Disability and Puppetry Research Network
Lead Research Organisation:
Bath Spa University
Department Name: Bath School of Music and Performing Arts
Abstract
This research network will identify, explore and develop new and emerging connections between disability and puppetry scholarship and practice, to discover what puppetry offers disability studies and arts, and vice versa. This will build on an increasing recognition of productive resonances between disability and puppetry to develop new framings for disability and non-normative bodies within wider cultural and institutional contexts. This responds to the need to develop disability policy in the arts, to explore agency and voice in the sector, and to expand culture to include disabled people as artists.
The key research themes for the network are agency and hybrid bodies. Network partners and members are drawn from the UK, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Sweden and the US. Network members will convene for three events:
Event 1, Prague (Dec 2022): residency to develop processes at Continuo Theatre
Event 2, Switzerland (May 2023): sharing and further development of work-in-progress performance, workshops and roundtables at ORME Festival for disability arts
Event 3, UK (Apr 2024): symposium to share findings at Bath Spa University (BSU).
The network includes 11 leading scholars and artists working in disability and/or puppetry. A core network priority is inclusion of disabled scholars and artists; five network members are disabled. Members include:
PI: Dr Laura Purcell-Gates, Bath Spa University, UK - puppetry and disability scholar and artist
Co-I: Prof. Demis Quadri, Accademia Dimitri, Switzerland - puppetry and disability scholar
Nikki Charlesworth, Diverse City, UK - theatre and puppet designer
Dr Emma Fisher-Owen, Beyond the Bark Theatre, Ireland - puppeteer; puppetry and disability scholar
Prof. Petra Kuppers, University of Michigan, US - disability scholar, activist and artist
Emanuel Rosenberg, Artistic Director ORME Festival and Teatro Danzabile, Switzerland - disability arts practitioner
Dr Yvonne Schmidt, Zürich University of the Arts and Bern University of the Arts, Switzerland - disability scholar
Pavel Stourac and Sara Bocchini, Continuo Theatre, Czech Republic - practitioners: inclusive practice, movement and puppetry
Markéta Stranská, Czech Republic, - dancer, choreographer and puppeteer
Prof. Meike Wagner, Stockholm University, Sweden - puppetry scholar
Outputs will be academic (article submitted to Theatre Research International, conference presentation at International Federation of Theatre Research (IFTR)'s working group Performance and Disability for 2024 conference, groundwork for larger grant) and artistic (work-in-progress performance, workshop, 20-minute documentary).
Dissemination will be via publication, conference, festival events, the project website (to be hosted by BSU) and social media. Additional dissemination through existing networks of network members and project partners.
Impact will occur through dissemination of new processes and practices in order to change practices of professional theatre makers within disability arts and puppetry, and more broadly within the performing arts including applied theatre professionals working in community and disability contexts. They will be able to use the new methods developed by the network, leading to a change in both professional and applied industry approaches to accessibility, inclusion of disabled artists and methods of creating disability performance.
This project will build on PI Purcell-Gates's experience on the Steering Group for the 2017/18 AHRC research network Objects with Objectives, co-convening the international symposia Broken Puppet 2 and 3 (2018-19), ongoing role as Research Lead for Performing Arts at BSU, and managing an interdisciplinary team for a 2014-15 medical humanities public engagement arts project funded by The Wellcome Trust. It will also build on Co-I Quadri's extensive research management experience including his 2015-19 project DisAbility on Stage.
The key research themes for the network are agency and hybrid bodies. Network partners and members are drawn from the UK, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Sweden and the US. Network members will convene for three events:
Event 1, Prague (Dec 2022): residency to develop processes at Continuo Theatre
Event 2, Switzerland (May 2023): sharing and further development of work-in-progress performance, workshops and roundtables at ORME Festival for disability arts
Event 3, UK (Apr 2024): symposium to share findings at Bath Spa University (BSU).
The network includes 11 leading scholars and artists working in disability and/or puppetry. A core network priority is inclusion of disabled scholars and artists; five network members are disabled. Members include:
PI: Dr Laura Purcell-Gates, Bath Spa University, UK - puppetry and disability scholar and artist
Co-I: Prof. Demis Quadri, Accademia Dimitri, Switzerland - puppetry and disability scholar
Nikki Charlesworth, Diverse City, UK - theatre and puppet designer
Dr Emma Fisher-Owen, Beyond the Bark Theatre, Ireland - puppeteer; puppetry and disability scholar
Prof. Petra Kuppers, University of Michigan, US - disability scholar, activist and artist
Emanuel Rosenberg, Artistic Director ORME Festival and Teatro Danzabile, Switzerland - disability arts practitioner
Dr Yvonne Schmidt, Zürich University of the Arts and Bern University of the Arts, Switzerland - disability scholar
Pavel Stourac and Sara Bocchini, Continuo Theatre, Czech Republic - practitioners: inclusive practice, movement and puppetry
Markéta Stranská, Czech Republic, - dancer, choreographer and puppeteer
Prof. Meike Wagner, Stockholm University, Sweden - puppetry scholar
Outputs will be academic (article submitted to Theatre Research International, conference presentation at International Federation of Theatre Research (IFTR)'s working group Performance and Disability for 2024 conference, groundwork for larger grant) and artistic (work-in-progress performance, workshop, 20-minute documentary).
Dissemination will be via publication, conference, festival events, the project website (to be hosted by BSU) and social media. Additional dissemination through existing networks of network members and project partners.
Impact will occur through dissemination of new processes and practices in order to change practices of professional theatre makers within disability arts and puppetry, and more broadly within the performing arts including applied theatre professionals working in community and disability contexts. They will be able to use the new methods developed by the network, leading to a change in both professional and applied industry approaches to accessibility, inclusion of disabled artists and methods of creating disability performance.
This project will build on PI Purcell-Gates's experience on the Steering Group for the 2017/18 AHRC research network Objects with Objectives, co-convening the international symposia Broken Puppet 2 and 3 (2018-19), ongoing role as Research Lead for Performing Arts at BSU, and managing an interdisciplinary team for a 2014-15 medical humanities public engagement arts project funded by The Wellcome Trust. It will also build on Co-I Quadri's extensive research management experience including his 2015-19 project DisAbility on Stage.