Inclusive arts practices

In a diverse society, coming together in meaningful ways with people who differ –linguistically, bodily, religiously or ethnically – is one of the most urgent challenges facing us.

Our research at the University of Brighton has investigated the roles of art in the challenges of true inclusivity. We deal with questions as to what the future of inclusion looks like, and what current practitioners will need to address. We challenge notions of who holds knowledge and where boundaries of inclusion might lie.

At the heart of Brighton's pioneering work is Alice Fox’s international advocacy and embedding of educational strategies in university and government agendas. The co-author of Inclusive arts practice and research: a critical manifesto (2015, A Fox H Macpherson), Alice Fox has appeared on international television as an expert in this field. She delivers inclusive arts and staff training for institutions such as the British Council, Tate Modern and The National Gallery and is a Tate Exchange Associate. It is through Tate Exchange that Alice has been developing new inclusive pedagogies of co-production through research into the practices of inclusion. The centre supports work with colleagues across the arts and health-related social sciences.

Artists undertake a sculpture project as part of the inclusive arts opportunities from the University of Brighton

Learning and inclusivity

Research has both developed from and underpinned development in educational contexts.

Our Inclusive Arts Practice MA has run for many years, investing research and community enterprise directly into the educational framework, while a major long-term set of collaborations have been engaging people who have complex learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. 

The University of Brighton has led and innovated research in this field, both in the context of arts practice and the advocacy of human rights. Projects have explored how inclusive arts practices can be accessible and appropriate to performers with and without learning disabilities. It asks - when words are not enough how do we collaborate equally?

It also explores and promotes the nature of a university-community partnership, which grows out of real-world problems – the absence of educational opportunities for artists with learning difficulties - which could only be addressed collaboratively. This relationship pushes the boundaries of student learning in the community and asks what is acceptable for students and who are acceptable students?

The key collaboration has, over many years, been with the learning disabled Rocket Artists group, which has pushed the boundaries of inclusion in the arts through performance, symposiums and exhibitions – making the case for diversity through the work whilst posing questions that challenge prejudice and work against isolation.

Alice Fox’s Side-by-Side (2013) for example was commissioned by the Arts Council and London’s Southbank Centre and attracted over 6,500 visitors. It brought together 150 able-bodied and disabled artists, representing the collaborative approach and outlook of 30 international organisations to carefully consider how to use the processes of collaboration to create a space for equality of expression and the development of creative ideas ensuring everyone’s ideas were ‘heard’.

Jude Kelly, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre, said:

‘I consider this exhibition to be groundbreaking in its ambition and realisation. It shifts a paradigm by making us understand that art created by people with different life experiences gives us fresh perspectives on ideas around what is possible for an artist, both practically and emotionally. It demands that both artists and audiences think of inclusivity as the only approach to the full expression of our cultural life.’

Other successful enterprises included Smudged (Tate Modern 2008), Overalls (2007) and Measures of Bodies (Medical Museum,Brussels, 2010)

Student and teacher co-operating on a paper sculpture

Issues of identity and expression

Research at the University of Brighton aims to understand identity and expression in the context of inclusivity. This work examines questions of acceptance, how wider communities understand those with challenging differences.

Dr Jane Lloyd's work explores dementia, investigating how artists' performative engagements with processes of caring for objects can establish new models of relational care with and for older people residing in care homes, especially those living with dementia.

Deepening the understanding of human communication and interaction, Alice Fox has taken artist-formulated events across the world from the streets of Katmandu to the new buildings at Tate Modern. The principle of communicative exchange is a complex one and is evident in all our daily lives. What does a meeting take from us and what do we give? What is the visible and invisible result of exchange? Through what methods can we heighten our understanding of what for many is a sub-conscious act?

Alice Fox has organised a series of initiatives in the UK and in Asia that bring communities together to join in exploratory performance and activities with the aim of understanding the processes behind communication, trust and closeness. The research asks questions about groups and individuals, the process of information exchange, and redefines the notion of 'listening' to begin a new understanding of how people interact as co-performers, audiences and new acquaintances.