Meet the Artists for the Social Model... & More Festival We're delighted to introduce you to the artists for The Social Model...& More Festival! Taking place across Theatre Deli's Sheffield and London venues in November 2023, the festival, which has been curated by artist Caroline Mawer, explores new perspectives on disability and the relationship between disabled people and the world around them. Tickets go on sale in September when we will also announce the full line up for the festival including workshops and speakers! Scroll down to meet the artists... London Ariella Como Stoian Bold Mellon Collective Sonali Shah Vilma Jackson Sheffield Naomi Moon Dance Errol McGlashan The Disabled Flaneur Zoyander Street London Ariella Como Stoian Ariella (they/she) is a queer, Disabled artist, writer and multi-disciplinary theatre-maker who creates playable, speculative, joyful stories. Ariella will present a playable, everyday-made-fantastical adventure about energy management, resonant rest, and the quiet joy of plants and found moments. Instagram: @mushmosscollective @Contrariella Twitter: @mushmossco Bold Mellon Collective - KLAZO Bold Mellon Collective will present KLAZO, a raw, autobiographical dive into contrasting experiences of the onset of Tourette’s Syndrome.Bold Mellon Collective comprises of Emilia Nurmukhamet, Daniel Jones, Maddie Mellon and Kay Rowan: Emilia Nurmukhamet is a Tatar multidisciplinary artist and creative facilitator working in documentary style performance and visual media production with a focus on reconceptualization of queer and migrant stories. Daniel Jones is a multi-disciplinary researcher and creative practitioner based in Newcastle upon Tyne” whose practice centres around disability, Tourette Syndrome, and intersectional experience Maddie Mellon is a queer artist and choreographer interrogating the body’s relationship with intimacy, spirituality and expression. Tainted Saint is a queer, non-binary multidisciplinary artist from Croydon, London. They aim to explore the raw beauty in the distorted human lens, embracing those things we would usually see as macabre insecurities. Kay Rowan is a composer, songwriter and musician based in London. She has composed a number of classical works for stage and screen, and worked with ensembles such as Echo Vocal Ensemble and Psappha on new pieces. She also performs and records regularly as a singer-songwriter under the moniker 'ghostgirl'. Insta: @boldmelloncollective, @em_talgat @danielpjones @maddie.mellon @taintedsaint6 @ghostgirlkayrowan Sonali Shah - Mara Ba (My Mother) Sonali, the playwright, is a British Indian woman with cerebral palsy. Mara Ba is her first play. She has composed songs for two albums, Phantom in My Dreams and What Game is Life Playing. She wrote the songs Creator and Time for Mara Ba. Sonali works at University of Nottingham, leading research access to healthcare for disabled people across the life course, and designing creative tools that enhance equality and inclusion. She is passionate about using theatre as a vehicle for social change. A new play by a British Indian disabled woman and inspired by the life of her mother, written in English, Gujarati and Swahili. maraba-show.co.uk Facebook: Sonali.Legge Twitter: @NeverLetDreamGo Vilma Jackson - The Cycle Vilma Jackson is the owner of Vilma Jackson Productions. Her career as a performing artist has spanned 14 years across television, film, theatre and many more. She has had the privilege of learning from talented directors and actors in both the hearing and Deaf worlds, and these experiences motivated her to create Vilma Jackson Productions. She is acutely aware of the lack of representation and opportunity for Black and Asian members of the Deaf community. She aims to promote diversity and showcase talent as well as provide valuable work experience as a part of a production crew on creative and exciting projects through her production company. Live performance and short film. The story revolves around a Black Deaf woman who has been victimised by domestic violence for years. Due to systemic racism and ableism, she has faced barriers to seekinghelp due to a lack of accessibility, language, and cultural understanding from service providers. https://www.vilmajacksonproductions.com/the-cycle Instagram: @vcrj90_productions Sheffield Naomi Moon Dance Naomi Moon Dance is an internationally applauded independent contemporary dance artist who uses spoken word, video and original sound design in productions. Naomi Mārama’s practice is inspired by indigene-authentic movement principles, rooted in an anarchic feminist philosophy. Naomi Moon Dance’s current practice is centred in Neurological Performance, their forthcoming work. NEU|RON , is a multimedia production, part commissioned by Theatre Deli Sheffield, for the Social Model...and More Festival, premiering on the 11th of November 2023. So far, the R&D (research and design period) for NEU|RON has received producer support from Theatre Bristol and rehearsal support from Dance City Gateshead Summer Residencies. NEU|RON is a celebration of identity, place, ontogenetic, multigenerational memory, and living future histories. www.naomimoondance.org Facebook: Naomi Sabrina O’Connor Instagram: @NaomiMoon13 Errol McGlashan - Something to Take the Edge Off Errol McGlashan, aka spoken word artist Uncle Errol, is a renowned performer from Brixton, South London. He has won awards for his powerful spoken word performances, including Best Spoken Word Artist at The Poetry Awards 2019. With personal experience of prison, Errol understands the challenges faced by those in the criminal justice system. He works with ex-offenders and promotes literacy and creativity among young people. Errol created Word On The Kerb, a mobile Open Mic platform for spontaneous creative expressions in public spaces. He also acts on stage, screen, and in communities, featuring in award-winning films. Errol's first one-man show, Something to Take off the Edge, about two cellmates flirting with narcotics, chocolate hobnobs and Shakespeare while serving long term prison sentences in the 80’s, explores life, redemption, and the power of art. Errol inspires through his artistry and empowers others, showcasing the transformative potential of creativity in overcoming adversity. Twitter: @ErrolMcglashan The Disabled Flaneur - Islands of Solace The Disabled Flaneur a.k.a Philip Waterworth is an artist and writer, making work that questions and provokes their relationship with disability and chronic illness. The Disabled Flaneur will present Islands of Solace, a holiday of the ordinary on the streets of Sheffield. www.philwaterworth.co.uk Instagram: @waterworthphil Ζοyander Street - Assigned Earth at Birth Zoyander Street (they/them) is a neuroqueer and disabled artist-researcher, working at the weird fringe of indie games since 2011. They specialise in interactive media and stories that break away from linear structure, to embrace ambiguity, complexity, and mess. Their work tends to cross disciplinary boundaries, such as live theatre with game-like interaction, or videogames for gallery spaces. They are starting a new series of interactive plays about how we make worlds together, how our worlds become divided, and how we can reconnect. At the Social Model...& More Festival, Zoyander will present Assigned Earth at Birth: a live-digital hybrid, interactive sci-fi comedy about doomerism, neurodiversity /neuroqueerness, and the pain of living in a world that works against your survival. http://www.zoyander.ccFacebook: /zoyander Instagram: @zoyanderTwitter: @zoyander The social model is “necessary, but not sufficient” Since we announced the Social Model & More Festival, the demonisation of disabled people in the UK has reached new lows, with attacks on welfare spending in the press: "Disabled people among hardest hit by cost of living crisis, finds study" Richard Partington for The Guardian "The Price of Sausages: The Telegraph’s Calculator of Hate’" Stephen Unwin for ByLine Times "Disability Price Tag 2023: the extra cost of disability" Scope Meanwhile those same disabled people who were hardest hit by the pandemic are now the hardest hit by the ongoing cost of living crisis – even with benefits factored in. Maintaining a society that values disabled people, and remakes itself to disable them less is the core of the Social Model of Disability, and is both the heart and the jumping off point for our festival. In Festival Curator Caroline Mawer’s words, the social model is “necessary, but not sufficient”. We couldn’t be happier to announce these brilliant artists who will explore the social model during this festival, imagining new models for conceptualising disability, while shoring up the essentials of the social contract against those who would undermine it. The Social Model...& More Festival will take place from 8th to 11th of November in Theatre Deli Sheffield and 22nd to 25th of November in Theatre Deli London. Euan's Guide As part of Theatre Deli's effort to improve accessibility across the sector, we would encourage artists and creatives to submit their experiences of working in and visiting venues to Euan's Guide. We want venues to be accessible for audiences, but also artists and creatives.We therefore support Euan's Guide: a disabled led initiative started as a way for disabled audience members to find and comment on the accessibility of venues. Euan's Guide works by providing a platform for disabled people to comment on good access and any improvements needed in venues they visit. In addition to sharing front of house experiences for audiences, Euan's Guide now includes back of house experience so disabled artists and staff can feedback on the accessibility of working in venues. Euan's Guide does not require you to write a long report, just a sentence about whatever you found especially good or bad. Please join in wherever you're working: venues can't improve without your feedback!Share your experience here. Manage Cookie Preferences