Hamlet performed by Teatro La Plaza at the Barbican Theatre Credit: Alastair Muir
As artists we have a platform and opportunity to use our art to question, disrupt the status quo and make audiences reflect on certain topics that matter to us. Moreover, we have a chance to give visibility to themes and people that tend to be overlooked or are invisible.
How we use this platform matters.
This workshop is a chance to reflect on your creative practice, questioning your own perspectives and inspiring you to incorporate more inclusive practices into your process.
The aims of this workshop are to:
- Reflect on your identity through the lens of inclusive practices.
- Acknowledge the influence of your prior experiences, assumptions & beliefs and how it affects your creative practice.
- Manifest your understanding of inclusion, its impact, and the implications for your creative process.
- Inform and inspire you to create inclusive theatre.
Workshop
Part 1 (one hour)
Introduction
Talk about my background, my own artistic practice as a painter and the work I’ve done with different communities in London (Older adults, immigrants, people with mental health support needs and now at UAL working with students form diverse backgrounds).
Key concepts
Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how aspects of a person’s social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege.
Positionality is the recognition of the influence of an individual’s unique background, experiences, and social identities on their perspectives, biases, and interactions with the world.
Acknowledge that the workshop is a space for participants to reflect, they can share as much or as little as they feel comfortable with. Also, acknowledge the session might bring up topics and feelings that can be challenging so it is important we lead with empathy and allow people to speak without judgment, being kind to each other.
ME AND MY PRACTICE
Exercise one part 1
- My identity and my practice
Put yourself (your name, a drawing, a symbol…) in the center of the page, for the purpose of this exercise think of yourself and your practice as one. Write as many things as you can thinking of what connects you and your practice. Use the questions below to help you. (I’m using my own identity and practice as examples)
Who am I, what makes you, you?
Ex, I am a woman, I am Mexican, I am an artist, I love dogs…
What are things that are important to my practice?
Ex, color, loneliness/ isolation, mental health, my cultural heritage, Creating space for reflection …
How is my knowledge constructed, what are the things about your individual experience that have impacted what you know?
Ex. I grew up in Mexico, English is not my first language, I did a science degree, I come from a middle-class background…
Part 2
- Your project / your interests / what do you want to say / what do you want to change
Put your project at the center of the page, write as many words as possible or drawings around it that are connected to your project, themes you are exploring, things/people you have used as inspirations and why you chose the project. Use the questions below to help you. (I’m using a project I did exploring day of the dead in Mexico as an example)
What are things about this project that align with my interests?
Ex. I am interested in experiences of grief, day of the dead, how religion and indigenous beliefs have impacted these traditions, objects made and used by people to hour the dead, the food associated with it, the colors…
What do you want to say?
Ex. Draw attention to the complexities of this tradition, honor its indigenous influence, allow people to explore a different perspective of grief and death.
What are things you would like to change/have an impact with your project?
Ex. I want people to see the reality of the tradition instead of the commercialized Hollywood version, I want people to engage in the importance of ritual, I would like to challenge perspectives of how we look at death.
- Sharing and discussion
Each participant will share their answers, and we will discuss amongst ourselves, reflecting on what is being shared. Incorporating positionality and intersectionality to the discussion.
15-minute break
Workshop Part 1
MY PRACRICE AND MY AUDIENCE
(45 mins)
We have reflected on who we are, and how what we are interested in affects our creative practice. For this second part I would like us to question how audiences will respond to your work and what we are doing in our creative process to include different audiences.
Key concepts
Inclusion refers to “the act or practice of including and accommodating people who have historically been excluded (because of their race, gender, sexuality, or ability).” (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
Disability
The social model of disability was developed by disabled people in response to dominant medical/individual models of disability (UPIAS, 1976; Oliver, 2004)
•According to the social model, people are disabled by barriers, not by their impairments/medical conditions.
•Barriers can be environmental, attitudinal, or procedural.
•The social model is solutions-focused, inviting us to consider how we can remove barriers in our contexts.
Exercise 1
When was the last time a piece of art made you feel uncomfortable? Inspired in Leah Cox lecture A Call for Change: Utilising Discomfort Pedagogy as a decolonisation tool in teaching and learning practice.
What impact did the experience of discomfort have on you – positive or negative?
Did it generate any learning or prevented any learning?
Give example, Hamlet production at the barbican (Young Peruvian cast with Down syndrome share their timely message of inclusion and diversity with the world through playful and defiant reimagining of Hamlet)
Share your experiences of discomfort
Discussion, how art can generate discomfort that challenges perceptions (race, sexuality, gender, class…) Why is this important?
Exercise 2
On the different post it write down answers to the following questions and pop them on the wall.
Who is your audience?
How do you think your audience will receive the piece?
What barriers do you think certain people will experience when encountering your peace?
What could you do to remove those barriers?
Share your answers with the group.
Having heard each other this is an opportunity to offer different perspectives to each other’s work, with the focus on audiences. What are things your peers might be missing or overlooking. How could they improve the experience of audiences? How can they make their piece more accessible to people?
Conclude with opening the floor for any comets or questions