Between 2017 and 2020, Project Art Works presented and managed a three year programme of art and conversation called EXPLORERS. Working in partnership with leading cultural organisations in the UK and Australia, the programme was informed and led by neurodiverse communities, placing them at the heart of social, civic and cultural activity.
ABOUT EXPLORERS
In 2016 Project Art Works were awarded an Ambition for Excellence grant by Arts Council England to deliver the EXPLORERS programme. Taking place against a backdrop of increased hardship and intolerance toward disabled people, the aim has been to develop positive relationships between cultural organisations and the social care sector and to reposition people who have complex needs at the forefront of mainstream culture.
Over the three years of the project the work has included awareness raising and encounter workshops, happenings, productions, commissions, exhibitions and seminars in collaboration with people who have complex needs and those who support them.
CO-COMMISSIONS
The EXPLORERS programme has included the development of seven co-commissions with partners and collaborators. Partner organisations have been supported by additional and bespoke ‘encounter’ events and devised new ways of commissioning artists and content that reference neurodiversity as part of their main artistic and curatorial programmes. Art that references the experience of people who have complex needs is rarely exhibited or featured in the main curatorial programmes of galleries. There may be many human, social and cultural reasons for this. Through collaborative action we explored these questions and promoted a range of possible artistic outcomes for all involved that effect attitudinal and cultural change.
About Project Art Works
Project Art Works collaborates with people with complex support needs, families and circles of support. Our practice intersects art and care, responding to neurodivergence, its gifts and impacts. Challenging paradigms of inclusion, it spans direct practical and holistic support, film, events, projects and exhibitions.
About Arts Council England
Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk
