Archive for the ‘Learning Difficulties’ Category

Candoco Dance Company to perform at The Squidz Club

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

I seem to have a bit of a thing for disabled dancers and up to now I’ve blogged events by the AMICI dance group. This time it’s the turn of The Candoco Dance Company which is also a contemporary dance group for both disabled and non-disabled dancers.

Candoco will be performing at the Squidz Club on Friday 23rd April from 7 – 11pm. The Squidz Club is held 3 times per year for young people between the ages of 14 – 25 that have learning disabilities. The Candoco event will take place at the Albany, Depford, London.

Tate Collection

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Tate Collection

When I think of the Tate Gallery I think of one gallery in London, maybe this is because I’m simply not in the know, the Tate Collection is actually 4 galleries across the UK and they provide quite a lot of information for disabled people on their website. I would recommend that you visit the website and have a look around for the information that you require but here’s a brief over view of the galleries and some of the available information.

The website is broken down into the 4 seperate gallaries, Tate Britain, Modern (both in London), Liverpool and St. Ives. In each section the format is the same.

On the Visiting  pages there is general information regarding the specific gallery including the address, opening hours, admission prices and how to get there. This information is also available in British Sign Language (BSL) through RealPlayer and it also gives the Minicom number for deaf people.

Visiting Pages:

Tate Britain

Tate Modern

Tate Liverpool

Tate St. Ives
Each of the galleries has an Access and Facilities Page and a page relating to different programmes that the gallery runs for visitors with learning disabilities, blind and deaf people.

Access and Facilities:

Tate Britain

Tate Modern

Tate Liverpool

Tate St. Ives

Programmes:

Tate Britain

Tate Modern

Tate Liverpool

Tate St. Ives

The Tate Boat

There is also the Tate Boat which runs between the Tate Britain and Tate Modern and the site states that:
The Tate Boat can accommodate wheelchair users.

However, exceptionally high tides mean that the Tate Boat cannot navigate certain Thames bridges and a replacement vessel may be used at these times. Some replacement vessels are not able to accommodate wheelchair users so we strongly recommend that customers call 020 7887 8888 on the day of travel for further details.

Guide and hearing dogs are welcome on the Tate Boat.

Access at the Tate Collection

You can find all of this of this information and more on one handy Tate Collection Access Page.

Tate Boat

The Affordable Art Fair 22nd – 25th October 2009

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Afordable Art Fair Logo

The Affordable Art Fair (AAF) is the place to discover and buy paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography and original prints – all priced between £50 and £3,000.

With 120 carefully selected galleries from across the UK and Europe exhibiting there is contemporary art on show to suit every taste and budget.

The forthcoming Autumn Collection (22 – 25 October) in Battersea Park, London, marks AAF’s 10th anniversary.

I contacted the Affordable Art Fair to find out about facilities for people with disabilities and they responded very quickly with the following information:

“The Affordable Art Fair is located in a fully wheelchair accessible marquee, with the fair itself designed with wide aisles to make moving around the event easy for wheelchair users. We also have several wheelchairs which can be booked, for free on site, to use within the fair for those less able to walk.

We have a disabled toilet in the entrance marquee and special parking spaces at the entrance for cars displaying disabled stickers.

All of our signage is clearly laid out, using large point size to assist those with visual impairments.

A number of art fair assistants are employed and they are always on hand to give assistance to any visitors who may need it.

Our chosen charity beneficiary for this fair is the Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability. They will have a stand at the event, raising awareness about neurological disabilities and their Art Therapist will also be running a workshop as part of our Education Programme.

We welcome all ages and abilities to our workshops – if a visually impaired person was interested in, for example, having a go at the sculpture making demonstrations, they would be given one-to-one assistance to make them feel involved without feeling patronised.

Previous beneficiaries include BlindArt – a charity dedicated solely to the ideal that all people should enjoy equal access to the visual arts and ActionSpace which runs visual arts projects in London for people with mild to profound learning difficulties.

We endeavour to make our event as accessible as possible for all and welcome any comments on how the public feel we could improve our event through visitor questionnaires.”