Culture Access is a community interest company with four directors. We are based in London and previously West Midlands. Some of us had experience from the community group Connect Culture.
We have a steering group and functions much as in co production.
Directors
Eleanor Lisney MA MSIS is a founder member of Culture Access. She is an access and equality advisor. She writes on intersectional issues as a disabled woman of colour and is passionate on campaigning for social justice and inclusion. She is on the Board of Directors of Disability Arts Online as well as EVR (End Violence and Racism against East and South East Asian communities). She loves good food, cooking with her PAs, eating out with friends, working with plants. She lives in the Greenwich area and wishes she has more time to write. She does a podcast exploring identities ‘Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice’.
Anahita Harding has a BA in Fine Art; Philosophy, and graduated from SOAS having studied MA History of Art and Architecture of the Islamic Middle East. A real interest of hers is access in museums and art galleries, and the way curatorial decisions can either welcome or deter a visitor depending on their class, gender, race and disability. Currently she is assisting the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive (NDACA) in curating an exhibition at Buckinghamshire New University which will be centred on the disability arts movement. She is also involved in community arts projects at the Horniman Museum- most recently with Three Cs- and volunteer every week as part of the Engage team.
Jenny Hurst is an Independent Living coordinator for a DPO and an independent Disability Equality Trainer. She was involved in the Independent Living Fund, first as an advisory group member and then as an active campaigner in the ultimately unsuccessful fight to save it. Jenny was involved in discussions with Ministers around the Care Act to try to ensure it enshrined Article 19 of the UNCRPD – the right to independent living. Among her goals is to ensure that more “changing places” toilets are available – as she says “having a truly accessibly loo is everything… just because it says ‘disabled toilet’ on the door, it doesn’t mean it is not disabling for some”. Jenny’s qualifications include a first class honours degree in French and Spanish. She lives in Greenwich and enjoys its green spaces and nature and visiting many of the borough’s ample restaurants with friends.
Dr. Joanna Abeyie MBE is the go-getting 33-year-old who has blazed a trail as a multi-award-winning social impact entrepreneur, champion of diversity, inclusion, and equality as well as making a mark as
an award-winning journalist and broadcaster.
Launching her first charity Elevation Networks Charitable Trust at 18 alongside six colleagues in 2006, following this 2008 Joanna went on to start her own Social Enterprise Shine Media in 2008, saw she placed over 3000 people from diverse backgrounds into work within the creative industries. Joanna’s latest enterprise is founding Blue Moon, a flagship inclusive Executive Search Business and Diversity and Inclusion Consultancy Practice. She has been instrumental in establishing the Creative Diversity All-Party Parliamentary Group with Ed Vaizey MP, of which she is a joint secretary. The University of Reading in 2019 awarded Joanna a Distinguished Graduate Award, and she then received an Honorary Doctorate in Business from the University of West England in the same year.
Joanna was also awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list for her services to diversity and inclusion in the creative and media industries.
Steering group members
Norman Mine is a London-based artist working between performance, film, sculpture and installation. Norman ‘s work uses personal experiences and real-life environment as starting points, and yet it is made ephemeral by the fictional personas he uses under the name of Dino Desica; an Italian aspiring actor.
Norman first participated in Cultural Access as an artist in 2019, performing at The Disabled and Proud Festival, Woolwich Library, before joining the Steering Committee.
He is also running creative workshops for community-based projects where the aim is to destabilizes the “standard” format of teaching/learning establish a new relationship between aquiring technical skills and improving communication expertise.
Dr Carmen Yau is a full-time Lecturer in Social Work at Goldsmiths University in the UK. She is a part-time PhD candidate at the Department of Applied Social Sciences of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She acquired solid professional experience in arts and culture education and research during her work with the UNESCO Observatory in Hong Kong. Carmen is the Chairperson of The Association of Women with Disabilities Hong Kong. She hosted a radio programme in Hong Kong featuring the lifestyles and advocacy of disabled people In Hong Kong. Over years, she focus on facilitating the accessibility of arts and culture for people with different forms of disabilities. Thus, she also conducted multiple art projects with disabled people including PhotoVoice Projects, art-jamming with circle painting, acapella team of disabled women and nude portraits against ableism. She is a disability advocate and a writer of erotic literature featuring the sexuality of disabled people. Her book “The Wounded Angel”, one of her Sugar’s XXX series erotica, was edited to be several movies and performances in Hong Kong. In 2020, She was the third-place winner in Tatler’s Hot List of “Sixteen Women Fighting for Fairness in Asia”. Carmen has a great passion to continue with arts and cultural education, research and advocacy for disabled people.
Dima Prykhodko is a Deaf Ukrainian refugee and have been living in London for the last year. He is currently working as a video editor. He has been learning BSL and has his level 2 and learning English for him is ongoing.
His hobbies are travel, art and theatre performing, which he would like to continue. He has been involved as a volunteer in various disabled arts projects and events. He likes meeting with other Deaf and disabled people.
Kamila Miri has been active in Culture Access projects for the past 2 years. As a visually impaired person, she is very interested in working with this pan impairment group. Kamila is Moroccan French and has been bringing her invaluable cultural insights into this diverse group.
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Sajida Shah was born and raised in Greenwich. She is registered blind, and is involved as a volunteer for many charities of Blind people. She is a director of Global Eyes. She does Talk and Support with Retina UK and advocacy for for the Committee for Blind in Greenwich. She has also been involved in Culture Access for 2 years.
Yannick Fomalah Nyah, is foremost, a father and founding volunteer at BME Volunteers CIC. His journey, shaped by his child’s challenges with Autism and his own battles with disability, alcoholism and abuse, fuels his passion for community service. He is driven by a deep commitment to truth, justice, and fairness for all, striving to create a more inclusive society for marginalised communities. His personal struggles inspire him to advocate for those facing similar obstacles, aiming to make a positive impact and instil resilience in others. Through BME Volunteers CIC, he works to drive physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual change, fostering support for those in need and building a more compassionate community. He has also been engaged in Culture Access’ s projects in the past 2 years, in videos and the cookbook, adding to its cultural diversity.
Advisor
Dr David Hockham is a neurodivergent academic based at the University of Greenwich as well as an internationally touring production manager and producer for theatre. His research span vocational education in Higher Education, knowledge exchange in and out of universities, arts and theatre co-creation and community leadership. He has co-written work on equitable co-design with universities and community knowledge exchange
contact Culture Access CIC
Instagram : @cultureaccess , email : eleanor@cultureaccess.co.uk
Registered address: c/o Impact Brixton, 17a electric lane , London, England sw98la