Bring us our Creative Rights: Disabled People’s Cultural and International Manifesto

A new manifesto from Disability Arts Cymru and partners Wales Arts International, Disability Wales and Arts Council Wales. The manifesto demands cultural and international rights for disabled people on International Day of Disability 2021 in line with recommendations from United Nations Convention for the Rights of Disabled People.

“We all have a right to access arts and culture, as audience members and as participants making work. At the Arts Council of Wales, we completely support the perspective of the social model of disability, and we strongly affirm that it is our responsibility and the responsibility of the organisations we fund to address the many barriers preventing disabled people achieving creative fulfilment in the arts. Supporting this manifesto expresses our commitment to working with disabled people to achieve full inclusion in the making and enjoyment of the arts. The whole society will be culturally richer if disabled people have the creative rights which have been so often and so shockingly denied to them”

Phil George, Chair of the Arts Council of Wales

Click on the image above to view the manifesto. There is an Easy Read version below.

“This manifesto is an important milestone and could transform how disabled people experience and are enabled to engage with the arts in Wales and beyond. Disabled people experience multiple barriers in terms of accessing the arts, as artists and citizens. They are also disproportionately affected by the Covid pandemic and climate emergency. There is a lot of work to do, but responding to the calls of this manifesto will lead to change. A powerful installation by artist Catherine Taylor Parry of a wheelchair with golden wings represents the vision of barrier-free access to the arts that this manifesto inspires. As we re-think how the arts work in Wales and internationally, we have an opportunity to put creative rights and social justice for disabled people at the centre of how we invest in the arts in Wales.”

Eluned Haf, Head of Wales Arts International