Europe Beyond Access is an ambitious 4-year programme designed to internationalise the careers of disabled artists and revolutionise Europe’s performing arts scene.
The core partners of the project are British Council (operating for this project in the UK and Poland), Holland Dance Festival (The Netherlands), Skånes Dansteater (Sweden), Oriente Occidente (Italy), Onassis Stegi (Greece), Kampnagel (Germany), and Per.Art (Serbia). It is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.
The programme consists of an extensive plan of activity including new commissions, workshops, residencies, toolkits, networking events, performances, creative laboratories, artist interviews and films.
The core objectives of Europe Beyond Access are to:
- Contribute to artistic innovation of disabled artists in Europe
- Revolutionise the programming palette in European performing arts through showcasing world-class disability-led work and creating a network of experienced programmers interested in commissioning and presenting artists
- Increase interest in disability-led work
- Create the best possible industry conditions to source, develop, produce and present work of disabled artists
Europe Beyond Access in The Netherlands
“Our ambition is to develop a more diverse and accessible dance scene in The Netherlands, including creating equal opportunities for talented disabled artists. EBA is a possibility to develop further our dance & disability program called DanceAble, the only major dance project for people with a disability in The Netherlands. Working in an international context brings us knowledge and artistic possibilities, stimulating development.” Holland Dance Festival
Holland Dance Festival (The Hague, Netherlands) is a major national organisation with experience of offering local disabled aspiring artists opportunity to work at a professional level for the first time. It has been the national pioneers of artist development, as well as presenting world-class work within its mainstream programme. Holland Dance has taken a national role disseminating best practice, in partnership with local arts funders and networks, already hosting two major conferences on dance and disability, including DanceAble.
Holland Dance Festival hosted the third Europe Beyond Access laboratory led by Adam Benjamin (co-founder of Candoco) and choreographer Jeanefer Jean-Charles. Bringing together disabled artists from each of the seven partner countries, they explored the creation of work that celebrates diverse bodies using the theme Other Artists, Other Bodies.
Momentum is a new duet commission choreographed by Stefan Ernst (SALLY Dansgezelschap Maastricht) and performed by Sander Verbeek & Pedro Ricardo Henry. After premiering in The Netherlands, the duets are touring to Italy, Greece and Sweden with tour dates listed on europebeyondaccess.com.
For updates on Holland Dance Festival’s programme visit the website.
Dutch disabled artists take part in every Europe Beyond Access laboratory.
International partnerships like these are crucial for both the circulation of creative ideas, supporting experimentation and the work of disabled artists, and strengthening the European arts sector.
In 2020, Holland Dance Festival partnered with British Council to host the first Arts & Disability cluster meeting, representing nine current and recent Creative Europe / Culture Projects, three Erasmus+ Projects, and four trans-national projects for disabled artists. The group will soon publish the resulting report, ‘Disabled artists in the mainstream: a new cultural agenda for Europe’ which outlines recommendations on European Union Cultural Policy and EU Funding Instruments.
There are many ways you can take part and support Europe Beyond Access.
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By engaging with our content online, you can find out about forthcoming performances, discover emerging and established disabled artists from across Europe, see behind-the-scenes on workshops and residencies, and increase public interest in disabled artists’ work. Importantly, you can directly help to raise the visibility of disabled dancers, theatre-makers and performing artists by sharing our posts. Play a part in educating the mainstream by pushing forth the brightest innovations in the field.
