International Summit for Learning Disability Artists and their Support Studios: Project Ability, Trongate 103, Glasgow, G1 5HD4, 5, 6, March 2015

The Summit Exhibition: It is Now: Project Ability Gallery and Trongate 103 Foyer Gallery4th March – 4th April 2015

Project Ability

#TheSummit

Action Space: Thompson Hall, Lisa Brown, Sheryll Cattowww.actionspace.org

Atelier 5: Roland Kappel, Romina Bafaro, Winfried Maulbetsch, Axel Klöss-Fleischmannwww.mariaberg.de

Arts Project Australia: Sue Roff, James McDonald, Cathy Staughton, Paul Hodges, Jane Crosskill, Debra Howlett, Anne Stonehousewww.artsproject.org.au

Celf O Gwmpas: Shân Edwards, Dean Warburton, Dawn Pritchard, Rose Adamswww.celfogwmpas.org

In-Definite Arts: Roxanne Taylor, Julie Ridley, Matthew Carberry, Amber Harriman, www.indefinitearts.com

Inuti: Hanna Björklund, Anneli Aaltonen Krantz, Magnus Östling, Carina Pettersson.www.inuti.se

Kaarisilta: Johanna Immeli, Sonja Salakka, Raija Raitio, Outi Kirves www.kaarisilta.fi

KCAT Art and Study Centre: Lorna Corrigan, Andrew Pike, Declan Kennedy, Barbara Wheeler-Connollywww.kcat.ie

Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts: Leona Clawson, Randy Stennes, Paul Freeman, Rona Fraser, David Janzen, Denise Belzile, Yvonne Dubordieuwww.thenina.ca

Venture Arts: Leslie Thompson, Martin Livesey, Justin Lees, Tom O’Toole, Amanda Sutton, Katherine Long, James Pollitt, Howard Rifkin www.venturearts.org

Project Ability: Cameron Morgan, Jonathon McKinstry, Edward Henry, Stephen Reilly, Doreen Kay, Robert McCamley, Alison Mitchell, Sandi Kiehlmann, Sharon Quigley, Meredith Crone, Valerie O’Reganwww.project-ability.co.uk

Project Ability

Five delegates attended the Summit from Australia, England and Scotland. Ninety five artists, supporters and visitors attended the Summit over the three days. The language of the Summit was English.

The International Summit for Leaning Disability Artists and their Support Studios was an event for learning disability artists to take the stage, celebrate their talent, meet their peers and share their creative practice. The Summit and the accompanying exhibition “It is Now” marked Project Ability’s 30th anniversary and our fifth year in our award winning premises in Trongate 103. Trongate 103 is a destination arts centre in the heart of Glasgow’s vibrant arts community, housing eight visual arts organisations and five galleries, it was opened in September 2009.The Summit and the exhibition “It is Now” was the outcome of a full year’s planning where we stripped away at the conventions of a conference, and in discussion with a group of artists who attend Project Ability’s Aspire programme – our workshop for people with learning disabilities - designed an event which was built around their interests. This included three days and nights of talks, workshops, exhibition, conversation, pizza and curry, film screenings, and socialising.

In March 2014 funding was secured from Creative Scotland, and in September 2014 we put out a call for world class artists with learning disabilities and their support studios to come to Glasgow in March 2015 to exhibit, share artistic practice, network with peers and tell their stories. By the end of September ten studios, plus Project Ability, were on board. Each studio was to be represented by two artists and two executive members of staff. Funding from Creative Scotland ensured we could cover the cost of accommodation and meals, while each studio was responsible for their own travel and support costs.

There is an informal international network of studios and some of the studios at the Summit had a history of collaboration and exchange, while others were starting on the journey of looking outside their own studio surroundings and building creative partnerships. Some of the artists were well travelled and had experience of participation in exchange programmes, exhibitions, workshops and conferences, while for others it was a completely new experience and considerable efforts were made in supporting people to attend.

In the run up to the Summit people started communicating; they shared information, looked at each other’s websites and followed each other on social media. On the 19th January 2015, we started to market the event initially by announcing on social media the studios who were attending and we launched #TheSummit hashtag. Throughout February, we profiled each of the ten studios on our website and posted information on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, leading to a flurry of posting and cross posting amongst the different studios. This activity continued during the conference and has continued with studios sharing information and cross posting to their own networks. A team of volunteers – artists Simon McAuley, Jen Bradley, Katie Ward, Phoebe Barnicoat and Jemima Wright - were recruited to film and photograph events and post information across social media platforms.

Facebook profile: We saw our Friends increase from 3749 to 3772 in 4 days. This has now increased to 3781 friends.

Facebook page: Fans increased from 1756 to 1772 over four days and has now increased to 1805 Fans.

Twitter: before the Summit we had 547 followers, just after 569 and it has had a longer term impact since we now have 640 Twitter followers.

Instagram: we launched our account in February 2015. We had 209 followers before the Summit which increased to 230 after the Summit. We now have 273 followers.

Day OneWednesday 4th March 2015

The artists arrived in Glasgow on the 4th March, in advance of the Summit and exhibition opening. The exhibition “It is Now” took place in Project Ability’s gallery on the 1st floor of Trongate 103 and the Trongate 103 Foyer Gallery. The 1st floor gallery was transformed into seven individual exhibition spaces and walls were constructed in the foyer to create a further four spaces. Each space was solidly constructed from ply board and provided 15 linear metres of hanging space. The studios had sent their work in advance and the works, where necessary, had been framed. When each group arrived they were met by Project Ability’s staff team and volunteers, were shown to their allocated space, and were given a quick tour of the galleries and the studio. They then got on with the business of hanging their work. This was great fun and straight away got people talking to each other as they shared tools and equipment and helped each other out.

Meanwhile, Project Ability’s artists were preparing to welcome the guests to the 3rd floor studio. The Project Ability studio is a large open plan L-shaped space – a 1225 square metres of barrier free studio. It is light, airy, accessible and fully equipped with professional materials and production equipment. It is welcoming and inspiring, and when the artists walked in they were keen to get on with making work.

Three distinct areas were set up for the Summit. A catering space for tea, coffee and lunch was set up, staffed by a team of volunteers: Morag MacGilchrist, Mary-Anne MacDonald, Stuart Low and Peter Stewart. The Summit workshop space was set up in the Aspire studio. The Aspire programme delivers 288 workshops each year, provides space for 122 people with learning disabilities each week and is delivered by five artists: Alison Mitchel, Meredith Crone, Sharon Quigley, Sandi Keihlmann and Valerie O’Regan. These five artists each have between 15 and 20 years’ experience of supporting people with learning disabilities to develop their artistic practice.

Out of the 122 people who attend the Aspire programme 8 people attended the Summit each day. As well as contributing to the workshops and talks programme they were able to support the visiting artists with materials, use the printing press, finding equipment and generally help out. The third area was set up café style for presentations. Each area flowed in to the next and people comfortably moved around, finding space to do what they wanted; listen to the Studios giving their presentations, drinking tea and chatting or making a print, a drawing, or a painting.

At 1pm, Councillor Archie Graham - the chair of Culture and Sport Glasgow - welcomed the visitors to the city and “opened” the exhibition “It is Now”. From the complex intriguing machines made by Roland Kappel from Atelier 5, a giant felt elephant head by Carina Pettersson from Inuti, the delicacy of imagery in paintings from Finland, Justin Lees from Venture Arts brilliant cartoons, Thompson Hall from Action Space and his “Postcards from Glasgow” the range of work presented was vast and the quality extremely high and the artists demonstrated absolute confidence and mastery of their medium.

Afterwards, the workshop was open for business and the presentations began. Each organisation was invited to talk for 20 minutes, determining the content of the presentation themselves. On the 4th of March the presentations were given by Arts Project Australia, Melbourne, Australia and the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts, Canada. All talks were filmed and are available online at https://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectAFilms

The day ended with a short time out, then it was back to Trongate 103 to the Glasgow Media Access Centre cinema on the 5th floor for the Laurel and Hardy classic “Our Relations”, with refreshments in the shape of beer and pizza.

DayTwoThursday 5th March 2015

Presentations were made by Atelier 5, Germany; Action Space, London; KCAT, Ireland; Kaarisilta, Finland; Celf O Gwmpas, Wales; Venture Arts, Manchester and In-Definite Arts, Canada.

Artist Tanya Raabe-Webber gave a presentation, introducing herself and her intention in capturing the energy of the Summit. From 23 February to 27 March 2015, Raabe-Webber was in-residence at Project Ability. Raabe-Webber had received funding from The Arts Council of England to complete this five week residency to coincide with The Summit. At the Summit, Raabe-Webber created a live response and collective portrait gallery, capturing in ink, pencil and charcoal the interactions of the artists and visitors. Raabe-Webber told the narrative of the Summit in the blog https://summitportrayed.wordpress.com.

The portraits were exhibited in Project Ability’s Gallery 11 on the 1st floor along with a series made by the visiting artists who drew Raabe-Webber as she drew them. Raabe-Webber will exhibit new work in Project Ability’s gallery in January 2016.

During the day we offered visitors the opportunity to visit our Trongate 103 partner organisations: Glasgow Print Studio, Streetlevel and Sharmanka.

The day ended with a talk by award-winning photographer Alicia Bruce. In June 2014, Bruce had spent two weeks in-residence at Project Ability photographing the Aspire artists. The portraits were published along with essays by artists Alison Mitchel, Sharon Quigley, Sandi Kiehlmann, Meredith Crone, Valerie O’Regan and Stewart Campbell - including interviews with some of the Aspire artists -in a publication launched that evening.

The first Thursday of each month is late opening for the Trongate 103 galleries. The 5th March was the public preview of “It is Now” and the launch night of the Aspire publication. Afterwards we all headed across the road to an Indian Restaurant for dinner.

DayThreeFriday 6th March 2015

Friday began with Inuti, from Stockholm, giving the final studio presentation. This was followed by artist Janetka Platun presenting her evaluation of Project Ability’s volunteer programme. Funded by The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Platun had spent twelve months researching the work of Project Ability’s volunteers, reflecting on what they gain from volunteering, and the contribution they make to the studio programme. Platun was invited to evaluate the programme from the view point of a practicing contemporary visual artist who interprets the lives of people she encounters by making alternative archives, photographs and installations that offer unusual perspectives. The report will be published in June 2015.

After lunch, an exhausted group of people sat down to provide feedback and reflect on the event. It was the final opportunity for people to make a statement. That evening there was an end of conference dinner.

A response from Celf O Gwmpas artist Dean Warburton:

Dean Warburton reporting back from the International Summit organised by Project Ability, Glasgow 3 – 5 March 2015.‘The best bit was meeting other artists, it’s been the main thing, networking with everybody. We got on really well. All the practices are different and that was interesting to see. Meeting Project Ability again was good, staff and artists as they’re all friendly and welcoming.

I liked doing our presentation and telling people what we do. It wasn’t boring, sometimes these things can be a bit stuffy. How people do things differently was interesting, but it was the same really if you think about it. The approach might be different, but the outcomes are the same – the artist has support and it’s professional, not institutional.

The space at Project Ability is fantastic, it’s large and airy, but it’s the people who make it busy and nice.

The exhibition was good because everyone put their work out differently – some of it was quite close together and some had less on the walls. It was interesting to see how other countries do it. It was about the artists and the studios and not about ‘outsider art’.

I sold 6 pieces and I’m going to use the money to spend more time at Celf. I’ve got an idea of putting a doll’s head on a canvas and painting it, so it looks like it’s coming out three-dimensional from the flat surface. I’m going to use oil paint. I like using it because I can’t rush it and I can’t use it in my bedroom because of the fumes. I’m going to get some orange oil to mix with it, so the studio will smell nice and I won’t get a headache.’

Transcribed on the train home by Shân Edwards, 6 March 2015.

The feedback in summary:

• Thefriendlyatmosphere• Welearnfromeachother• Artistsfromallovertheworldmeetingtogether• Thelanguageofartisinternationalanduniversal• KissesandhugstoProjectAbilityforagoodjob• Meetingwithotherartists• Withartyoucantalkwithotherartistsfromaroundtheworld• Tanya’sportraitstudio• It’sanhonourtobepartofthisinternationalexhibition, I will always remember it• Buildingtheexhibitiontogether• TheMachines-RolandKappelfromGermanyAtelier5

• NewIdeas• Tea• Opportunitytodoownartwithotherartists• TheMovieNight• Everythinghasbeenfun• AfternoonTeaatWillowTeaHouse• Peoplearepeoplewhereverwecomefrom• Network• Meetingdifferentpeoplesoutofdifferentnationalities• Thishasbeenverypositiveforallthepeoplewithdisabilities• Lovelytomeetandcreatecontactswithpeoplefrom different countries• Thequalityoftheartworkintheexhibitionisabsolutely high class

• Everyoneoftheartistsshouldbeveryproudofthemselvesandthehighqualityoftheirwork• Verywellorganised,welldoneElisabethandProjectAbility• Happywithmakingfriends• Hugepossibilities• Positive• Buzz• Talent• Gnomes• Meetingpeople• Talkingtoandmeetingoldandnewfriends• Brightfantasticart,hospitality,friends• Amazingchancetotalkandhelpshareourdevelopmentplanoverthenextthreeyears,thankyouPAteam

• Justdoart,don’ttalkaboutit,behappyaboutanddon’t think of funding, just do it• Moreisless• Stunningartwork• Beinginvitedtoshare• Beinglookedaftersoooowell• Thetimeisnow!• Newfaces,doingart,presentations,listening,talking• Ideas,newhorizons,• People-watching,tellyinbed,moreshoppingplease, men in kilts, bagpipes • GlobalAbility• Findingoutaboutdifferentwaysofworking• Sharing

• Ownership• Artistsownstudiospace• Culturalandsocialpolicy• Beingaware• Wouldliketoseemoreevenplayingfieldforexhibiting/makingpubliclyaccessibleartwork/craftworkbypeoplefromallsectorsofsocietyi.ere-educatefunders• HowaboutartistsfromProjectAbilityvisiting/workingwithundergraduatesinGSAorECA(intheirstudios)?• Ilovethisspace,thissetup• IfIlikeyourworkIwanttovisityou,Iwanttoseeyourstudio,it’sphysical• It(thespace)promotesfreedom,comfortandpositiveenergy

• I’venoticedcommonvalues,genuinesharing,lotsofnote taking, lots of work being made, an emphasis on artists and artists led work, so many artists • Thereisaneedforthesenetworks• Wearenotherefortheeasypeople,weareherefortheartists• Makesuretheartistsvoicescomethrough,interpretation-is it necessary, how to keep this true to the artist, particularlywhereverbalskillsarenotastrength• Doart,don’ttalkaboutit• Howtopresenttheworktotheoutsideworld,wewant to be part of the contemporary arts sector• Communication,howcanartistsshare

• Freedomtomake• Driveforbestpractice• Collaborationofcreativepeople• Faithbasedtrustineachother• Righttofail• Linkingpractice• Differentstudiosmodels• Playingtogether,justabunchofcreativepeople• Areartistsworkingathome?• Whataboutabiennial?• manyofstudiosareisolated• Ideas• Confidence,self-assured

• Peoplewhogotonwithotherfolk• Makingfriends• Lighttouchchairing,veryeffective• Goodbalance/useoftimeandtalksandnetworkandsocial• Good• Doitagain,when,where?• 2yearstimeinCanada?• Itwasgoodtodoitinaworkingspace,notinaconferencevenue• Totallyagree,itsetsthescene...itsallaboutartists, making art in art studios• Somuchscopetoconnectandcollaboratewithnew artists and organisations

• Carryontalkingandhavingtheseconversations• Ambitionshifts• BigthankstoProjectAbilityandtowhoeverfundedthis• Explorefeasibilityofstaff/artistswapsbetweenstudios-forshort/mediumperiodsoftime• ExploreextendedresidencyattheBanffArtscentreco-presentedbyIn-DefiniteArtsandtheNinaHaggerty• Goodconnectionshavebeenmadewithpossibilitiesof future exchange opportunities• Artistsinresidenceprogramme• Howdowemaintain/buildthenetwork?• Thebestwaytofacilitateartistresidencies-whendistancemakesitalltoohardandexpensive?

#TheSummitIn conclusion

#TheSummitIn conclusion

Project Ability considers artists with learning disabilities the experts in determining their artistic development and progression in the art world.

The Summit was a non-hierarchical event where everyone had equal space and support to converse and create, and where the artists were made most welcome while arts professionals and tutors had time to investigate each other’s practice and build relationships.

People came together to rejoice in their creativity and shared practice, and partnerships, conversations, and collaborations were strengthened and will continue to grow. The artists clearly expressed their want for equality with the rest of the arts community, and to have the same opportunities to develop their professional practice through exhibition, exchange and residencies. The time for talking is over, critical discourse can be left to others - the artists want time and space to make art.

Artist Newsletter online covered the event:

www.a-n.co.uk/news/learning-disability-artists-summit-it-feels-like-there-is-a-lot-to-be-learnt-here

A review was featured in the Outside In Blog:

https://outsideinpallant.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/international-summit-at-project-ability/

All talks were filmed and are available online at https://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectAFilms

Project Ability

#TheSummit