Tickets for this event are still available for Thursday 11th February 2010, please see the Riverside Studios website for further details.
Posts Tagged ‘Art’
The Magic of Amici
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Tate Collection
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
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 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:
Programmes:
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.
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
Monday, October 19th, 2009
BALTIC is housed in a landmark industrial building on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead and is the biggest gallery of its kind in the world.
BALTIC has no permanent collection, providing instead an ever-changing calendar of exhibitions and activities that give a unique and compelling insight into contemporary artistic practice. The BALTIC programme ranges from blockbuster exhibitions to innovative new work and projects created by artists working within the local community.
The centre currently has 3 exhibitions by Martin Parr, Malcolm McLaren and Kimsooja and they also give quite a lot of information regarding facilities for disabled people which includes:
“BALTIC is fully accessible with a range of free mobility, parking and general visitor facilities.
Parking (disabled)
There are seven reserved parking spaces for Blue Badge Holders situated to the rear of BALTIC with an access ramp on the riverside of the building which will direct you to the main entrance on BALTIC Square (approximately 180m away). A further five disabled parking bays are available adjacent to BALTIC on South Shore Road.
Toilets
Male, Female and unisex disabled toilets are available on all floors except Level 5.
Facilities for disabled visitors
Click here for a list of facilities available to use at BALTIC. Please contact us in advance to reserve a wheelchair, tri-wheel walker or scooter or to arrange personal guidance.
Guide and Hearing Dogs are welcome.
For information in Braille, large print or on audiotape, or to arrange a touch tour or sign language interpreted tour please call 0191 478 1810 or for textphone 0191 440 4944
BALTIC is part of the Gateshead Shopmobility Scheme. If you wish to book a scooter of wheelchair for your visit to the Gateshead Quayside, please call 0191 440 4960.”
Leeds Light Night: Motion Disabled
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
This Friday (9th October) is the spectacular annual Leeds Light Night arts event that takes place in the city centre. Residents and visitors of all ages are invited to come and take part in this completely free celebration of the city’s diverse and exciting arts scene.
Millennium Square will host a number of events, including awe-inspiring moving projections on the Civic Hall and a chance to draw with light and see your creations up on the BBC Big Screen. Discover the ‘lost art of conversation’ using yogurt pots and string, see moving artwork around the city at a travelling gallery, create your own planet and become part of the Light Night solar system or see angels ascend from heaven in the university chaplaincy. Just a snippet of the 80 events across 50 venues that are sure to keep you busy all night!
We don’t often have the time to sit and study physical movement. It passes us by as we go about our lives: all kinds of physical shapes and sizes constantly moving past us at various speeds – we see people run, walk, struggle and push as they stride through life. But, there is no one there who is ‘really normal’: there is only difference.
Motion Disabled aims to show movement using clear and unambiguous imagery: the kick boxer who is also thalidomide; the cyclist with Cerebral Palsy; the footballer with Spina Bifida; and others. These are movements that will not exist for much longer; society seems to want to be ‘normal’, to be squarer, flatter, more reduced and banal.
In the work you will see virtual movements based on the day to day reality of the disabled actors involved. Questions are raised: how do shower with short arms? How do you answer the phone if you have no arms?
The work enables the viewer to engage and explore ideas of normality and difference on a pathological and metaphysical level as a challenging art work that reveals who we all are to ourselves and others. A process that is particularly relevant at a time when bioscience is encouraging society to make complex genetic choices that will affect the future course of humanity. Is the future of difference going to only be virtual?
Colchester Castle Museum
Monday, October 5th, 2009
The Colchester Castle Museum has won awards for improvements made in regard to physical access. It has level or ramped access to the ground floor, a lift to the first floor and an accessibile toilet on the ground floor. Induction loops are fitted in appropriate locations through out the museum. However tours of the Castle itself do include two sets of steep stairs and so are not accessible for people with mobility problems. Disabled people and their helpers are eligible for concessionary rate admissions. For further information regarding facilities for disbaled people please visit their access page.
The Sixties Seen: Art, Music and Fashion (until 1st November)
Currently there is a sixties exhibition at the Castle Museum where you can “Enjoy beautiful examples of fashion from the new boutiques and young designers of the time with pieces by Biba, Mary Quant and John Stephens. With gorgeous dresses, denim suits, coats, kaftans and more you will love this nostalgic look at some of the most memorable fashion of the time.
Discover the art of the time with fabulous pieces of Op-Art, among others, by Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely, who influenced textile design and enjoy pieces by Margaret Mellis, John Howlin and more. Not forgetting the music of the time such as The Who and Jimi Hendrix, there will be fan magazines, posters, album covers and much more.”
On Tuesday 13th October there is a guided tour of the exhibition which will also be British Sign Language Interpreted. The tour is free, after normal Castle admission and starts at 2pm and you do not need to book in advance.
Tea and Talks (Colchester Castle, every Saturday 31st October – 28th November)
The annual Tea and Talk series at the castle this autumn provides a great range of lectures for visitors, covering topics from long ago to the late 20th century. Booking can be made at the Hollytrees Museum, or phoning 01206 282940. All talks have the additional service of being British Sign language interpreted
Local historian Andrew Philips (31st October) kicks things off by showing how Colchester changed in the latter half of the 20th from an old market town to a bustling retail centre. From the 1950s, through the Swinging Sixties to the 1990s, this talk will be a great insight to some, and an enjoyable reminiscence for others.
Patrick Denney (7th November) then takes us back even further to the golden age of theatre and music hall to tell visitors about two of the great events in the early part of the 20th century. The 1909 Colchester Pageant was a hugely ambitious staging of Colchester’s history, while Buffalo Bill’s 1903 visit to Colchester included staggering logistics (his entourage arrived by train, set up a covered 10,000 seater arena, performed their show, took down the arena and left by train – all in one day!!! That’s an arena with the same capacity as the Weston Homes Community Stadium). Annie Oakley – one of the most skilled people with a gun ever to have lived, entertained the Colchester crowds as part of the show.
Following his hugely popular and entertaining talk last year on ‘History through Essex Pub Signs’, local historian Keith Lovell (14th November) is back by popular demand. This talk looks at the origins of the names of beers brewed in the eastern counties. Among those from Essex are Edward Bright Stout, Bitternoth, Braintree Silk, Redoubt, Lighthouse, and many more. (Please note that Old Speckled Hen has nothing to do with chickens or foxes, but with MG Motors!). Sorry, but there will be no samples to taste!
Caroline McDonald, Curator for Archaeology, (21st November) then talks about Gosbecks, a hugely important hub of pre-Roman and Roman Colchester. This often forgotten site holds the true story of the founding of Colchester, and will prove to be a very interesting and enlightening talk.
The series ends with Peter Berridge (28th November) talking about the prisons of Colchester Castle. These prisons saw hundreds of years of criminals (and innocents!), including martyrs and witches, until it was closed in the 1830s as one of the country’s least sanitary prisons.
The talks cost £3.50 each (£3 for Friends of the Museums), or a ticket for all 5 talks can be bought for the price of 4. Tickets can be booked at Hollytrees Museum, or by phoning 01206 282940. Each talk starts at 3pm.
The Argentium Project: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
The Argentium Project: Exploring New Avenues for Silver Design at the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (BMAG) from the 22nd September 2009 – 21st February 2010 is described as:
“A fascinating display in the metalwork gallery at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, which brings together new research and creative work by Kristina Niedderer. She explores the revolutionary new silver alloy, Argentium© through hand work and modern machine techniques. Kristina has created a range of objects combining the use of Argentium© Sterling Silver and laser welding which test and extend traditional craft practice.”
Information about access for disabled people can be found on the BMAG website as can a map of Blue Badge parking in Birmingham City Centre.
Swansea Festival of Music and Arts
Friday, September 18th, 2009
The Swansea Festival of Music and Arts runs from the 28th Spetember – 17th October at various venues across the city. “The success of last year’s 60th birthday Festival has enabled us, in difficult economic circumstances, to build a programme of quality and diversity: concerts, opera, oratorio, chamber music, jazz and gospel, together with classical and contemporary dance, musical comedy, visual arts and lectures. We hope that people of all ages and backgrounds will share the colour and imagination which the arts bring to our lives.”
There is information for people with disabilities regarding three of the main venues; Brangwyn Hall, The Grand Theatre and the Taliesin Arts Centre.
You can also read the Swansea Festival of Music and Arts in Welsh.
“Gwŷl Gerdd a Chelfyddydau Abertawe
Mae llwyddiant Gwyl y llynedd, yn dathlu ei phenblwydd yn 60, wedi’n galluogi, mewn hinsawdd economaidd anodd, i adeiladu rhaglen o ansawdd ac amrywiaeth: cyngherddau, opera,oratorio,miwsig siambr, jas a gospel, ynghyd â dawns glasurol a chyfoes, comedi gerdd, celf weledol a darlithoedd.
Gobeithiwn y bydd pobl o bob oedran a chefndir yn rhannu’r lliw a’r dychymyg y mae’r celfyddydau’n cynnig i’n bywydau.”
The Affordable Art Fair 22nd – 25th October 2009
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
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.”
Coastal Currents 2009
Monday, September 7th, 2009
The Coastal Currents Arts Festival was launched over a week ago on the 29th August in Hastings, Rye and Bexhill-on-Sea, but don’t panic the event continues until the 30th September so there’s still plenty of time to get there.
“Coastal Currents 2009 promises to be an exciting and accessible event for both residents and visitors to the area with a wide range of free events including film, performances, music, talks, guided walks and workshops. There are also events designed for specialists – a programme of talks and presentations by artists and curators from the South East and London while a screening of artists’ short films will feature work from emerging and well established artists.”
In the right hand column of the Coastal Currents web site there are the “Listings” of all the events and activities during the festival and there is also information regarding physical access to the venues through the use of two symbols to indicate level access and disabled toilets. In addition to this their are contact details for the venues so that if you have any further questions you can email them direct.
Please let us know if you attend this event as we’d love to receive your comments regarding facilities for people with disabilities.
Somerset Art Works Exhibitions
Friday, September 4th, 2009 
This evening the Somerset Art Works (SAW) exhibtion launch will be held from 4.30 – 8.00pm at the Langport Town Hall and Gardens, Somerset. SAW is a non-profit making organisation promoting the Visual Arts and creating opportunities for Visual Artists and Makers in Somerset through advocacy, promotion and development.
The main part of the SAW exhibition is Art for Everyone that will run from the 19th September – 4th October throughout the region at different venues. The SAW website lists all the venues and also provides some information regarding access for wheelchair users. You can also search the different activities by using their interactive map, by artist name, and art form.
SAW have recently redeveloped their site and there are still a few glitches such as I couldn’t find the PDF download guide but if you have any questions you can always contact them by email info@somersetartworks.org.uk or telephone 01458 253800.
