The annual ArtsAbility Festival is back to shine the spotlight on the arts and people with disabilities and the challenges they face.
The festival is presented by Unmute Dance Theatre in partnership with Artscape Theatre and celebrates International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which falls on December 3.
The festival creates an innovative space for disabled and non-disabled artists and performers. It presents productions by local and international artists, as well as workshops facilitated by choreographers and artists from around the world.
Festival director Nadine McKenzie said it was a week-long event that featured a display of collaborative artistic works by artists with and without disabilities and from mixed genres – music, dance, drama, visual arts.
“This year we’ve decided to slightly switch things up, whereby we will only have solo dance works staged throughout the festival. These are dance works by local artists and international artists. We also host a series of dance workshops by international guests which is open to the public.”
McKenzie said the festival also ran residency programmes with choreographers and directors who worked with groups of mixed artists for two to four weeks creating work which is staged as part of the festival.
“The start of this festival was inspired by the lack of accessible theatre spaces, and when I say accessible, I don’t only mean a ramp for a person with a disability, but a broader scale. We wanted to create a space where artists can be artists and perform, play, create and connect with each other. We wanted to create a space where everyone is welcome and feel part of a community in the arts.”
The festival runs from November 27 to December 3. For more information, email [email protected] or call 021 410 6189. Tickets are available at Webtickets for R120.