Following on from our open session with disabled directors, Ask Us Anything, Directors UK’s Career Development team and the Disability Working Group are thrilled to be teaming up with TripleC DANC - the Disabled Artists Networking Community - for an online roundtable discussion. This 1.5 hour session will provide a safe space where directors can meet and engage with deaf, disabled and neurodivergent actors from TripleC's Disabled Artists Networking Community.
Click here to book onto this session
The roundtable will be taking place on Zoom from 14:30-16:00 on Wednesday 14 July. The session will include a short break mid-way through.
Questions in advance will help us to shape the session. Please send your advance questions through to [email protected] by Monday 12 July.
Led by Cherylee Houston and Melissa Johns, the session will explore access, communication, techniques and seeing access as an art form in itself when on set/stage. It will be a safe platform for directors to ask questions and for everyone involved to share ideas and creative solutions. The format is very much a two way conversion that everyone can learn from so please come with your questions, suggestions and ideas!
Directors who attend this session will have the opportunity to:
- learn more about disability and access; share ideas
- hear directly from actors who have lived experience of being deaf, disabled and neurodivergent
- ask questions in a safe space
- come away with solution-focused tips and suggestions that they can incorporate into their creative and working practice.
Who are TripleC DANC?
TripleC DANC are a fast-growing community of disabled creatives set up to increase employment and representation of disabled people across the arts, media, TV & Film sector. Established by Manchester-based company TripleC, the network has doubled to over a thousand members during the pandemic. TripleC DANC was quick to take its events online from April 2020, making them accessible to a UK-wide audience. Their programme includes webinars and online masterclasses in a mix of skills-based and creative sessions across drama, writing, directing, dance, and the visual arts.
Twitter: @DANC_UK and @TripleC_UK
Accessibility
If you have any questions or accessibility requirements, please contact [email protected].
About Cherylee Houston and Melissa Johns
Cherylee Houston has played Izzy Armstrong in Coronation Street for the last eleven years. She has had five seasons of her memoir based plays on Radio 4, including three series on Woman’s Hour. She is the cofounder of TripleC who run TripleC DANC, The Disabled Artists Networking Community with over 1,000 disabled artists and allies. She won the Achievement of The Year Award at The Women in Film And Television Awards 2019 and more recently The Doubleday Award, from Manchester University’s Centre for Patient Experience, for significant contribution to patient care. Cherylee started the #TakingTheDis hashtag to promote the different life experiences of disabled people. TripleC is dedicated to changing the way disabled people are included in and access the arts, ensuring the way we are reflected in the media impacts on the way we (disabled people) are treated in society.
Melissa Johns is a disabled actor and theatre maker. She played Hannah Taylor in BBC One’s drama LIFE (written by Mike Bartlett) and is known for her role as Imogen Pascoe in Coronation Street. Johns will play new series regular, Miss Scott in ITV’s upcoming series of Grantchester and has recently been announced as one of Celebrity Masterchef contestants 2021.
Melissa was chosen as one of the UK’s most influential people with a disability on the Shaw Power List and won the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World award in 2018 for her work in fighting for the inclusivity of disabled people in the arts and wider society. She also received Alumna of the year award for University of Essex/ East 15 acting school for her advocacy and action in breaking down the barriers faced by disabled creatives.
Melissa is co artistic director of TripleC and co created TripleC DANC (Disabled Artists Networking Community).
