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A photograph of 4 people dressed in brightly coloured costumes waving their hands in the air. They are outside performing.

Signdance Collective Photo provided by Creative Junction

Accentuate News

We are heading into holiday season for some, so it’s a good time to take stock of the successes and challenges of the last two months.  The joy and the pain seem to have been felt in equal measure.  No doubt many of you are experiencing the difficulties of the current climate of cuts.  Accentuate is not immune to this.  We are currently in discussion with SEEDA, one of our key funders, as they wish to cut their level of funding.  We are negotiating our position but it does seem likely that there will be a cut in some shape or form.  However, what has come out of this challenge is a unity of purpose.

 Our partners have been incredibly supportive and committed to continuing to deliver quality projects.  We feel very privileged to be working with these people and share their determination to strive towards our goal of creating a cultural shift around attitudes to disability and disabled people.

We have also had the pleasure of attending some fantastic events, over the last few weeks, which reminds us of the purpose of Accentuate and what is being achieved.  One highlight was the Gaming! launch at Pinewood studios.  Not only did we have the glamour of being at this prestigious centre for film but we were delighted to witness the passion of the students and tutors who had been involved with this project.  You can read more detail about Gaming! in our Featured Project section.

“Impact” the Sync South East event, was a wonderful showcase event for the talent of the deaf and disabled cultural sector in the South East.  The impact of this seemed quite clear.  There is immense talent in our region that has huge potential to impact on a much larger National scale.  It felt like we were certainly moving towards our goal of being the lead area for disabled led cultural activity.

At this event there were so many fabulous moments but to single out a few: We witnessed quiet yet intensely focussed performance from Freewheelers Theatre Company in contrast to the vibrant yet cheeky “New Gold” piece by Signdance Collective.  Alongside these performances we heard about the extremely successful exhibition “Outside In” hosted by Pallant House Gallery, where a new internet selection process had been pioneered.   We also listened to “bloggers” talking  about Disability Arts Online.  This internet hub for deaf and disabled writers is incredibly influential, not only in Britain, but is now developing a reputation and readership internationally.  As we came away from this event it was clear there is a wealth of talent and we need to ensure more and more people get to hear about it.

Other good news, we are delighted that Driving Inspiration which is part of our Project Paralympic Region, has been awarded a 2012 Inspire Mark.

Although there is a sense of trepidation in the air that there will be challenges ahead, there is also a sense of optimism and opportunity.  We need to be ready to think quickly and innovatively so we are at the front leading the way.  We must continue to promote the talents of deaf and disabled people and ensure they are recognised for these.  We must also ensure organisations continue to invest in disabled people because they understand the real benefit of doing so.  Accentuate has always set itself ambitious targets where we approach things differently and this may well put us in a good position in the coming months.


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