Creative Minds Conference 2015
We are Bella and Colin.
We went to the Creative Minds conference in
Ipswich.
A conference is a big meeting where different
people get together to
 Learn new things
 Meet new people
 Talk about new ideas
This conference was for people who work in
learning disability and the arts.
At the conference, we heard about important
things happening in the arts to do with learning
disabilities.
This is the third conference like this. There will be
another one in 2017.
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We wrote a review about the conference. A
review says what is good and not so good about
an event.
This is our review from the conference.
The review says
 What happened at the conference
 What people learned that will help to make
plans in the future
Questions at the conference
There were some big questions to answer at the
conference.
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1. Why are not many artists with learning
disabilities working in the arts?
2. Why does this matter?
3. What do we mean by good work in the
arts?
The conference looked at what kind of
performance is made.
When work is performed and booked by an
organisation, we call this programming.
Jez Colborne – Mind the Gap
There were some good pieces of work
programmed. One of the best was by Jez
Colborne. Jez works for Mind the Gap theatre
company.
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Jez is a musician and an artist.
He told the conference that he uses the things
that happen to him in life and writes songs about
them – even the very bad things. He likes the
musician Bob Marley and is good at telling
stories.
Oska Bright 2015
We heard about three films from the film festival
Oska Bright, which takes place every two years.
These films were very good at showing how
people with learning disabilities can take part in
making films.
We heard from a dancer called Chris Pavia.
Chris is a dancer and a choreographer.
A choreographer is someone who makes the
steps that dancers have to follow.
Chris said he liked films like ET and
Bladerunner. He works for a company called
Stopgap. Chris made a new piece of work called
The Awakening.
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Chris told the conference how he draws his
ideas in pictures so he can show the dancers how
he wants them to move. The Awakening is about
how dance can be light and happy or dark and
sad.
Things that were not so good about the
programming
Bella thought there was too much dance
programmed. The dancers in the work were told
to move in a certain way. It was not always the
way they wanted to move.
Sometimes the way people worked together was
not clear and this caused problems.
At the conference, we talked about Razed Roof
Theatre and their show. The story of the show
was set on a ship.
We thought the performers in the show who had
learning disabilities were not allowed to be as free
in how they moved, as they wanted to be.
They got help to move from people who did not
have learning disabilities. We did not think this
worked very well.
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Ways to make the programming better
We thought that some of the theatre and dance
programmed for people with learning disabilities
was made in a way that was not new or
interesting.
Artists and performers were not able to make the
work they wanted to. We think having a learning
disability is a strength and people should be able
to make the work they want.
We asked what artists with learning disabilities
get from being creative and making art. Some
people said it made them feel part of something
and they had fun. They were able to have a voice
and say what they wanted.
One person really liked the Razed Roof Theatre
show. He joined in one of the lines they used in
the performance. It made him laugh.
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What to do in the future
We need people with learning disabilities to be in
the arts. They make the arts world different and
better.
We want performers to be the best they can and
do their best work.
Every performer is different and has something
great to bring to a performance.
The people watching the show and the people in
it need to be true in everything they do.
This is very important in every show. The truth
might be part of a story they are telling or how
they want to say it.
The Creative Minds Conference makes it easier
for artists with learning disabilities to make and
enjoy art.
We all want the conference to be bigger so that
artists with learning disabilities can get as much
support as possible.
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We want their work to be seen in lots of different
places like theatres, cinemas and art galleries.
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