Tag: Lucy Sheen

Disabled & Proud Festival: A celebration of our culture, community and solidarity

As a disabled performance artist, it was a privilege to have participated in the second half of the festival in Greenwich Library. The festival was a great platform to showcase my art to the disabled community and for me to be exposed to other disabled artists, of whom I may not have met and experienced their work had it not been for the festival.

– Sorena, performing artist

This festival was partly to celebrate Disability History Month ( Disability History Month runs from 22 November to 22 December every year ) and also the UN International Day of Disabled People (3rd December. The theme for this 2019 IDPD is ‘Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda’ ).

  • seated audience in a semi circle, 3 in wheelchairs
    the audience performance in the evening
  • Man with hoover in front of the audience
    Norman Mine with hoover
  • Black woman with red cap with a sign 'I ama strong black women'
    ‘I am a strong black woman’
  • East Asian woman seated, hands up in air
    Lucy Sheen at workshop
  • 2 wheelchair users, one white with long green hair, the other a black woman. they are both smiling.
    Dennis and Jacqui
  • part of the evening performers, 2 wheelchair users with guitars
    evening performers
  • audience with camera man
    The evening performances were filmed
  • black woman, wheelchair user, with microphonewith
    Miss Jacqui belting out a number
  • white woman, wheelchair user, with a microphone
    Naomi telling her story

The day started at the library with the exhibitions and information stalls, there is much footfall at Woolwich Centre Library on a Saturday afternoon with disabled and non disabled visitors.

The information stalls and exhibitions
  • library lobby in the morning as stalls were set up
    setting up stall
  • 2 women of colour sitting at a stall smiling
    from the Her Centre
  • wheelchair woman at an information stall
    Sue at an information stall
  • Flipboard with sign 'Disabled Women's Digital Quilt'
    Exhibition ‘Disabled Women’s Digital Quilt’
  • wheelchair user watching presentation
    Presentation : ‘Disabled Women’s Digital Quilt’
  • discussion and 2 people watching a presentation
    Exhibition: *Neurodiversions*

In *Neurodiversions* ​Annabel Crowley and Shura Joseph-Gruner present their creative responses to their day-to-day neurodiversions.

Exhibition : Digital Quiltof Disabled Women (pilot by Eleanor Lisney and Natasha Hirst and others) will be presented. This project was one of those joint shortlisted in the Royal Borough of Greenwich bid to be the borough of culture.

This pilot series of photos and videos was organised and co produced with the disabled women featured, by Natasha Hirst and Eleanor Lisney. They were all taken on the same one day at the Jetty cafe, Greenwich Peninsula. The photos were taken to highlight the lives, work and diversity of some disabled women in London, to be a pilot of a Digital Quilt of Disabled women.
Workshops

Workshops lead by Lucy Sheen and Annabel Crowley (drama ), Mx Dennis Queen and Miss Jacqui(music) and Richard Hering and Eleanor Lisney(smartphone video).

Some of the videos are here (captions to follow)

Short abstract of Lucy Sheen’s with Annabel Crowley’s workshop on drama making
Short abstract of Richard Herring’s and Eleanor Lisney’s workshop on smartphone videoing
Performance with workshop participants in the evening
see for the workshop video/version https://youtu.be/9hPfhHeUvzA

More to come soon!