Crucial Conversations for Disabled Artists - The Current Arts Environment

Crucial Conversations are an essential disabled artist only online space to talk about important themes and experiences set up by writer and director Vici Wreford-Sinnott. "Disabled artists need spaces to come together and talk. It would be easy to spiral into the bleak exclusion and erasure we consistently experience but during Crucial Conversations this time around we are being encouraged to reflect and share our survival techniques and think about the moments that give us hope. We all need a personal manifesto of hope. 

Vici is the final artist to give a provocation of hope to close this series of Crucial Conversations, along side the brilliant artist Dolly Sen.  Vici has been part of the Disability Arts and involved in disability theatre for over 30 years. Her current practice based PhD research focusses on radical representations of disabled women in performance. Her work creates new disabled protagonists and disabled narratives to challenges what she has termed 'crip-taking': the cultural theft of disabled people's voices, stories and roles for disabled actors; and, the suppression of disabled-led work which unpicks social, historical and contemporary cultural ableism.

We're thrilled to announce that Dolly Sen is one of our provocateurs for the conversation on 'The Current Arts Environment' on Monday 22 April 2.00-3.30pm. An incredible artist, Dolly subverts everyday experiences and accepted norms to magnify injustice and wrong-thinking. She is working class, Queer, interested in disability and the madness given to us by the world. 

Vici will talk about her work and provide a provocation on our experience of the arts environment as it struggles to rebuild during the latest stages of the pandemic, and how she maintains hope when there is so much uncertainty. We will ask: Where do we go from here and what is the message we'd like to send to those with resources and decision-making powers? We also look at our skills in positioning ourselves as equals. 
Rather than a negative spiral, which it is difficult to avoid,  it would be great if we encourage each other to think about personal manifestos of hope to take away.  

About Vici Wreford-Sinnott
​Vici was commissioned by the BBC to write and direct her short film Hen Night creating one of the first ever pieces of broadcast British drama by a disabled women-led team.  Films include Funny Peculiar starring BBC Silent Witness actor Liz Carr for Northern Stage and ARC Stockton, Siege was commissioned by Home Manchester and ARC Stockton Homemakers with her accompanying non-fiction series The Wrong Woman Discussions featuring four other disabled women performing in the public eye.  Vici’s radio drama The UnSung was commissioned by Durham Book Festival, New Writing North and ARC Stockton.

In 2023 Vici was commissioned by Live Theatre Newcastle to write with the love of neither god nor state for Three Acts of Love and is currently under commission to Live Theatre for her play Useless F*cker. Funny Peculiar and Siege are published by Salamander Street  and with the love of neither god nor state was published by Methuen Drama in 2023.

In 2015 Vici pioneered a significant model of disabled-led practice in a mainstream venue in partnership with ARC Stockton, Cultural Shift, which she has been invited to speak about internationally, and which it is hoped will roll out across six partner arts and cultural venues in the North East from 2024.

Vici’s original theatre work includes Butterfly (Best One Person Play 2018 British Theatre Guide, National Tour), Lighthouse (bilingual piece in English and BSL, British Premiere ARC Stockton), Another England (National Tour), The Art Of Not Getting Lost (ARC Stockton and Northern Stage), Vote for Caliban (Northern Stage), Deadly Devotchka (Edinburgh Fringe), Moll Cutpurse: A Comedy for the 21st Century (UK and Ireland Tour). Vici has many directing credits and has mentored many disabled writers to bring their work to the stage. She is a long term collaborator with Full Circle, an ensemble of learning disabled theatre makers.

In 2021 Vici was awarded the North East Arts and Culture Award for Outstanding Contribution to the arts in the region.

Booking for Crucial Conversations - The Current Arts Environment

Crucial Conversations are disabled only spaces - please do not book a space if you are not a disabled person. 
​Disabled artists can book for this event on Eventbrite here. 

Access 
We have live captions and BSL interpretation for this event. Please book as soon as possible if you have access requirements and do tell us what you need in your booking form on Eventbrite. Thank you. Crucial Conversations - Disabled Artists: The Current Arts Environment Tickets, Mon 22 Apr 2024 at 14:00 | Eventbrite

You can find out more about other Crucial Conversations and provocateurs on our website here. ​Knowledge Action Change - LITTLE COG