You know when you have those moments when you talk yourself in and out of applying for something that you know will make a difference in your life?
Well, this was one of those moments when the Sunderland Culture Creative Development Bursary fellowship was announced and I decided to apply after much encouragement and support from various people, for which I am incredibly grateful.
The bursary fund is given through Sunderland Culture, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, that enables creative practitioners to develop their practice.
Part of the dream is to develop the Dwarf voice via various mediums – whether it be photography, writing or podcasting. In this case, I decided that I wanted to concentrate on my development as a participatory practitioner so that I can gain the confidence and experience to run workshops, while also providing the opportunity for the Dwarf community to develop skills and confidence in telling our own stories.
I am thrilled to say that I was successful in the bid for funding and will be running two workshops for Dwarf people in the next 6 months!
One of the workshops will be based at ChapelFM Arts Centre in Leeds, with the second one taking place in Sunderland in April or May at the Media Centre at the University of Sunderland.
It’s a chance for us, as Dwarf people, to talk about what matters to us and learn some skills in broadcasting.
ChapelFM Art Centre is a wonderfully accessible creative, safe space. I have visited the Centre as part of my year-long Creative Activism course. The staff are welcoming, supportive and have the same ethos of nurturing communities in arts and creativity.
Join us for the first workshop
The first workshop will take place on Saturday 19th October at ChapelFM Arts Centre in Leeds.
If you have a form of Dwarfism that is diagnosed or undiagnosed, or you stand at 4ft 10″ or smaller, and you can make your way to Leeds on 19th October 2019 – I would love for you to be a part of this experience.
You can apply to join in by filling out the form over here and read more about the Podcasting Workshop over here.
Spread the Word
It would be great if we could get as many people as possible in the dwarf community to hear about the workshops.
If you know someone with Dwarfism who would be interested in joining in the workshop in Leeds – you can download and share this leaflet with them.