Annual report for Dash FROM 2006/2007.

DASh ANNUAL REPORT 06 – 07

This has been a very busy year, with our new office space, with the positives and the negatives that this has brought, our two year visual arts development programme starting, which has brought many new artists into contact with DASh and our project work developing.

We have come close to overstretching ourselves this year and we will be looking to consolidate our work in future years, so that our staff aren’t burnt out.

VISUAL ARTS Visual Arts Development Programme The first year of the Visual Arts Development Programme (VADP) has been a real success.

The main successes of the first year were:  Development of accessible recruitment and selection processes for our work  Development of accessible evaluation and monitoring systems  Attracting new Disabled Artists to DASh  Individual artists professional and personal development  Raising the profile of Disabled Artists and DASh The Aims of the Visual Arts Development programme are:  To develop the skills of Shropshire based Disabled Artists  Provide career and development opportunities for Disabled Artists  To provide training and employment opportunities for Disabled Artists These aims are being achieved through the following ways:  Arts Development Team (ADT) running as two separate nine month courses from October 06 to June 07 and April 07 to December 07.  Multi Media project (MMP) running for 6 days from 30.7.07 to 4.8.07. This will involve 5 Disabled Artists working together to create an installation/exhibition/performance

 Graphic Design Training (GDT) running from September 06 to December 07. This strand is in two parts. In the first two years 3 trainees will each have a 12 week placement with DASh and work with us on our accessible Graphic design work. We will then offer 1 trainee employment as a part time Graphic Design worker with DASh  SCREAM, which is a regional Artists led network, predominantly but not exclusively involving Disabled Artists PERFORMING ARTS AND FILM Ludlow Carnival and Calypso This was our fifth year running a Carnival project in Ludlow and our theme was ‘Imps and Fancies’, a very Trinidadian Old time Carnival theme The imps, who were very devilish were great fun.

The partnership which produces the Carnival grew this year with the Ludlow Green Festival joining the Carnival committee.

This increased the breadth of the marketing and the distribution of publicity, which paid off with a much larger audience for the Carnival procession. The Procession itself became an almost 100% non motorised event, with several horse drawn vehicles.

Our workshops were very successful and we had a much larger uptake than previous years.

To begin a development of the Carnival and the involvement of new People, we ran a five day Calypso project in Autumn 06 at the Helena Lane Day Centre, which is used by Older People and Adults with Learning Disability.

We worked with both groups separately and as the week went on we brought the two groups together.

They worked on producing the song for Carnival 07 on the theme of Shopoholics and playing music, dancing and having fun.

Borderlines Film Festival This was our third Film and Disability day as part of the Borderlines Film Festival and the most successful by a long way.

Our aims this year were:  To support the development of individuals and groups of Disabled People who are interested in Film.  To present Disability Film within the Borderlines Film Festival, which is a high profile Film Festival and thereby raises the profile of Disability Film  To show the work of Disabled Film Makers from across the West Midlands region, with a focus on Herefordshire based individuals and groups and have this work presented by the Film Makers  To show full length feature films which either star Disabled actors or have a Disabled Director and have these films presented by either the Director or Actor if possible.  To develop discussion around the issues facing Disabled People in the Film industry and to look at this within the wider context of the presentation of Disabled People in Film and TV  To develop local Film projects in Herefordshire and Shropshire with Disabled People and premiere this work at the Film and Disability day.

These were ambitious aims to achieve and we came close to achieving them all. Unfortunately we could not achieve the last aim as no funding materialised to create these local Film projects, but we are seeking funding now for next year which includes 4 short film projects which will premiere at the Festival.

Due to the funding from the Eveson Charitable Trust we were able to extend the day, so that we started at 10am and finished at 7pm. This allowed us to programme a very large and wide range of Films and create topics to focus sessions on. It also meant we attracted a bigger and varied audience throughout the day.

Oska Bright Oska Bright is the UK’s only Learning Disability Film Festival and as part of their visit to the West Midlands, DASh hosted a master class

by Oska Bright for aspiring Learning Disabled Film Makers in Shrewsbury.

We involved three centres and Arty Party and we were impressed by Oska Bright’s straightforward style of working.

We are now planning to work more closely with Oska Bright and involve them with the Film and Disability day.

Day in the Life DitL The Day in the Life is a short film project, where the participants use disposable cameras to record a day in their lives and this is then turned into a short film / slideshow, with a soundtrack. We ran the first DitL in 2006 with Leominster MIND and this year we ran two DitLs.  Shropshire Carers. Twelve Shropshire Carers produced DitLs and the resulting DVD was shown at the launch of the Shropshire County Council’s Carer’s strategy  Grange Day Centre, Shrewsbury. We worked with six users of the Grange to produce a DitL. We used this DitL to develop the project through teaching basic film editing skills.

We have funding applications out to develop DitL projects in the next year and to use the DitL as a tool for skills development with film and sound.

Co-promotions This year we only had one co-promotion, which was Fittings Multimedia’s show ‘Heelz on Wheels’, which we promoted with Ludlow Assembly Rooms.

The show which was a unique blend of Disability and Gay culture was very successful and almost sold out.

Due to shortage of funding we are not planning any future copromotions.

BAA BAA had a successful year with an increase in numbers over the previous year and new bookers using the scheme.

Users of Innage Lane day centre have continued to use the scheme and a large group of older people from Much Wenlock used a mini bus for one show.

These are all positive developments, but BAA’s future is uncertain as funding bids were unsuccessful and we now waiting decisions from Bridgnorth and South Shropshire who want to create a joint scheme which we will have to tender for.

Website PAULA Fusion Plus DASh has continued to be an active partner in Fusion Plus, which brings Disability Arts and Sports together. Fusion Plus has funding from Birmingham City Council to create a residency between a Disabled Artist and a Disabled Athlete, which has started and will finish by July 07.

Management Board We placed an advert in the Guardian newspaper this year to attract new Board members. This was very successful and after holding an open day for new Board members we now have three new Trustees/Directors. Mary Hayter, Stephen Gibson and Yvette Priestley.

Exhibitions, Conferences, Events and etc Exhibitions  July 06 Digital NOW II at the Darwin Centre Shrewsbury Conferences / meetings             

Audiences Central Diversity Conference, Birmingham West Midlands regional Carnival meet, Coventry West Midlands Refugee Artists project, Birmingham South Shropshire Access group, Ludlow Age Concern, Ludlow DADA Awards Nomination ceremony. DASh was nominated in the rural Disability Arts section. Unfortunately we didn’t win.

Presentation to ACEWM Officers Meet with National Children Homes to discuss possible work in Shropshire Fundraising course, Shropshire Advice re independent development of Arty Party Working with consultant/trainer Denise Stanley to devise new recruitment methods, assessment methods for our Visual Arts work.

2012 Olympics in Shropshire meet Meet with Director of Pedal, a recreational group for Learning Disabled Adults

Events etc  We hosted a six day placement for a Disabled man through ENABLE. He was interested to try working in an Office environment. The placement allowed him to try a broad range of work.  Equal Ability were carrying out a National survey of user led organisations and we were selected to participate and be paid 750 pounds.

Statistics (numbers from 2005 in brackets) Visual Arts Development Programme 20 Disabled Artists Carnival 06 Workshops 202 (168) Procession 60 (100) Audience 3000 Calypso 114 Borderlines Film Festival 224 (80) Oska Bright Master class 15 Day in the Life 18 Heelz on Wheels Audience 54 BAA 66 (59) Digital NOW II Exhibition 10 Artists Audience 3000

Funders Lankelly Chase Shropshire Partnership Equality and Diversity Awards South Shropshire District Council Ludlow Community Chest Shrewsbury and Atcham BC Eveson Charitable Trust Shropshire County Council Bridgnorth District Council Shropshire and Telford Arts Partnership ? was this 06/07