Arts Council England, Italian Ministry of Culture (The Performing Arts Department), the Italian Cultural Institute of London, and British Council form a new partnership to launch ‘Open Dialogo’, a bilateral exchange project for dance and disability.
On a black background, round-edged squares in varying sizes display icons and images in a collage. Arranged around the image in a neat grid, there are four photos of dance artists from the UK and from Italy. The photos sit alongside smaller graphic icons showing the maps of Italy and the UK, outlines of disabled people and dancers, and a megaphone, these graphics are coloured white, bright blue or black
Arts Council England, Italian Ministry of Culture, the Italian Cultural Institute of London, and British Council have come together to initiate a dialogue about dance and disability between artists, producers and venues based in England and Italy. The Farnham based Stopgap Dance Company has been commissioned to design, curate and manage the project.
‘Open Dialogo’ will invite English and Italian arts colleagues to share knowledge and experiences of dance and disability, and to enhance bilateral exchange and promote inclusivity. This will be achieved by a series of online seminars and artist residencies taking place between May and October this year.
The online seminars will take place on 10th May, 17th May, 7th June and 14th June from 5-6pm BST, 6-7pm CET. Italian and English panellists will introduce dance and disability in the English and Italian scenes and explore how dance in both countries can become more inclusive of disabled people as artists, leaders, and audiences. Speakers and chairs will include disabled leaders such as Jo Verrent from Unlimited, Laura Jones from Stopgap, Aristide Rontini and Giuseppe Comuniello from Italy. More information about these free-to-attend seminars is available on Stopgap Dance Company’s website.
The artist residencies will take place in England and Italy in September and October to enable host organisation and dance artists the opportunity to explore inclusive dance. Stopgap Dance Company will be announcing the details of these residencies and how organisations and individuals can apply in May.
The themes for the residencies will centre around the points of conversation in the seminar, so individuals and organisations interested in being a part of the residencies will need to have participated in the seminar series.
White text on black, a title reads 'Open Dialogo', and the two 'o' letters of the second word form speech bubbles. Below a subtitle reads 'A bilateral cultural exchange project for dance and disability in Italy and England'. Below that are five logos: Stopgap Dance Company, Arts Council England, Italian Ministry of Culture, Italian Cultural Institute of London and the British Council.