we see the arts as a platform for supporting disabled individuals in becoming community assets, givers and empowered individuals? How do we maintain inclusivity of participation when developing these programmes, moving away from ‘functional abilities’ to asset based development? In what ways can we reframe and rethink approaches to meaningful engagement in these settings, and across different support levels.
Evelyn Ang (Head of Department, Arts, AWWA School @ Napiri), Gabrielle Mordy (CEO and Artistic Director, Studio A), Kelvin Koh (CEO, MINDS), Ron Loh (Assistant CEO, SG Enable). Moderated by Angela Tan (Executive Director, ART:DIS)
15:45
Tea Break
16:15
Performance 3 ‐ BEYOND DIS:PLAY: Aspirations & Pathways (FILM)
Featuring Claire Teo, Jaspreet Kaur Sekhon, Grace Ng, Wan Wai Yee, Yuki Neoh
Take a deep dive into different characters, lives, dreams, dilemmas, battles, and triumphs, invigorated and shaped through the lens of disability.
 
Performance 4 ‐ BEYOND DIS:PLAY: Day I Met The Prince (LIVE)
Performance by Timothy Lee, Ivni Yaakub, Choo Jun Wei, supported by Amelia Tan, Courtney Mae Lim, Shai, Su Paing Tun
Through this seminal play written by Kuo Pao Kun portraying the common pains of growing up in Singapore, let's embark on an adventure to honour our unique identities and paradigms. Performed by a pan-disability cast with original visual artwork projection, creative captioning, and creative narration.
17:15
ROUNDTABLE ‐ Industry Mentorship and Asset-based Collaboration
In this roundtable, mentors and artists exchange perspectives and insights on challenging norms and establishing benchmarks in the disability arts sector.
Haresh Sharma (Resident Playwright, The Necessary Stage), Dr Philip Tan (Creative Director, The Creative Playground), Verena Tay (Artist-Educator, Playwright and Storyteller), Grace Ng (Actor), Jaspreet Kaur Sekhon (Dancer-Actor-Advocate), Wan Wai Yee (Singer-Actor). Moderated by Peter Sau (Head of Artistic Development, Performing Arts, ART:DIS).
18:00
END

Workshops

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20 – 21 February 2023
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Venue:
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Workshop by Project Art Works

Target participants: Artists and arts workers who work with neurodiverse communities in Visual Arts
Venue: ARTDIS (Bukit Merah)
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Fee: $70.00
*limited spaces; organisers will follow up with an email to request for you to submit a simple statement of intent before confirmation of place.

Over the course of this two-day workshop, participants will work alongside each other in an evolving environment created collaboratively with others in the space. Starting from the principle of personalised mark-making as an authentic record of an individual's way of being, and finding ways to share and celebrate that, Project Art Works has developed a practice that enables the representation of neurodivergent people on their own terms. Together, we will explore the environments, processes and values that underpin the unique and personalised collaborations at the centre of Project Art Works' studio practice and public-facing productions. Through participation in hands-on activities, reflective discussions and film screenings and presentations to share the archive of exhibitions and studio practice, participants will have the opportunity to expand thinking and develop practice around making visible people and lives which are often invisible.

Workshops

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Thursday, 23 February 2023
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In-Conversation: Collaborative Access
Facilitated by Kyoko Suzuki, Claire Teo and Peter Sau.

Target participants: Artists and arts workers primarily working in Performing Arts
Venue: ARTDIS (Bukit Merah)
Time: 09:30 – 13:00
Fee: $20.00

Allyship is needed to sustainably support fully accessible works to the D/deaf and disabled. We need to empower them as artists to do their best artistic work—disability-led—to build a more exciting and diverse arts ecosystem. How can we collaborate as equal partners through more inclusive practices to offer disability-informed perspectives and distinctive expertise? How do we foster a genuine and conscious engagement and understanding of the toolbox necessary to champion diversity, equity, and inclusion? This session in two parts aims to address the intersections of cultural productions, arts education, and disability access through asset-based and purpose-driven creative work, arts programming, and stakeholder management.

In-Conversation: Creative Enabling Towards Disability-Led Practice
Facilitated by Gabrielle Mordy and Francis Poon

Target participants: Artists and arts workers primarily working in Visual Arts
Venue: ARTDIS (Bukit Merah)
Time: 14:30 – 17:00
Fee: $20.00

Supporting the professional development of artists with disabilities, specifically those with intellectual or learning disabilities may require additional creative facilitation and enabling. In commissioned work and curated exhibitions, how might we support them to express their own unique voice, and at the same time respond to the demands and creative briefs of commissioners, curators and producers?

Studio A provides its artists with a working studio space equipped with specialist materials and support-staff. In a similar vein, ART:DIS provides its young artists in training with access to ceramic studios where they are supported to create works independently. Gabrielle Mordy of Studio A will be sharing about public art projects undertaken by their artists, and their approaches in supporting them to lead the public art production process vis a vis the broader support the Studio A team provides. Francis Poon manages a ceramics studio programme for ART:DIS, and will share about how he supported a group of young artists-in-training to produce ceramic sculptures that were featured together with local artists in The Sculpture Society's annual exhibition in 2022.

Performing Arts 101
Target participants: Social service sector/SPED professionals working with PwD communities
Venue: ARTDIS (Bukit Merah)
Time: 09:30 – 13:10
Fee: $20.00

Dance introductory session facilitated by RAW Moves (Artistic Director Ricky Sim and Dance-Educator Matthew Goh), Maya Dance Theatre's Diverse Abilities Dance Collective (Artistic Director Kavitha Krishnan and Dance-Instructor Weng Jiaying), as well as Luqman B As'ad (Artistic Director of SHIFT, Dancer and Choreographer) with Timothy Lee (ART:DIS Performing Artist).

Music introductory session facilitated by Mei Tan (Music Instructor), Fran Ho (Vocalist and Musician), and Drum Prodigy (Founding Director Sivaranjini Das).

Performing Arts 101 is an experiential workshop for social sector and SPED practitioners who wish to explore performing arts programmes in their work with persons with disabilities. In this series of workshops, you'll be introduced to different dance genres, such as Contemporary Dance, Indian Dance, and Street Dance, together with music genres such as Drumming, Choral Singing, and Angklung. Hear from the artists on their approaches in facilitating inclusive learning, across different support levels, taking clients/students on their journey of self-discovery and social interaction.

Visual Arts 101
Target participants: Social service sector/SPED professionals working with PwD communities
Venue: ARTDIS (Bukit Merah)
Time: 14:00 – 17:40
Fee: $20.00

Visual arts introductory session facilitated by Wesley Seah (Chinese Ink Artist), Francis Poon (Ceramic Artist), Joe Chien (Digital Illustrator), and Tan Beng Tian (Puppeteer and Theatre Practitioner)

Visual Arts 101 is an experiential workshop for social sector and SPED practitioners who wish to explore visual arts programmes in their work with persons with disabilities. You will be introduced to various visual arts mediums such as Chinese Calligraphy, Ceramics, Puppetry, and Stop Motion Animation. Hear from the artists on their approaches in facilitating inclusive learning, across different support levels, taking clients/students on their journey of self-discovery and social interaction.

Partner Programme

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Saturday, 18 February 2023
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Venue:
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SAM Art Dose with Project Art Works (UK)

Venue: Singapore Art Museum at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Time: 13:00 – 19:00
Open to all | Free

The following events are part of Singapore Art Museum‘s new signature programme, SAM Art Dose. Take some time out and join us on a journey to connect, explore, and reflect alongside artists and newfound friends. SAM Art Dose integrates art into the larger conversations about how to live better with your wellbeing as its primary focus.

This edition is presented in collaboration with ART:DIS (SG) and features Project Art Works (PAW) – a collective of neurodiverse artists, carers and activists with a studio based in Hastings, UK. They collaborate with people with complex support needs, their families and circles of support to create projects, films, events and exhibitions at the intersection of art and care, and to provide practical and holistic support.

13:00 – 15:45
Solar Printing Drop-in Workshop

Get to know PAW’s approach, methodologies and practice through the simple photographic process of solar printing. Participants will be invited to make their own portraits to incorporate into an evolving installation that records traces of people who have been in the space. Learn about the considerations involved in working with artists with complex support needs, including the design of immersive environments and processes used.
Free | Open to all ages, children must be accompanied by an adult | Singapore Sign Language interpretation will be provided by SADeaf

13:00 – 15:45, 17:30 – 19:00
Film Screening of Kin

Since its founding, PAW has used film both as a tool for self-reflection and in public-facing productions that enable neurodivergent artists to represent themselves on their own terms. The organisation’s film archive contains a broad range of material, from intimate footage of studio practice to interviews with artists and recordings of their lived experiences. At this screening, catch a preview of PAW’s new film, Kin, which documents the life of PAW studio artist Carl Sexton and his sisters, who are part of his care team.
Free | 16 minutes on loop | Registration is not required | Captioned in English

16:00 – 17:30
[Talk] A Framework for Action: Exploring Artistic Approaches Within the Arts Ecosystem to Support People Often Excluded from Cultural Life and Wider Society

How can we reimagine spaces for inclusivity? What actions can be taken to make them a reality? Three players in the arts ecosystem—the artists, the non-profit organisation and the museum—will explore these questions as they share about their respective journeys. From Project Art Works' (UK) programmes, which showcase and celebrate the contributions of neurodivergent artists; to ART:DIS’ arts programming and advocacy, which empower persons with disabilities; to Singapore Art Museum’s (SAM) collaborative approaches to art, which enable the co-production of meaning, discover how everyone in the community can play a part in driving social change.

Tim Corrigan (Creative Director, Project Art Works) and Katie Taylor (Creative Programme Manager, Project Art Works), Angela Tan (Executive Director, ART:DIS), and Dr Lim Chye Hong (Head of Education, Programmes and Access, Singapore Art Museum).

Singapore Sign Language Interpretation will be provided by SADeaf.
Registration required at : https://samartdose-projectartworks.peatix.com/