Cultural Inclusion Update – March 2022

Hello, welcome to the latest newsletter from Cultural Inclusion, it's been a while since we've been in touch and there's lots to share with you.

We are now a Community Interest Company (CIC)

The Cultural Inclusion Manifesto is now a Community Interest Company (CIC). While we have achieved an impressive amount since we launched, supported by the incredible generosity of our signatories, we wanted to formalise the organisation to take our work to the next level.

We are proud of our impact to date, especially being a volunteer organisation with no external financial support, and we look forward to doing so much more in the future.


 

Message from Every Child Should

Every Child Should has been proud to support Cultural Inclusion as one of its pro-bono incubation projects. Working with Paul and Rachael to grow this fantastic movement has been extraordinary. The views of young people and parents and the support from arts and cultural organisations and schools have been inspiring, and we have enjoyed every minute. We will be continuing our support to Cultural Inclusion - as it grows as an independent organisation - we will push on together to bring about tangible changes across the arts and cultural sector.

Anita & Matt - Founders Every Child Should

We will no longer be using this list to send newsletters, so please stay in touch by clicking below and signing up to Cultural Inclusion CIC's mailing list.


 

Our new film

We are proud to launch our new film which: highlights the importance of arts and culture to children and young people with disabilities; shines a light on the inequality of access to artistic and cultural experiences; and raises awareness of our work to tackle barriers to inclusion.

We would like to thank everyone who was involved in making this film. We couldn’t have done it without you!


 

Our third conference

As the Cultural Inclusion Manifesto moves forward into a new stage of its development, and with its third conference in the planning, there are exciting times ahead. The conference is being kindly hosted by the Royal Albert Hall, one of our first signatories, and we would like to thank them for their continued generosity and support. At the conference we will come together to discuss how best we can collectively, as a movement, work in the space of arts and culture to increase our impact. More to follow soon.

Third Cultural Inclusion Conference

- SAVE THE DATE -

20th May 2022



 

Cultural Inclusion Manifesto Supporters

There are now over 240 individuals, schools and organisations who have signed up to the Cultural Inclusion Manifesto. We would like to welcome two of our new signatories, the National Trust and the English National Opera, both of whom have written a short piece on their work to increase inclusion in their organisations.

Our founders believed that everyone had the right to benefit from nature, beauty and history. We are honest enough to recognise that today we are not the inclusive organisation our founders wanted us to be. We are therefore committed to take greater action to create a welcoming, friendly and open environment for everyone... (see more)

The ENO is the national opera house for everyone. We were founded on the principle that we are open and accessible to anyone, whoever they are. We are passionate about the need to engage new and diverse audiences, and to reflect the diversity of contemporary society through our programme... (see more)


 

Anti-ableist pedagogy

Two new areas of work have emerged as a result of research currently being undertaken co-founder, Paul Morrow, as part of a book he is writing for NASEN (National Association for Special Educational Needs) on Art, Culture and Inclusion.

Paul was kindly invited to join NSEAD (National Society for Education in Art and Design) Special interest group in advancing anti-ableist pedagogy by Associate Professor Claire Penketh of Liverpool Hope University. Ableism is the discrimination that occurs as a consequence of the physical and attitudinal structures in society being designed in favour of non-disabled people. This discrimination marginalises and others those with disabilities. This discrimination is different to disablism which is overt discrimination against disabled people.

Professor Penketh describes the development of this pedagogy as vital as it offers an alternative discourse in art and design education. As a group we have been reflecting, sharing and questioning aspects of practice so that we can articulate this effectively and drawing on real life examples we can share to support the development of this discourse.

We are looking to take this work forward by working with artists that identify as disabled. By shining a light on their work, to contextualise learning and creative enquiry, we can contribute to a dialogue that counters ableism. We know that being seen and acknowledged supports the key ideals of inclusion. One such artists is Nnena Kalu. Nnena works with ActionSpace one of our signatories. The images below are some of her work.

Nnena is currently showing work at the To all the Kings who have no Crowns exhibition at the Carl Freedman gallery and was also shown at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition co-ordinated by Yinka Shonibare.


 

Cultural Capital and the Inclusive canon

Our second new area of work is the Inclusive Canon which has already received support from key politicians.

All schools must demonstrate that they are equipping their students with cultural capital. So, the notion of culture is high on the educational agenda, but whose culture? The established canon tends to be overly male, overly white and non-disabled. There is an opportunity here. The Cultural Inclusion Manifesto will support the development of an Inclusive Canon, co-produced with disabled artists and educators, which will include resources that can be used to support the delivery of a broad and balanced creative curriculum and assist young people in gaining cultural capital.

These are just some of the exciting topics and initiatives that we can work together on and we look forward to seeing you all at the Conference on Friday the 20th May at the Royal Albert Hall and discussing our next steps collectively for change.

Cultural Inclusion - Strategy Consultation

Now that the Cultural Inclusion Manifesto is moving into its next phase it is important that we have a clear and shared strategy for the future and we invite your input.

We have drafted an outline strategy around the vision of: all children and young people with disabilities have equal access to a broad range of artistic and cultural experiences.
To progress this vision we will work with partners, leaders of arts and culture organisations, educators, politicians and artists to promote access and drive inclusive practice in the following ways:

  • To Consume – to be audience members in venues, in school and online without barriers to access.
  • To Create – to be artists and performers participating in all art forms, accessing progression routes, training, and opportunities to showcase their talents.
  • To Connect – to engage with arts and culture through positive depictions of disabled people and identifying with disabled artists as role models.
  • To have Careers – to be arts and culture employees, to be amongst the next generation of leaders, and accessing progression routes.

The strategy outlines the priorities towards achieving this and the actions that we will purpose to achieve the priorities. Have a look at the outline strategy, respond to the questions and/ or give us your general thoughts and insights so that we can move forwards together.

Click to see the strategy here. Please send responses to info@culturalinclusion.uk


 

Cultural Inclusion - Kite mark

As interest in the Cultural Inclusion Manifesto grows, so do the requests from organisations wishing to make their venues and programmes accessible. There is so much good practice already out there and so we are seeking your input on a scoping project to identify:

  • What venues and organisations successfully do to be accessible.
  • What barriers disabled people and their families have faced and what changes would make experiences much better.

The aim is to build a set of standards for accessibility that can be promoted widely - but we know we don't need to start from scratch. Please send us your materials, links to your work, an outline of your experiences, ideas for improvements, or a note on how you do things. Also, if you would like to be part of a working group to pull the findings together then please let us know that too.

Please send responses to info@culturalinclusion.uk

Of interest...

  • Lindo Rocco's guest blog for the Cultural Inclusion Manifesto - The Liberty Festival
  • Parliamentary Petition: Signatory, Rena Johnson (@AllThingsSpeci1), has launched a petition to make SEND training mandatory for ALL teachers. If you haven’t signed it already, please check it out and add your support here

Consultancy from Cultural Inclusion

We are regularly asked to provide consultancy, training and conference inputs to support Cultural Inclusion, which we are happy to do. If you think we can help your organisation then contact us at info@culturalinclusion.uk. If we cannot help then we will signpost you to someone who may be able to.


 
 
This is the last newsletter to be sent for Cultural Inclusion by Every Child Should. To continue receiving Cultural Inclusion newsletters sign up to Cultural Inclusion's mailing list here.
 
 

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