About Working with Diverse Audiences

Second Sight

Fabrica is committed to the concept of diversity in all its forms, it's current project 'Growing an Older Audience' is a way of generating positive effects for diversifying audiences and participants, volunteers and staff. 'Working with diverse Audiences' is a series of workshops, talks and peer critiques developed by Liz Whitehead and Naomi Kendrick, that form part of this wider project.

Working with Diverse Audiences  Nov 2010 - Nov 2012
This programme of research aims to explore the relationship between artists who have socially engaged practices, socially excluded and disabled people and institutions associated with the broad area of health care, including galleries and museums.

Participants involved in the programme can expect, through participation in workshops (Second Sight) that are an existing example of good practice, and through participating in workshops designed specifically for this programme, to gain hands on experience of inclusive workshop methods. And see the importance of an artist’s skills in working intuitively and finding creative solutions.

A programme of talks will take place to include artists whose practice varies in scope and approach but has the common thread of their work with people from health care being an integral part of their practice, rather than an addition to it, and at the heart of those methods is a focus on the individual participant rather than a social category. The perspectives of institutions, socially excluded and disabled participants and other artists will be shared through peer critique sessions, and in discussions during the aforementioned workshops.

That the power within situations where participant, institution and artist meet should lie with the participant will be an important aspect of this research. And how communication, shared approach and a broadening of people’s definition of experiencing and creating art contribute to this.

This research also aims to dispel myths and tackle fears associated with providing valuable opportunities for socially excluded and disabled people to access art from the perspective of artists, participants and institutions. And to demonstrate that risks can and should be taken by all three.