Away Days – Reflections
The final day started of with reflections, thankyous and flowers for organisers Mary-Jayne and Maral. They talked about how a three day conference came out of a 2 hour steering group and a new network of people has come out of this. They carefully created an event that redefined what a conference can be and set a standard for accessible spaces for deaf and hearing people to connect, network and co create work.
Attendees were encouraged to review and share their collaboration opportunities and any thoughts or feelings they had about the event. There was also time for people to write questions down and with different people. These questions covered a whole host of topics including how to bring accessibility to galleries, steps moving forward and how to uplift the deaf community.
Something that stood out was how people travelled from Wales, Scotland and beyond. A woman from Prague said “ It was good to see international structures. Discussion groups were the perfect place to talk about arts education.” This has led to a Facebook group about deaf arts and education.
Artist Katrina said ‘she left feeling inspired it was a great environment and nice to meet new people.’
Someone mentioned how freelancing can be lonely as well as being a deaf person in inaccessible hearing environments. This has been a nice change and she will be leaving with recharged batteries.
A hearing producer talked about how ‘it should be this natural. What is the action plan next? We need to show the rest of the community how things can be.’
Someone reflected on how generous deaf culture seems to be and the conference was filled with so much laughter. This has made her think how she can move forward as an ally.
‘Lovely to have deaf & hearing allyship. deaf people can feel quite isolated, nice to see hearing people be so open minded.’
The free event made it more accessible.
Someone from the gallery of work said “Thankyou for allowing us to showcase our work. From a deaf perspective we need to think about how to continue this momentum moving forward. I think it will become clearer what my path is from here.’
“This is the first event I’ve felt has accommodated for deaf and hearing people. I’ve felt I can do this. I can go back to my area w/ increased strength as an artist in a hearing studio.”
The conference was a beautiful reimagination of what deaf and hearing spaces can look like where there is equal footing and no barriers. A place for people to network and connect with actors, poets, musicians and visual artists. With a gallery showcasing deaf artists. This event could not have been made possible without organisers and producers: Mary-Jayne Russell de Clifford, Maral Mamaghanizadeh, Alan Mclean. With Video and social media work from Saneita McKenzie and David Ellington. Hosted by Iron House in the Jewellery quarter.
Deaf Explorer 