Unlimited’ a three year commissioning programme to support disabled artists in developing ambitious and high quality work, will be delivered throughout England and Scotland, it was announced today.

This follows on from the previous hugely successful ‘Unlimited’ programme which saw publically and critically acclaimed work from Scottish based artists Claire Cunningham, Marc Brew,  Caroline Bowditch and  Ramesh Meyyappan performed during the London 2012 Festival and Cultural Olympiad.

Shape and Artsadmin have been awarded £1.5 million from the National Lottery through Arts Council England to deliver the national programme. Creative Scotland along with other partner’s including the British Council, Southbank Centre, and DaDaFest are also supporting the programme.

Leonie Bell, Acting Director of Creative Development, says:

“We are delighted to be supporting this new round of Unlimited commissions. The 2012 Unlimited programme saw ground-working work being produced to great acclaim in the UK and internationally by talented artists from Scotland. We look forward to enabling and celebrating new artists voices through this next round.”

To register an interest or to make an application to the Unlimited programme visit: weareunlimited.org.uk.
 
‘Unlimited’ will not only help disabled artists develop their practice and encourage the development of new relationships and collaborations with producers, venues and promoters, but will also increase distribution of disabled artists’ work (through digital means and touring up to an international level), affording greater opportunities for audiences to see the work.

Alan Davey, Chief Executive for Arts Council England said:

“Supporting diversity in arts and culture is the right thing to do. I firmly believe that artists and organisations should make work that draws upon the full range of backgrounds of our society. Unlimited in 2012 was a real success story, enabling disabled artists from across the UK to showcase their talent as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Building on this success, Unlimited will ensure that disabled artists have a strong platform from which they can create ambitious, high quality work to develop and stretch audiences across England and beyond. The collaboration between Shape and Artsadmin is a really exciting combination with both demonstrating really strong experience in supporting artists’ development; we believe this partnership will enable us to build on what was achieved in 2012 and continue to challenge public perceptions of disability.”

http://www.creativescotland.com/news/new-three-year-programme-for-unlimited-09122013