about the course
Toolkit Explainer Video
learning outcomes
In this Online Toolkit you will:
- Appreciate the daily challenges faced by dance artists with disabilities
- Evaluate dance in the context of copyright ownership and licenses
- Build a business plan and application to arts funders in the UK
- Develop and implement a manifesto based on human rights designed to enhance the inclusion of disabled dance in performance venues
What is this course about?
This course is designed for two main groups of people; dance artists with disabilities and venue managers and programmers. It draws attention to the working lives of dance artists with disabilities and offers information about legal frameworks and how they can be used to support artists and those who programme their work. For artists, it focusses on questions of ownership, potential avenues for generating revenue and developing the tools to write effective business plans and funding applications. For venue managers and programmers, the emphasis is on developing deeper understanding of the law and in particular, how the language of human rights can be used to help make the case for programming more dance made and performed by artists with disabilities. It also leads you through the process of developing a manifesto and action plan to push the agenda for inclusion and diversity within your work place. Together these resources and discussions provide a toolkit to support artists and managers in their working lives.
TAHRC) follow-on project for impact and engagement; ‘Resilience and Inclusion: Dancers as Agents of Change’, which followed-on from the AHRC-funded ‘Invisible Difference: Dance, Disability and Law’ project.
Invisible Difference project website
Resilience and Inclusion project website
External links will open in a new browser window.
How will I learn?
This online resource, for dancers (disabled and non-disabled) and venue programmers, combines guidance on intellectual property rights, business modelling and diversity and inclusion in arts practice. It provides practical information about legal frameworks, business models and human rights, to support the disabled dance community and venue programmers.
Whilst the toolkit is designed as a structured, self-paced resource, there are also points in the toolkit to encourage you to reflect on your professional context – setting up a blog or keeping a diary is a great way to further the application of your new knowledge.
What is the Structure?
A foundation for all
It introduces themes around virtuosity, inclusion, legal frameworks and funding each of which provides a foundation for Blocks Two and Three.
For the dance artist with disabilities
This block invites you to think about your dance practice, authorship and ownership of the dance, and how you might use copyright to help sustain your practice over time.
For the venue programmer
This block looks examines human rights language around culture and the right to participate in culture in some depth, and encourages you to think about ways in which this could be used to develop, and implement, a manifesto for the inclusion of disabled dance in cultural programmes.
Extra Resources
In this section we will continue to add resources that might be of interest as they are published.
‘Making a Shift Report’ Arts Council England
‘Deaf mum sues Little Mix promotor in sign language row’ BBC news