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Deaf Explorer is delighted to provide a thought-provoking discussion for CEDIA about equality. The Centre for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts (CEDIA) that is an exciting new initiative that seeks to engage with, promote and challenge issues of equality, diversity and inclusion across the Arts.

We will profile the stories of four deaf artists. They are central to Deaf Explorer’s mission and forge radical approaches to the making of contemporary deaf culture. The artists work across art forms and bring their lived experience into their creative work in dance, theatre, dance and visual arts.

Chairing the discussion about intersectional identity and the relationship between culture and power will be Iranian artist Maral Maghanizadeh, M.A. Birmingham School of Jewellery.
Rinkoo Barpaga is an emerging theatre-maker who started out as a Stand-Up comedian. He is brave and uses performance to tackle taboo subjects & confront audiences with complex issues.
Billy Read is a Street Dancer with the expertise to involve deaf young people in the arts. Over lockdown, he posted dance tutorials online and streamed dance workshops to schools over the past six months, leading to an appearance on Blue Peter thanking Billy for inspiring deaf children, during Deaf awareness week. Rachael Veazey is passionate about changing the lives of deaf people, and supporting the arts to be fair by improving understanding about Deaf access. Alan McLean has a background in performance art, fine art and media, and believes art by deaf and disabled artists can create social change.

Ishtiaq Hussain

Joining Deaf Explorer are; Phillip Freeman is a deaf community actor with InteGREAT theatre.
Ishtiaq Hussain is an expert at Visual Vernacular, European in origin. The art form is non-verbal visual theatre, which often describes universal experiences about life.

Background

Deaf Explorer have been invited to take part in  the launch week of CEDIA Centre for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts (CEDIA).The Centre for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts is an exciting new initiative that seeks to engage with, promote and challenge issues of equality, diversity and inclusion across the Arts. The Centre will act as a locus across the University and City region in collaboration with our cultural partners to offer a critical and practical space for thinking and doing equality, diversity and inclusion in the Arts. The Centre will host a range of talks, public lectures, and workshops through conventional and unconventional formats.