Forward Together
An afternoon of access, inclusion and action, led by Art with Heart, The Lowry and leading access experts and creatives.
Bringing together Salford's artists through access and inclusion
Forward Together was a series of workshops and panels focused on access for people working in the creative industry.
An afternoon of access, inclusion and action. Art with Heart were joined by leading access experts and creatives for a choc-a-bloc afternoon of listening, sharing and biscuits at The Lowry.
We provided workshops focused on access for makers and casting, 1-1 sessions supporting fundraising and producing and a lived-experience panel offering access top-tips.
The event was led by people who have accommodated accessibility within their work and who could share different perspectives of access and inclusion across different roles and areas in the arts.
The aim of the day was to create a likeminded community of people who could see access challenges in the industry and come up with actions that could be implemented.
Q & A with casting director Sarah Leung
Forward Together started with Art with Heart Co-Creative Director Rachel Moorhouse running a Q&A with casting director Sarah Leung.
Sarah is well known for casting a diverse range of talent in Film, TV and Theatre. Born in Manchester, coming from a mixed British/Chinese background, making her one of the only casting directors in the UK with Chinese heritage.
In the session, Sarah reflected on her career and dedication to unearthing diverse talent, offering practical advice to actors at all stages of their career.
Access for makers workshop with Ash Cox
Ash Cox, freelance access consultant and maker, ran a workshop exploring the making process from the position of access. Their main focus was asking: how do we ensure we take care of ourselves as well as our audiences and participants?
Making work accessible for the public shouldn’t make it inaccessible for you and your team. Participants were invited to select items from a menu of access actions and consider how they could implement them in their practice.
Access top tips panel discussion
We invited a panel of access experts with lived experience to share their top tips about how they navigate arts, culture and care. The panel included Fereshteh Mozaffari from Sheba Arts, Natalie Amber from Triple C Creative, Performer Katie Erich, Sarah Emmott from Art with Heart and Audio Description Director and Access Consultant Ada Eravarma.
Led by Keisha Thompson, the panel explored access and inclusion for various communities who are often systemically excluded, with view points from makers, performers, producers, fundraisers and artistic directors.
Artist response with mandla
Throughout the day, artist mandla was speaking to attendees and collecting reflections and thinking about access, inclusion and what the cultural sector in Salford needs.
These were collated into a poem of thoughts to end the day.
And if they weren’t busy attending a panel or a workshop, Forward Together visitors could pop in to engage with our team, access manager Kate Fox and 20 Stories High. Here, they could get advice on fundraising, casting, producing – as well as learning about some of the incredible access work taking place across the North West.
With thanks
Forward Together was made possible by the generous support of The Lowry the GMCA. The event was supported by a grant through Salford CVS in partnership with Salford Council to deliver a new creative commission funded through the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund via the GMCA. This was a partnership project with Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy. The event was been made possible due to support from Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy’s Networks Funding Programme.
