Although the live part of DaDaFest International 2020 – Translations has now ended, you can still catch most of the artworks on-demand on our website until 13 December.
Here's what our Creative Advisor Nicki Miles-Wildin had to say as the festival came to an end.
Every end is a beginning….
…so don’t despair. The end of the festival actually marks the beginning of our 2020 Translations season stretching through until November 2021. The season will build on the theme of the festival, further developing and enhancing some of the featured works in the festival as well as introducing a range of new, creative, innovative and challenging artists and their work at specific points over the next 12 months.
Things to look forward to include:
- We will shortly be announcing the launch of Scars: Memories of the Skin by Ngozi Ugochukwu – a commissioned project unfortunately postponed during DaDaFest International 2020. We will also be supporting Ngozi to develop the next phase work which explores the stories of her scars and those of other storytellers whose own scars have something to say about them.
- In partnership with St Helens Borough Council Library Services we will be working with artist Aidan Moesby on a series of events exploring the interconnectivity between our mental health and the weather.
- The second stage of “Game of Spoons” the downloadable game/artwork developed by Julian Gray for the International festival. Framed on the feedback from the festival audience Julian will be working to develop the game even further.
- A new live performance art work by Pierce Starre, a live Liverpool-based performance artist. Their work predominantly explores their cultural experiences as a queer, working class, neurodivergent, Child of Deaf Adults (CODA), within a broader social and political context. Pierce is one of the artists supported through DaDaFest’s Artist Development commissions and will be presenting a new live piece which will explore the excruciating experiences of trying to "fit in".
- As a follow up to the Micro Commissions awarded for DaDaFest International 2020 – Translations! we are partnering with Unlimited to mentor painter and visual artist Juvairiyya Patel to develop her practice further. Juvairiyya describes herself as a positive person, expressing her disability and deafness through her artwork and says:
“I have begun to use more aspects of my identity in creative ways. I have started to incorporate my deafness by using BSL. I have my hands covered in paint, and sign words and phrases that are important to me. The paint flies off my hands and creates a sprayed on image”
- A brand new theatre piece from one of the graduates of our Artist Development programme – Jordan Connerty. Jordan’s lifelong interest in all things Egyptian is clearly evidence in his new performance as Tutankhamun, the boy king. See below for a trailer of his work.
- We'll be continuing the move towards a Weasel Nation as Dominic G further dvelops the next phase of Weasel International.
- A new gig by the musicians of the DaDaFest Ensemble. Unable to play together during lockdown the musicians have built a new recording through responding in sequence to the feelings and emotions prompted by the lockdown experience.
- A new co-commission with Little Cog which will support our mutual goal of putting the hidden stories and experiences of disabled people centre-stage, whilst challenging entrenched historical and medical perceptions of disability and disabled people. Little Cog say ‘We're delighted that DaDaFest are co-commissioning the development of a brand powerful new piece of work from Little Cog which is currently still under wraps but which we will have exciting launch announcements about in the New Year. It's a fantastic collaboration with exciting partners and will see new digital drama work produced, followed by a large scale stage production.’
Visit the Little Cog website at https://www.littlecog.co.uk
So please keep in touch, sign up to our newsletter and make sure you join us for another innovative and ground-breaking season of works that entertain, inform and continue to challenge the prevailing social perceptions of disability.
Trailer: Jordan Connerty With Audio Description With BSL