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Diversity on stage: a training between Italy and the UK

Equality, diversity and inclusion are the cornerstones of the project that focuses on the leadership of disabled artists and talent development and features us together with Stopgap Dance Company, a British company world leader in the integration of disabled and non-disabled people through dance.

According to Time to act research, conducted by the British Council and On the Move, as many as 87% of managers in the performing arts sector do not involve disabled people in the selection committees and development processes of new work and projects.

How many disabled people do you see in positions of leadership, decision-making and power? What is the difference between making one's voice heard and appropriating that voice?

- Manifesto of Al.Di.Qua. Artists, the first Italian association for artists with disabilities

The project Diversity on stage: a training between Italy and the UK is led and created by leading artists with disabilities for people with disabilities with the concrete aim of influencing the sector in both Italy and the UK and providing training tools for a more equal and diverse practice.

The collaboration with Stopgap was created to support and connect Laura Jones, Cherie Brennan, Aristide Rontini and Giuseppe Comuniello who work together to design and run creative workshops in the two countries. Each workshop results in an exchange between 15-20 disabled and non-disabled dancers, for a total of six meetings between April 2022 and March 2023, four in Italy and two in the UK.
Six Italian organisations are also involved in the project. A call for artists with disabilities will be opened for each workshop stage in Italy.

21-30 April 2022: two training residencies of four days each in Italy at Fondazione Nazionale della Danza/Aterballetto, Reggio Emilia and Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan.

7-12 August 2022: focus lab for project leaders in Farnham, Maltings.

27 September-8 October 2022: two training residencies in Italy in the spaces of Compagnia Factory, Novoli and IAC Integrated Arts Centre, Matera.

8-13 January 2023: focus lab for project leaders at Dance4, Nottingham.

13-24 February 2023: two workshops in Italy at Piemonte dal vivo/Lavanderia a Vapore, Turin and at Oriente Occidente Studio.

20-31 March 2023: two concluding workshops held in Italy at Associazione Culturale Teatro Menzatì, San Vito dei Normanni and Compagnia L'Albero, Matera.


The project is supported by the British Council under an International Collaboration Grant.