# CRIPtic Arts


## Posts

- [Free Introduction to Access Training](https://cripticarts.org/access-training/): We are very excited to launch our free course led by Jamiesha Prescod – an Introduction to Access Training for the Cultural Sector. At CRIPtic Arts, we work with organisations in the cultural sector to improve accessibility – for visitors, staff, and freelancers. Our work is tailored to the context of your individual organisation, ensuring that it addresses your needs in ways that work for your staff. With the launch of these free training modules, you can take the early steps on becoming a more accessible organisation now. Who are disabled people? With these videos, in under 20 minutes, you…
- [Annual Report 2023-24](https://cripticarts.org/annual-report-2023-24/): At CRIPtic, we made a lot of progress in 2023-24. This report talks about how we worked with lots of disabled people in lots of different ways. We worked with people new to the arts and people who have worked in the arts for a long time. We ran: We also ran Community Workshops, which were run by disabled people. These were open to everyone.  Over the year, we have paid more than 90 disabled people through these programmes. We also helped them build their skills, become more confident, and create new work. This year put on powerful and personal…
- [CRIPtic 2025 Artist Development Programme](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-2025-artist-development/): Nurturing the practice and work of disabled creatives is integral to us. In 2025, we are running our artist development programme with 4 strands – Reach, Launchpad, Breakthrough and Incubate. These are designed for emerging writers, fresh performers, experienced creatives, growing leaders and company innovators. These programmes are at the heart of CRIPtic’s work, investing in and supporting disabled people in creating, organising, and changing the arts sector, and we’re very excited to meet the next round of people. Could this be you? Read more about the Artist Development Programme and consider applying. Reach Supporting five emerging writers to develop…
- [Liberty Festival: Artist Call-Out](https://cripticarts.org/liberty-festival/): CRIPtic Arts is excited to launch our call-out for work for Liberty Festival 2025, taking place 24th to 28th September 2025. The call-out closes on the 1st May 2025. We are looking to programme bold, innovative, and thought-provoking work by disabled artists for Liberty 2025. The festival will take place in venues / spaces across Wandsworth (London), with Battersea Arts Centre as the central hub. The work commissioned could include: It could be aimed at a general audience or a specific audience. We are anticipating programming the below number of projects. This is just a guide to help with applications.…
- [Announcing the 2025 Liberty R&D Artists!](https://cripticarts.org/announcing-the-2025-liberty-rd-artists/): We are thrilled to announce the commissioned R&D artists for The Liberty Festival 2025! As the Mayor’s flagship disability arts festival, Liberty is at the forefront of championing bold, innovative, and thought-provoking work by disabled artists. Through Liberty, CRIPtic is committed to nurturing new talent and developing experienced creatives, investing in projects at every stage—from fresh ideas to world-class productions.  This open call disabled artists, producers, and creatives to undertake research and development for new arts projects with the potential to be presented at Liberty Festival 2025 and beyond. Our commissioned projects fall into three grant categories: With over £40,000…
- [CRIPtic Arts x Liberty Festival 2025](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-arts-x-liberty-festival-2025/): CRIPtic Arts to produce Liberty Festival 2025 as part of Wandsworth’s year as The Mayor’s London Borough of Culture  We’re delighted to be shaping Liberty for London Borough of Culture in Wandsworth in 2025. As the Mayor’s flagship disability arts festival, Liberty leads the way, and our vision showcases bold, innovative work that excites, challenges and reframes disability for audiences across the capital. This year, disabled people will be creatively collaborating with local communities, and celebrating our existence. Through Liberty, CRIPtic will foster new creatives and develop experienced creatives, investing in work at every stage, from fresh ideas to world-class…
- [Working with AAC Users](https://cripticarts.org/a-guide-to-working-with-aac-users/): This is a guide on working with people who use Alternative and Augmentative Communication as their primary form of communication. You can read the guide below, which is available to download as a PDF, Easy Read Format and Plain Text version. Working with AAC Users: Full Guide Easy Read Plain Text & Screenreader Version
- [Call Us CRIPtic - A Disability Arts Documentary](https://cripticarts.org/disability-arts-documentary/): In 2021, we collaborated with Fig Films to make a disability arts documentary. We’re so excited to share it with you now! Call Us CRIPtic takes you on a journey through our Barbican showcase. It explores what it means to be a disabled artist making work, and what we’re trying to achieve as an organisation. From our beginnings as a show in 2019 onwards, we have always tried to revolutionise the disability arts world. We put access at the centre of our work, commit to our artists, and work to make change. This documentary showcases our work, our commitments, and…
- [Deaf Performer for The Acts 2024](https://cripticarts.org/deaf-performer-for-the-acts-2024/): We’re looking for a Deaf performer for an upcoming show called The Acts, which will be at The Pit Theatre at the Barbican Centre in November 2024. Fee: £2,100, plus hotels, transport, per diems and access support as required. Contract: Freelance/self-employed Location: Translation, remote; rehearsals & performances, London Key Dates Translation: 2 days Rehearsals: 6 days, London Show week: 6 days, The Pit Theatre, Barbican Centre Number of shows: 2 The show will be filmed so it can be shown online for a limited time. It is likely this will be a free-to-view recording. The Production The Acts is a…
- [Reflections from our Artistic Director on 2024 Artist Development Applications](https://cripticarts.org/cp24-applications-blog/): One of my favourite parts of the CRIPtic year is reviewing the applications for our programmes – and one of the hardest parts of the year is selecting people to take up places on these programmes. Inevitably, we’re faced with an enormous range of artists, practices, ideas, and possibilities, and narrowing that down is very challenging. Between last year and this year, applications to our programmes almost tripled for the same number of places. Going from 65 to 185 applications was a huge success for our team, but also challenged us – because it meant that the decisions we had…
- [Featuring Katherine Castellucci](https://cripticarts.org/katherine-castellucci/): This year at CRIPtic we’ve had the privilege of hosting the disabled performer and activist Katherine Castellucci as an intern. She joined us as a placement as part of her BA Acting and Community Theatre degree at East 15 Acting School. It’s been wonderful to have her join the team on a few occasions and to give her a bit of a sense of what we do. Her work ranged finding rehearsal spaces and creating promotional materials and image descriptions to exploring our risk register, joining interviews and meetings with artists, and researching international connections.  Having her support on the…
- [Podcast: Disability and... CRIPtic Arts, with Jamie Hale](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-disability-and-criptic-arts-with-jamie-hale/): Our friends at Disability Arts Online have just released episode 57 of their “Disability and…” podcast, and this episode features Jamie Hale and the work we’re doing at CRIPtic. From our earliest beginnings, to where we’re at now, and where we want to go in the future, this is a chance to get inside the workings of CRIPtic, when Jamie speaks to the fabulous Colin Hambrook.
- [Dynamic Creatives: Understanding the Arts Council Investment Principles](https://cripticarts.org/dynamic-creatives-understanding-the-investment-principles/): Our friends at Disability Arts Online have been working on some fantastic videos about Arts Council England, including one on “Understanding the Investment Principles: Dynamic Creatives”. Why not watch it, and find out more about our practice, and Jamie Hale’s own artistic work – both directing at CRIPtic and in their performance practice, as well as learning about four other great artists, and the investment principles that contribute so much to how Arts Council England shapes its work.
- [CRIPtic 2024 Artist Announcement](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-2024-artist-announcement/): Announcing our 2024 cohort! We are thrilled to introduce the 16 incredible creatives who have joined our 2024 Artist Development Programmes. Through these initiatives, we forge diverse, disabled excellence, and create an artistic landscape where disabled people flourish We can’t wait to support our 2024 artists, and be there are they unleash their creativity. Breakthrough In Breakthrough, we are supporting artist Rachel Gadsden and Director & Theatremaker Vici Wreford-Sinnott, to create professional quality work to be used as a ‘calling card’ to break into the wider industry.  Visual and performance artist, Rachel Gadsden will create a short film that encapsulates…
- [Tools, Apps and Tech Guide](https://cripticarts.org/tools-app-and-tech-guide/): There’s a wealth of technology out there and lots of different tools that promise to make your life easier as a disabled creative but which ones should you pick? As CRIPtic Arts has grown we’ve been slowly building up our own tech stack, individually and organisationally, and have put together the following guide on what we’ve found useful. We’ve covered a range of tools, apps and tech relevant to access needs and neurotypes within CRIPtic Arts’ team, as well as in the work many of us carry out in our freelance careers. Download the guide below, available either as plain…
- [Annual Report 2022-23](https://cripticarts.org/annual-report-2022-23/): This year, CRIPtic Arts moved into our second year as a Community Interest Company, and focused heavily on stabilising ourselves as an organisation, applying for the funding we wanted to manage ongoing projects, and establishing our organisational identity. We delivered a range of exciting programmes building disabled performers, showcasingexcellent work, and developing the disability arts sector, with training, research, andcampaigning projects. We went from being a new organisation to being one of the 25 mostinfluential disabled-led community organisations in the UK. This report discusses the work we completed during this year, demonstrating the impact ofCRIPtic Arts on the sector, and…
- [Annual Report 2021-22](https://cripticarts.org/annual-report-2021-2022/): Over our first year as a CIC, between July 2021 and 2022 CRIPtic Arts has emerged as a leading voice providing opportunities to disabled creatives across the UK. There are few accessible opportunities for disabled people to engage in the arts, whether as part of a creative community, or developing professional skills and a career. CRIPtic is committed supporting the development of excellent art, with accessibility for the creators, team, and audiences always at the heart of it. We’re delighted to share our annual report, in which you can find out more about the impact we’ve had on the sector,…
- [The Crip Monologues: Writers Commission Q&A Summary](https://cripticarts.org/the-crip-monologues-writers-commission-qa-summary/): On Friday 13 October, we held a Q&A for writers interested in pitching for our new commissioning opportunity, The Crip Monologues. Here’s what we discussed. What is The Crip Monologues? The Crip Monologues is a theatre piece exploring what it is to experience scrutiny as a disabled person, and the ability the stage offers to reclaim that power. The eventual show will consist of four monologues interwoven into a play, giving the sense of storytelling in a shared space. They will be performed by disabled performers, and will be performed naked. They give the performer a chance to reframe the…
- [Connect Through Creativity: Creating spaces for, with and by the community](https://cripticarts.org/connect-through-creativity-creating-spaces-for-with-and-by-the-community/): By Alice Christina-Corrigan My name is Alice Christina-Corrigan and I am the Community Programme Officer at CRIPtic Arts, producing a year long programme of online creative workshops in partnership with Scope, for all deaf and disabled individuals no matter where they’re at in their creative journey.  As we reach the halfway point of the Connect Through Creativity (CTC) Programme, the team and I begin to reflect on what we have achieved and what the rest of our program will look like. What is CTC? Connect Through Creativity is composed of 12 Salons, 12 Community Writing workshops, 12 Creative workshops, 6…
- [Pay Transparency](https://cripticarts.org/pay-transparency/): Pay transparency for freelance work The arts sector is notoriously opaque about pay for freelancers, and pay for freelance work varies wildly. One of the findings from the focus group we held with disabled people from the global majority was the importance of pay transparency for freelance work. We have decided to publish our current rates of pay for freelance work. These are what we typically offer people and are our starting point when we consider budgets and jobs. We sometimes deviate from these if it is a condition of finance, funding or a specific project. We may also pay…
- [Focus Groups: Lessons Learned from our Audience](https://cripticarts.org/focus-groups-lessons-learned/): Earlier this summer, at CRIPtic, we held two focus groups. One was for disabled cultural workers from the global majority. The other was for people facing specific access barriers. This includes people who need 1:1 support, BSL interpreters, use AAC, or need facilities such as Changing Places toilets which are rarely provided. Since then, we’ve reflected on the feedback and what we could be doing differently to support artists from these groups. Here are some of the things we’re -planning to change Joining our programmes We need to streamline our application processes so that we explain everything clearly to applicants…
- [CRIPtic Artists 2023/24 Work In Progress Sharing](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-artists-2023-24-work-in-progress-sharing-2/): On Thursday 28 September 2023, CRIPtic Arts presents a unique opportunity to get a sneak peek at what artists on their 2023/24 development programmes have been working on. Over Zoom, members of the Reach and Launchpad cohorts of CRIPtic Artists will be sharing work-in-progress pieces; the culmination of an enriching Spring and Summer of activities across CRIPtic Arts’ innovative Artist Development strands. Industry and invited guests alike are encouraged to attend and witness exciting new work in its earliest stages. Please note: as these are works in their formative stages, the event can be accessed by request only, with priority…
- [Creative Access and BSL Consultant](https://cripticarts.org/deaf-creative-access-and-bsl-consultant/): Fee: £150/day – estimated 15.75 full days or equivalent hours where 1 day is equivalent to 8 hours Contract: Freelance/self-employed Location: Pre-show meetings virtual/hybrid, rehearsals London/Manchester (in-person attendance required). Where in-person work is required, we will cover hotels, travel and per diems for people outside a reasonable/accessible commute. Key dates (provisional): Pre show meetings: (4.25 days) Rehearsals: (6 days) Show week: (5.5 days) The Production The production (name TBD) comprises 4x 30 minute mono/dialogues by disabled performers with integrated access elements. They explore themes of relationships, culture, dis/connection, intimacy and identity. It is the culmination of our Launchpad disabled artist…
- [ASSISTANT DIRECTOR or TRAINEE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR](https://cripticarts.org/assistant-director-or-trainee-assistant-director-reserved-for-a-disabled-person-from-the-global-majority/): This role is reserved for a person from the global majority Fee:  £150/day – estimated 15 full days or equivalent hours where 1 day is equivalent to 8 hours Contract: Freelance/self-employed Location: Pre-show meetings virtual/hybrid, rehearsals London/Manchester (in-person attendance required). Where in-person work is required, we will cover hotels, travel and per diems for people outside a reasonable/accessible commute. Key dates (provisional): Pre show meetings: (2 days):  Rehearsals: (6 days): Show week: (7 days): The Production The production (name TBD) comprises 4x 30 minute mono/dialogues by disabled performers with integrated access elements. They explore themes of relationships, culture, dis/connection, intimacy…
- [DISABLED SOUND DESIGNER](https://cripticarts.org/disabled-sound-designer/): Fee: £150/day – estimated 15.50 full days or equivalent hours where 1 day is equivalent to 8 hours Contract: Freelance/self-employed Location: Pre-show meetings virtual/hybrid, rehearsals London/Manchester (in-person attendance required). Where in-person work is required, we will cover hotels, travel and per diems for people outside a reasonable/accessible commute. Key dates (provisional): Pre show meetings: (8.5 days) Rehearsals: (2 days) Show week: (5 days – show operated by venue team) The Production The production (name TBD) comprises 4x 30 minute mono/dialogues by disabled performers with integrated access elements. They explore themes of relationships, culture, dis/connection, intimacy and identity. It is the…
- [DISABLED SET DESIGNER](https://cripticarts.org/disabled-set-designer/): Fee:  £150/day – estimated 13.50 full days or equivalent hours where 1 day is equivalent to 8 hours Contract: Freelance/self-employed Location: Pre-show meetings virtual/hybrid, rehearsals London/Manchester (in-person attendance required). Where in-person work is required, we will cover hotels, travel and per diems for people outside a reasonable/accessible commute. Key dates (provisional): Pre show meetings: (8.5 days) Rehearsals: (2 days) Show week: (3 days – get in, build, tweaks) The Production We are looking for a Set Designer to work alongside the Director and creative team to create an integrated set design for the 2023 CRIPtic Showcase [Production name TBC].  The…
- [DISABLED LIGHTING DESIGNER](https://cripticarts.org/disabled-lighting-designer/): Fee:  £150/day – estimated 15.50 full days or equivalent hours where 1 day is equivalent to 8 hours Contract: Freelance/self-employed Location: Pre-show meetings virtual/hybrid, rehearsals London/Manchester (in-person attendance required). Where in-person work is required, we will cover hotels, travel and per diems for people outside a reasonable/accessible commute. Key dates (provisional): Pre show meetings: (8.5 days) Rehearsals: (2 days) Show week: (5 days – show operated by venue team) The Production The production (name TBD) comprises 4x 30 minute mono/dialogues by disabled performers with integrated access elements. They explore themes of relationships, culture, dis/connection, intimacy and identity. It is the…
- [DISABLED AUDIO-DESCRIPTION CONSULTANT](https://cripticarts.org/disabled-audio-description-consultant/): Fee:  £150/day – estimated 10.75 full days or equivalent hours where 1 day is equivalent to 8 hours Contract: Freelance/self-employed Location: Pre-show meetings virtual/hybrid, rehearsals London/Manchester (in-person attendance required). Where in-person work is required, we will cover hotels, travel and per diems for people outside a reasonable/accessible commute. Key Dates Pre show: (5.75 days) Rehearsals: (3 days) Show week: (2 days – review and final changes at dress rehearsal) The Production The production (name TBD) comprises 4x 30 minute mono/dialogues by disabled performers with integrated access elements. They explore themes of relationships, culture, dis/connection, intimacy and identity. It is the…
- [CALL OUT for a disabled Theatre Movement Director!](https://cripticarts.org/call-out-for-a-disabled-theatre-movement-director/): We are looking for a disabled stage movement director to lead a movement workshop on Zoom for a group of disabled artists developing solo theatre shows. The workshop focus on learning techniques to effectively use the space of the stage, and their bodies, to convey meaning and enhance performance. The artists are all disabled, with a wide range of access needs, and you would need to be confident giving visual descriptions for exercises and ones that are accessible to neurodivergent people and wheelchair users. It would be on 24 August, 3-5pm and the fee is £250. If you’re interested, please email…
- [Black Out Nights: The magic of live theatre](https://cripticarts.org/black-out-nights/): The magic of theatre is its nature as in live performance; both for audiences, and for performers. You spend weeks or months creating an alchemy in the rehearsal room. The confrontation between audience and performer brings that to life in the performance. This is what makes Black Out Nights so exciting. There’s an element of risk in every performance, the uncertain. It’s this that builds the tension that a good play holds with the audience. As a disabled performer, and audience member, I know intimately how the composition changes the work. When performing work about disability, to a disabled audience,…
- [Call out for disabled writers!](https://cripticarts.org/call-out-for-disabled-writers/): CRIPtic is looking to connect with published disabled writers for upcoming paid events as part of our Connect Through Creativity activities. As part of this we are specifically looking to work with global majority disabled artists, here meaning people working in the arts who may face barriers that emerge from racism and disableism. Whether that sounds like you, or if you just have recommendations of creatives you’d like the opportunity to see featured at a CRIPtic event, drop us an email here: alice@cripticarts.org Note: We interpret ‘published’ to mean that work can be ‘purchased, or experienced through an established third party distributor’.…
- [Should inaccessible art be made?](https://cripticarts.org/inaccessible-art/): Should inaccessible art be made? And what are the minimum acceptable standards for audience accessibility in the arts?
- [2023 Artist Development Programmes: A Guide to Decisions on the final line up](https://cripticarts.org/2023-artist-development-programmes-a-guide-to-decisions-on-the-final-line-up/): The decisions are out, and CRIPtic has announced the artists joining our 2023-2024 programme. We were delighted to send those invitation emails, but the other side of that was recognising how many excellent artists we had to email, telling them that we couldn’t offer them places on this occasion. While we are unable to offer feedback to individual artists, we wanted to reflect on the factors that played into our decisions. Reach & Launchpad Reach is our peer-facilitated feedback, development, and workshopping programme for five artists to develop a solo show each, culminating in a two day residential, working with…
- [Meet the 2023 CRIPtic Artists](https://cripticarts.org/meet-the-2023-criptic-artists/): Following an open call out earlier this year, CRIPtic Arts is thrilled to announce 16 incredible disabled artists and disabled-led companies who’ll be joining Artist Development programmes across four strands in 2023: Breakthrough, Incubate, Launchpad and Reach, funded by Arts Council England. Reach Marcella Rick Marcella is a theater maker, poet and storyteller. Their work is unapologetically Scouse and queer, with accessibility at it’s heart. As a neurodivergent creative, Marcella works to find exciting ways of integrating inclusion into their work, whether this is through creative captioning methods, or audio-descriptive dildos, they are inspired by the creative avenues that accessible…
- [Announcing our CRIPtic 2023 Artists!](https://cripticarts.org/announcing-our-criptic-2023-artists/): Following an open call out earlier this year, CRIPtic Arts is thrilled to announce 16 incredible disabled artists and disabled-led companies who’ll be joining Artist Development programmes across four strands in 2023/24: Breakthrough, Incubate, Launchpad and Reach. Through these initiatives CRIPtic Arts continues to forge diverse, disabled excellence, with community, ethics, and solidarity at its heart. Creatively courageous and accessibility-driven, CRIPtic Arts blazes a revolution, providing active disabled leadership to advance world-class arts work with disabled creatives. Selected projects in 2023’s line-up of supported-work range from absurdist physical theatre to an indie game studio, and demonstrate disabled excellence in a…
- [Annual Report 2022-23](https://cripticarts.org/annual-report-2022-23-2/): The CRIPtic Arts Annual Report 2022-23 We are very proud of the impact CRIPtic Arts has had on the arts industry. CRIPtic Arts has come a long way since it started as a one-off showcase in 2019, then as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2021. We went through the process of registering last year, identifying the real community benefit we offer. This year, we’ve been able to take the next steps in that process, moving from being a set of individual projects into recognising ourselves as an organisation, starting to shape our mission, vision, and values to reflect the…
- [CRIPtic Arts launches a year-long programme of arts activities!](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-arts-launches-a-year-long-programme-of-arts-activities/): Get ready to learn and connect with CRIPtic Arts now that the first season of their Connect through Creativity 2023 events has officially launched. What is Connect through Creativity? Supported by Scope and Arts Council England, Connect through Creativity (CTC)  is a wide-reaching programme creating connections and communities through providing educational and career-development opportunities for all deaf and disabled individuals interested in the arts, no matter where they’re at in their creative journey. CRIPtic Arts’ Artistic Director, Jamie Hale, says of the CTC initiative “deaf and disabled people deserve the opportunity to nurture their creativity, build skills and networks, and…
- [CRIPtic Arts 2023 Artist Development Projects: Launching Today!](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-arts-2023-artist-development-projects-launching-today/): CRIPtic Arts 2023 Artist Development Projects: Launching Today! As we begin the year, we’re very excited to announce the launch of CRIPtic 2023! This will be a year of unparalleled creativity and community connection at CRIPtic Arts. Funded by Arts Council England we are launching a wide range of artist development opportunities over the next year. With these programmes, we aim to reach deaf and disabled people at all levels – whether brand new to the arts, or trying to make it in the mainstream. You can apply to our projects below. If you’re not sure where to start our…
- [NOT DYING by Jamie Hale](https://cripticarts.org/not-dying/): CRIPtic Arts will be bringing Jamie Hale’s solo show, NOT DYING, to HOME Manchester on the 11th November. This is part of our long-standing collaboration with Kate O’Donnell and Trans Vegas. Jamie Hale first drafted NOT DYING in 2018, when the Barbican Centre commissioned it through their Open Lab programme. There, Trans Creative’s Kate O’Donnell mentored Jamie. In 2019, Jamie first performed it at the Lyric Hammersmith. They then put it on at the Barbican Centre (directed by Kate O’Donnell), to rave reviews. This was as part of the inaugural CRIPtic Showcase – which is where they founded CRIPtic Arts.…
- [Disabled Poets Prize](https://cripticarts.org/disabled-poets-prize/): The Disabled Poets Prize is a new award for deaf and disabled poets. There are very few opportunities to celebrate the work of deaf and disabled poets. CRIPtic Arts is proud to be a partner on a project designed by myself – founder and Artistic Director Jamie Hale to address that. About the prize The first Disabled Poets Prize is open for entries from UK-based deaf and disabled poets from 1st September – 31st October. We will hold the inaugural awards in 2023. We are launching this, alongside Spread the Word and Verve Poetry Press & Festival, and for me,…
- [The Crip Monologues](https://cripticarts.org/the-crip-monologues/): While we’ve been plugging away at a wide range of projects here at CRIPtic – from the NOT DYING soundtrack to workshops on writing and staging solo work. We are very excited to announce that Jamie Hale, our Artistic Director and playwright-performer of NOT DYING (Lyric Hammersmith, Barbican Centre), which won the Evening Standard Director/Theatremaker of the Year award in 2020, is working on a new project: The Crip Monologues. Hear more from Jamie below: The kernel of the idea emerged from two places. The first was the Vagina Monologues and the Butch Monologues, and the second was the staging…
- [Incubate: Deaf & disabled-led arts organisations](https://cripticarts.org/incubate-blog/): Incubate is a project taking four deaf and/or disabled-led arts organisations through a year of engaged workshops, supporting those arts organisations to grow, change, and develop. For CRIPtic as facilitator, we’re learning the same. In disability arts, we are standing (wheeling?) on the shoulders of giants. Graeae have been making deaf and disabled-led theatre for forty years. Extant is a performing arts company of visually impaired artists and theatre practitioners which has existed for 25 years. Deafinitely Theatre has 20 years of work produced bilingually, in British Sign Language and spoken English. Drake Music have been creating music by deaf…
- [BEING HYBRID: an easy guide to hybrid events](https://cripticarts.org/launching-being-hybrid/): To read more about Being Hybrid, click here. To access it in a range of other formats, click here Why are you launching Being Hybrid? I keep having the same conversation over and over in my disabled writers group chats this summer. “Why is this festival not programming online?”. We had a period of time in which far more work was accessible to home-bound people and those who would struggle to reach it physically. Now, instead, everything has gone back to being in person. When people ask events “will this also be available online?” the response is almost always “that’s…
- [Accessible Finance: Budgeting for Access](https://cripticarts.org/accessible-finance-budgeting-for-access/): Budget. It’s a word that strikes fear into the hearts of many people trying to work out how to make affordable work, sustainable work, and accessible work. When I got my head around how I wanted to think about budgeting, it was by going beyond “how am I spending this” and into “how does my budget fit with who I am”. That’s why this week I’m discussing accessible finance and budgeting for access. Your budget is your ethics I’ve heard this statement from two excellent influences – Spread the Word and Quiplash – and both are right. Your budget is…
- [Broadening Our Practice](https://cripticarts.org/cripticarts-broadening-our-practice/): CRIPtic is my baby – but it’s not just mine. It was built as a community project. If I had to estimate the number of people who’ve been involved with it, it would be in the three figures comfortably, and that’s not including audiences. Three years ago I must have been writing the first funding application for the first project – our Barbican showcase – and it must have been then that my now-partner suggested the name. I loved that name from the off, but I’d never thought of the arts, or of organisation-building, as a career. I wanted to…
- [Prioritising Health: Lessons Learned](https://cripticarts.org/lessons-learned-prioritising-health/): This week’s blog is a short one – to make sure I’m prioritising health. Last week, I took some time to focus on my creative work and for family reasons. I don’t normally take leave, and I found it incredibly difficult. I was still working a bit, and I was often very anxious when not working, because I felt like I should be. Sometimes, I struggle to treat my creative work as work. Because I enjoy it, I see it as less important, rather than remembering that it’s the only part of my work that only I can do. I…
- [Building Networks: Lessons Learned](https://cripticarts.org/lessons-learned-building-networks/): We went into CRIPtic 2021 without a very wide network. We certainly had quite a few contacts and offers of support. A lot of our work centred around the few networks we had, which were London-centric, and didn’t reflect the diversity of the disabled community. We were very lucky to receive support from people associated with those networks, but we really had to reach out and focus on building networks beyond the people we knew. We finished it with a far bigger network than we started, and a clearer idea of what we needed to do next to further diversify…
- [Workload Management: Lessons Learned](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-2021-lessons-learned-workload-management/): As part of the process of assessing quality and success in our projects, we’re writing a series of blog posts exploring some of the key learnings from our 2021 development programme and showcase. This allows us to reflect on our experiences, our achievements, identify areas for growth, and (hopefully) be of use to other projects considering carrying out similar plans. This week we’re looking at workload management. The Workload: CRIPtic 2021 CRIPtic 2021 was an enormous project. We supported 5 artists through an 8 month development programme, hosted 7 workshops (with 58 attendees), organised 6 months of mentoring, 6 one…
- [Access Needs: Lessons Learned](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-learning-access-needs/): To assess the quality and success in our projects, we’re writing a series of blog posts exploring some of the key learnings from CRIPtic 2021. We want to reflect on our experiences and what we’ve achieved, identify areas for our own growth, and (hopefully) be of use to other projects carrying out similar plans. Out first learning is around access needs. CRIPtic is a deaf and disabled-led organisation. With that comes a recognition that everyone involved has their own access requirements for engaging with the project.  Everyone faces different impairment-related limitations and societal barriers that will impact them during parts…
- [This week at the CRIPtic 1:1s](https://cripticarts.org/this-week-at-the-criptic-11s/): This week our Artistic Director Jamie Hale hosted the first of the CRIPtic 1:1 bookable slots. We were thrilled to be joined by a fantastic and wide range of creatives, and loved having the opportunity to discuss their ideas and offer advice. Without giving anything away, here are some of Jamie’s reflections on what they discussed: ACE Applications Several people were working on Arts Council applications, and wanted to discuss how apply effectively. We talked about Investment Principles and how to apply them to work, and a few concrete things you can do to demonstrate in your application that you’re…
- [The Disablism of Age Barriers in the Arts](https://cripticarts.org/age-barriers/): At their heart, most age barriers in the arts are disableist. They create barriers that prevent disabled people having equity of access to opportunities. Their assumption that age is representative of life-stage, career-stage, or the point of development someone is at ignores the different experiences of disabled people. Age is sometimes relevant. Sometimes we need to use age barriers in the arts as a proxy to redress a specific underrepresentation, or encourage specific groups. This might include awards for people who started their practice later in life, or to encourage teenagers to consider creative industries, but these are a minority.…
- [Announcing CRIPtic 2022](https://cripticarts.org/announcing-criptic-2022/): A belated Happy New Year from us here at CRIPtic Arts – where we are delighted to be announcing CRIPtic 2022! We hope you are as excited as we are to get stuck into another year of creativity. The success of the 2021 CRIPtic Showcase was overwhelming. As we move into 2022, we’re going even further to develop and support the very best of disability arts. This year, we will be working to dismantle even more barriers to deaf and disabled talent across the sector. A taste of our 2022 projects is below. If you want to know more about…
- [Artistic Director: Jamie Hale](https://cripticarts.org/artistic-director-jamie-hale/): Creating accessible art in the face of disablist barriers is itself an act of loving revolution, and I want to bring this surging through theatre, changing it forever.
- [Podcast](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-index/): As part of our 2021 programme, CRIPtic Arts did a podcast, featuring a range of artists involved in the project. You can catch them all on Youtube (captioned), or click on someone’s name here: Jamie Hale – Artistic Director Tom Ryalls – Performer – Self-care for the hyperactive anticapitalist (or how to start a revolution) Alice Christina Corrigan – Performer – Past life Miss Jacqui – Performer – Fire and Energy Rufus Isabel Elliot – Composer and musician – Twists/Glides Oli Isaac – Performer – Top tips to untangle that tongue Bibi June – Performer – MC Geezer and Troi…
- [Podcast: Mik Scarlet](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-mik-scarlet/)
- [Podcast: Lata Nobes](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-lata/): WATCH ON YOUTUBE HERE… CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL TRANSCRIPT
- [New Artists for CRIPtic 2021](https://cripticarts.org/new-artists/): At CRIPtic, we’re getting very close to in-person rehearsals starting (Monday 8th). The show opens on the 19th November, so it’s very soon now! We’re delighted to announce that we are adding three new acts to the line-up. Sahera Khan and Gold Maria Akanbi are bringing filmed pieces, and Flawbored are bringing a comedy. So, without further ado, here they are: Sahera Khan Sahera is Muslim, Deaf and British South Asian, her native language is British Sign Language. She is a freelance writer/creator, artist/actress, filmmaker and YouTuber, and wrote a great introductory blog for us. Sahera’s set is made up…
- [CRIPtic Pit Party, Barbican Stories, & Institutional Racism](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-barbican-stories/): CRIPtic Pit Party and Barbican Stories – A statement CRIPtic Pit Party 2021 – a showcase of d/Deaf and disabled artists, is taking place in the Pit at the Barbican in Autumn 2021 – a time when the Barbican is also grappling with institutional racism. My decision to continue to present the work at the Barbican was a complex one, and this statement is written to explain it. The release of Barbican Stories, and the accounts within it, made it clear that many people have experienced institutional racism within the Barbican. The work to heal wounds caused by this and…
- [Associate Director: Lata Nobes](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-lata/): I want theatre to become more gritty, challenging and subversive - a change that will happen alongside access becoming embedded in the artistic practices of major theatres.
- [Podcast: Rylan Gleave](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-rylan-gleave/): Watch on Youtube here… CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL TRANSCRIPT
- [Podcast: MC Geezer & Troi Lee](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-mc-geezer-troi-lee/): Watch on Youtube here… CLICK HERE FOR THE TRANSCRIPT
- [Podcast: Bibi June](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-bibi-june/): Watch here on Youtube… CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TRANSCRIPT
- [Podcast: Oli Isaac](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-oli-isaac/): Watch on Youtube here… CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TRANSCRIPT
- [Podcast: Rufus Isabel Elliot](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-rufus-isabel-elliot/): Watch on Youtube here… READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
- [Podcast: Miss Jacqui](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-miss-jacqui/): Watch on Youtube… SEE FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
- [Podcast: Alice Christina-Corrigan](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-alice-christina-corrigan/): Watch on Youtube here… SEE THE FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE
- [Front Row: Theatres re-opening & online work](https://cripticarts.org/front-row/): Last week, I (Jamie) was on Front Row. This was to discuss the reopening of theatres and who that leaves behind. There, I was able to emphasise that the closing down of opportunities for people to see shows online was going to affect far more than just disabled people. It’s pretty gutting to slowly see shows and opportunities and possibilities disappearing, but I don’t think things are completely bleak. While theatres stream fewer shows online than at the ‘height of the pandemic’, there is definitely more than there was before the pandemic. Furthermore, the skills, knowledge, and equipment still exist.…
- [Podcast: Tom Ryalls](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-tom-ryalls/): Watch on Youtube here… CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL TRANSCRIPT
- [Podcast: Jamie Hale](https://cripticarts.org/podcast-jamie-hale/): In the first episode we sit down with the brains behind the company… Jamie Hale! We discuss all things CRIPtic, the Barbican performance and what is next for Jamie. Grab a cuppa and come join us for the first episode! Jamie Hale is a queer / crip artist, curator, poet, writer, playwright, actor, facilitator, trainer and director – otherwise known as ‘busy’, ‘interdisciplinary’, or ‘indecisive’. They create poetry, comedy, scriptwriting, and drama for page, stage, and screen and in Feb 2021 won the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund Award in Directing/Theatre-Making. Jamie currently works as Artistic Director at CRIPtic –…
- [How to create your own living diorama](https://cripticarts.org/how-to-create-your-own-living-diorama/): By Liam O’Dell When it comes to creating a work of performance art, sometimes it can be helpful to start with an image – and that image doesn’t have to be your typical, two-dimensional kind, either. Martin O’Brien is an artist who suffers from cystic fibrosis, and in his work, he challenges the common representation of illness – through physical endurance, hardship and pain-based practices. He also looks to examine what it means to be born with a life-threatening condition, with cystic fibrosis having an average lifespan of 30 years. In a workshop for members of the CRIPtic Creative Showcase,…
- [Social Media, Promotion, Networking and PR](https://cripticarts.org/social-media-promotion-networking-and-pr/): As a writer working across forms – drama, fiction, non-fiction; not to mention non-writing work like speaking engagements, facilitation, and other things that occupy some kind of nebulous “creative” space but aren’t clearly defined or definable – as this kind of jack-of-all-trades creative, it’s sometimes really hard to tell people about what I do. I have a Google Doc with a bunch of different bios in it, depending on whether I’m working on a project which is more academic, or creative; to do with facilitation, or journalism, or creative writing. It’s like there are loads of different versions of me,…
- [Creative Captioning with Samuel Dore](https://cripticarts.org/creative-captioning/): My first blog for CRIPtic was on audio description and how it can be used as a creative tool; I left feeling energised and inspired to create work which truly integrates audio description, which treats accessibility as a consideration of equal importance to plot, language, and form. I felt similarly after the creative captioning workshop – I’ve always been interested in form, in disrupting audience expectations, in work that is surprising and captivating in new ways. I love the idea of captions which enhance a performance, rather than just describing it.  Politically, I feel strongly that accessibility should be much…
- [3 resources to help you integrate British Sign Language into your performance with David Ellington](https://cripticarts.org/3-resources-to-help-you-consider-integrating-british-sign-language-into-your-performance/): It’s one thing providing access; it’s another embedding it into your performance. In the case of British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation, artists are finding creative ways to integrate sign language into an act, rather than have an interpreter sit awkwardly at the side of the stage. In our latest CRIPtic workshop, Deaf actor David Ellington talked us through some ways to think about integrating BSL into performances. Here, we share David’s top resources to help you consider British Sign Language within the performing arts. Learn the BSL alphabethttps://vimeo.com/447637353/86de5e5a7a Before you can even begin to think about integrating BSL into a…
- [Composer: Rylan Gleave](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-rylan-gleave/): Much of my work addresses both the personal and political, stemming from a need to process.
- [Composer: Rufus Isabel Elliot](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-rufus-isabel-elliot/): The music weaves its own world, with its own characters and settings, not necessarily even asking your say-so, which is in turn inspiring (for both life and music). 
- [Performer: Tom Ryalls](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-tom-ryalls/): It's important now more than ever that we learn to build systems of support and care, instead of isolated incidents of care and I hope my work around this show can do that.
- [Performer: Miss Jacqui](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-miss-jacqui/): I've always been creative and I wasn't always sure I could be an artist/performer because I never saw anyone who looked like me do what I wanted to do. I guess I stopped waiting for someone else to be the first and jumped in.
- [Performer: Oli Isaac](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-oli-isaac/): I am always trying to find new ways to frame conversations that can feel defunct. A new lens. And to be in playful dialogue with societal issues.
- [Performer: Bibi June](https://cripticarts.org/bibi-june-lead-artist/): Everything I write, all the horror and all the joy, is to imagine a better world for myself, my peers and anyone else who struggles. 
- [Performer: MC Geezer](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-mc-geezer/): I still got lot to say about our community and to keep inspiring the next generation to show that Deaf/Disabled can do what we dream to do.
- [Performer: Alice Christina-Corrigan](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-alice-christina-corrigan/): "Representation in our arts sector is vital and I am so excited to be able to use my platform to promote equality, diversity and to show that anything is achievable."
- [Arts Council England Funding for d/Deaf & disabled artists](https://cripticarts.org/arts-council-england-funding/): In the most recent CRIPtic workshop, the focus was on Arts Council funding – how to get it, what to do with it. I’ve applied for ACE funding before – both times desperately last minute, wrangling with Grantium at 11pm on deadline day, vowing never to make the same mistake again. I’ve even attended workshops about ACE funding before, but what’s special about the CRIPtic workshops is the sense of being the target audience for once – access information isn’t half-heartedly added on at the end, it’s front and centre, and being translated into BSL as we go. It’s one…
- [Integrated and Creative Access: Learning from Touretteshero](https://cripticarts.org/integrated-creative-access-with-touretteshero/): CRIPtic meets Jess Thom: ‘Creativity can be a catalyst for change’ For deaf and disabled creatives working in the arts, it’s easier to produce art which is accessible to ourselves, with access bolted on to the end. Rather than thinking about how our work can be created with British Sign Language (BSL) at the very beginning of the process, for example, the question is often how the work can be translated into BSL. When it comes to making art, access needs to be right at the heart of everything we do. Yet in order to do that, the idea of…
- [Integrated Audio-Description with Quiplash](https://cripticarts.org/integrated-audio-description-with-quiplash/): I’m a disabled writer working across performance, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Last month, I was invited to attend half the workshops on the CRIPtic programme as a notetaker and blogger, and jumped at the chance – to learn more about access, to develop my craft, and to meet other emerging disabled creatives. The first workshop, last week, covered integrated audio-description: the different types of audio description, ways to integrate it into your project, and some exercises that illustrated how audio description can be useful – or useless. I learned way more than I was expecting to, in terms of both…
- [Performer: Sahera Khan](https://cripticarts.org/introducing-sahera-khan/): My vision to see more Deaf and disabled artists increase, more opportunities behind the stages and roles within the theatre. There needs to be more access and inclusion.

## Pages

- [The Acts 2025](https://cripticarts.org/the-acts-2025/): The Acts The Acts is a gathering of four daring new works from some of the UK’s most exciting disabled theatre makers. Caitlin Magnall Kearns weaves a love story of desire, guilt, and aging with tender humour inThe Ache of It; Kathrine Payne’s dark comedy body job follows two lovers as they collide and unravel, exploring the growing phenomenon of lonely deaths in the UK and the tangled realities of shame, labour, and love; Tatum Swithenbank conjures REALMS, a spell-like journey through folklore, disability, and magick, and SO SHA invites us into Pruu the Pidj, a music-led ritual about survival,…
- [Reach - 2026 Cohort](https://cripticarts.org/reach-2026-cohort/): Reach is a space for disabled storytellers to create work that does not have to be explored through a non-disabled gaze. It allows you to write universally, to talk about disability in your work – or to not talk about it – and to be free to create what you want to create, instead of what you’re expected to. It gives you the space to define the future trends in theatre instead of responding to them, choosing new directions, new work, and new stories. It moves you beyond the tropes about disabled people and the stories we’re encouraged by non-disabled people…
- [Associate Artists - 2025 Cohort](https://cripticarts.org/associate-artists-2025-cohort/): CRIPtic’s Associate Artists scheme is a brand new opportunity, supporting and investing in three exciting artists. Offering a small financial grant, plus a bespoke programme of development, mentoring and networking, it’s designed to be responsive to the needs, desires, and priorities of individual artists, helping them take their work to the next level. Drawn from the pool of applicants for Reach, Launchpad and Breakthrough, we’re incredibly excited to be working with three fantastic artists: Hayleigh Morrow, Jordan Charles and Nicola Warner. Read on to find more about them and the projects they’re working on at the moment… 2025 CRIPtic Associate…
- [Reach - 2025 Cohort](https://cripticarts.org/reach-artists/): Reach is a space for disabled storytellers to create work that does not have to be explored through a non-disabled gaze. It allows you to write universally, to talk about disability in your work – or to not talk about it – and to be free to create what you want to create, instead of what you’re expected to. It gives you the space to define the future trends in theatre instead of responding to them, choosing new directions, new work, and new stories. It moves you beyond the tropes about disabled people and the stories we’re encouraged by non-disabled people…
- [Launchpad - 2025 Cohort](https://cripticarts.org/launchpad-artists/): Launchpad celebrates disabled artists and makers, removed from the pressures and oppressions of being defined by non-disabled people. It builds a world outside narratives of diagnosis and medicalisation. A world in which we can imagine crip pasts and crip futures, in which we can joyfully bring our whole selves, as storytellers, dancers, musicians, magicians, and more. 2025 Launchpad Artists Caitlin Magnall-Kearns Caitlin Magnall-Kearns is a writer from East Belfast known for her warm, witty, and deeply human storytelling that centres often-overlooked experiences of fatness, queerness, and disability. In 2025, her acclaimed radio drama Safe Space aired on BBC Radio 4, earning…
- [Incubate - 2025 Cohort](https://cripticarts.org/incubate-artists/): Disabled people in the arts are carving new ground and leading change, as individuals, or running small organisations. Successfully leading projects, organisations, campaigns, and movements requires an understanding of everything from brand and pitch to finance and project management. Incubate takes Jamie’s journey and the development of CRIPtic, and supports four emerging disabled arts leaders or organisations through everything they had to learn – from successes to failures and mistakes to experiments. 2025 Incubate Members Meg Fozzard / Unlikely Tangent Studios I am a South London based disabled freelance producer and journalist. My career as a producer began back in 2018…
- [Breakthrough - 2025 Cohort](https://cripticarts.org/breakthrough-artists/): Breakthrough is about disabled artists succeeding in the mainstream. We’re looking for practicing creatives who’ve “done it all” in disability arts, who are mid-career and achieving success, and yet are still facing huge barriers to entering the mainstream. It’s about saying “we see your track record” and investing in you – to develop something tiny, perfect, and that truly showcases who you are and what you do. We want to support you in creating a calling card to mainstream recognition whatever that looks like for you. 2025 Breakthrough Artist Mohammad Barrangi Mohammad Barrangi was born in Rasht, Iran, in 1988.…
- [Artist Development - Alumni](https://cripticarts.org/artist-development-alumni/): Reach – 2023 & 2024 Breakthrough – 2023 & 2024 Launchpad – 2023 & 2024 Incubate – 2023 & 2024 You may also be interested in Collaborate with us Collaboration is at the heart of innovative and exciting work. We are always looking for partners to create with. If you have an idea for a project, show, workshop or beyond, get in touch. Funding Application Support We offer 1:1 support for deaf and disabled people applying for funding. If you are a deaf or disabled artist and would like support with a funding application, get in touch. Events Our events…
- [Reach](https://cripticarts.org/reach/): Applications for Reach are now closed. Reach is a space for disabled storytellers to create work that does not have to be explored through a non-disabled gaze. It allows you to write universally, to talk about disability in your work – or to not talk about it – and to be free to create what you want to create, instead of what you’re expected to. It gives you the space to define the future trends in theatre instead of responding to them, choosing new directions, new work, and new stories. It moves you beyond the tropes about disabled people and…
- [Reach 2025 FAQs](https://cripticarts.org/reach-2025-faqs/): Reach 2025 FAQs What are the key dates & deadlines for the programme? Who can apply? CRIPtic’s work is for disabled people – by which we mean “people who face disableist [including audist or neurotypist] barriers”, or “people who identify themselves as deaf or disabled – or are identified by others as deaf or disabled in society”. To find out more about what we mean by this, please look at our website. We’re looking for 5 emerging disabled theatremakers.  These shows can be ideas, first drafts, or have gone through an early process of development. They should not have been…
- [Launchpad 2025 FAQs](https://cripticarts.org/launchpad-2025-faqs/): Launchpad 2025 FAQs What are the key dates & deadlines for the programme? Who can apply? CRIPtic’s work is for disabled people – by which we mean “people who face disableist [including audist or neurotypist] barriers”, or “people who identify themselves as deaf or disabled – or are identified by others as deaf or disabled in society”. To find out more about what we mean by this, please look at our website.  We are taking solo artists, or groups of up to three people. If you are a group, at least two of the members must be disabled, and it…
- [Incubate 2025 FAQS](https://cripticarts.org/incubate-2025-faqs/): Incubate 2025 FAQs What are the key dates & deadlines for the programme? Who can apply? CRIPtic’s work is for disabled people – by which we mean “people who face disableist [including audist or neurotypist] barriers”, or “people who identify themselves as deaf or disabled – or are identified by others as deaf or disabled in society”. To find out more about what we mean by this, please look at our website. Incubate is a leadership programme for four UK-based disabled people or small disabled-led organisations, investing in the next generation of cultural leaders building organisations and working in the…
- [Breakthrough 2025 FAQs](https://cripticarts.org/breakthrough-2025-faqs/): Breakthrough 2025 FAQs What are the key dates & deadlines for the programme? Who can apply? CRIPtic’s work is for disabled people – by which we mean “people who face disableist [including audist or neurotypist] barriers”, or “people who identify themselves as deaf or disabled – or are identified by others as deaf or disabled in society”. To find out more about what we mean by this, please look at our website. Breakthrough is designed for disabled creatives who have had major showcasing opportunities and are making work at a level where they could be achieving mainstream industry success, but…
- [2025 Liberty Festival](https://cripticarts.org/liberty-festival-2025/): About We’re delighted to be shaping Liberty Festival 2025 for London Borough of Culture in Wandsworth. As the Mayor’s flagship disability arts festival, Liberty leads the way, and our vision showcases bold, innovative work that excites, challenges and reframes disability for audiences across the capital. This year, disabled people will be creatively collaborating with local communities, and celebrating our existence. Through Liberty, CRIPtic will foster new creatives and develop experienced creatives, investing in work at every stage, from fresh ideas to world-class works, shaping the present and future of disability arts. News & Updates Apply to become a 2025 Liberty…
- [CRIPtic Arts Productions](https://cripticarts.org/crip-productions/): About CRIP Productions is the new producing arm of CRIPtic Arts, taking and showcasing some of the best work made by disabled people in the UK and internationally. Working with emerging and established disabled creatives, we support work through the funding, research and development, rehearsals, and performance phases, producing, marketing and guiding artists. The Team Jamie HaleArtistic and Executive Director Caitlin RichardsLead Producer
- [Productions](https://cripticarts.org/productions/): COMING SOON with some exciting shows, our new Production Company
- [A Guide to Working with AAC Users](https://cripticarts.org/working-with-aac-users-guide/): A guide on working with people who use Alternative and Augmentative Communication as their main communication aid.
- [Call Us CRIPtic Documentary](https://cripticarts.org/call-us-criptic/): Call Us CRIPtic is a documentary about CRIPtic Arts’ 2021 Barbican Showcase, the artists, and the organisation made by the fantastic Fig Films, and you can watch it here or on Vimeo: We made the documentary in order to explore the context of the work we make. What does it mean to be disabled people, to be creating disability arts, and to be doing it at a major institution. We wanted to understand what our artists wanted, needed, and thought – and we wanted people to see the beauty and scope of their work. Making it made us realise how…
- [The Acts 2024](https://cripticarts.org/the-acts/): About The Acts is a meta-theatrical piece which brings together individual works from four of the UK’s most exciting disabled theatre makers & companies. Join us inside the walls of a bustling theatre, where four acts are hard at work on their latest productions: a solo show about love, joy, and cancer; a comedy about the ways neurodivergent people are expected to sell their stories for the stage; a live art and sound performance that explores posthuman ideology; and a multisensory meditation on isolation and moon landings.  In a rapidly changing artisic landscape the Acts explores the work disabled people…
- [Self & Other](https://cripticarts.org/self-other/): About Self & Other, directed by Jamie Hale collates monologues from some of the UK’s most exciting disabled writer-performers; the result is an exploration of the human experience that will leave you questioning, connecting and feeling more alive than ever before. Self & Other reaches unravels the intricate threads that separate one individual from another. for though no man is an island, disabled people know intimately what it is to be unable to be self without the support of another… The Moon Jellyfish, by Simi Roach performed by Theo Angel A captivating, lyrically luscious love letter to the beauty, heritage,…
- [Always the Audience Report](https://cripticarts.org/always-the-audience-report/): The experience of performers with high physical access requirements in London Theatres.
- [Meet the Team](https://cripticarts.org/meet-the-team/): Jamie Hale Artistic Director Jamie Hale is an award-winning theatre maker, poet, (screen)writer, charity CEO and founder and Artistic Director at CRIPticArts. Their work focuses on crip- and queer- realities, and the urgency of living as a disabled person. Verve Poetry Press published their first poetry pamphlet, Shield in 2021. Jack Thorne read from it in the 2021 MacTaggart lecture, where he described them as an “extraordinary voice”. Hannah Gadsby described their solo film, NOT DYING, as “fantastic”. In 2021, they were awarded the Jerwood Poetry Fellowship, won Director/Theatremaker of the Year Award in the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund…
- [Business Card - Jacqui Adeniji-Williams](https://cripticarts.org/business-card-jacqui-adeniji-williams/): This page is the virtual business card for Jacqui Adeniji-Williams Jacqui is the Lead Producer at CRIPtic Arts Email: jacqui@cripticarts.org Tel: Not public
- [Business Card - Alice Christina-Corrigan](https://cripticarts.org/business-card-alice-christina-corrigan/): This page is the virtual business card for Alice Christina-Corrigan Alice Christina-Corrigan is the Community Programmes Officer at CRIPtic Arts Email: alice@cripticarts.org Tel: Not public
- [CRIPtic Arts: Care, Access and Support Worker](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-arts-care-access-and-support-worker/): CRIPtic Arts: Care, Access and Support Worker Fee: £150 per day Locations: London, Manchester, Bristol (though we are open to hearing from anyone in the UK) Please note we do not have any active opportunities – we are creating a database of individuals we can call on for opportunities as they arise. CRIPtic Arts is looking to build a database of UK-based Care, Access and Support Workers to work with our Artistic Director Jamie Hale, and any other disabled practitioners on our creative projects. Your role would be to enable the team member to perform to their maximum potential by…
- [Business Card - Caitlin Richards](https://cripticarts.org/business-card-caitlin-richards/): This page is the virtual business card for Caitlin Richards Caitlin Richards is Lead Producer at CRIPtic Arts Email: caitlin@cripticarts.org Tel: Not public
- [Business Card - Jamie Hale](https://cripticarts.org/business-card-jamie-hale/): This page is the virtual business card for Jamie Hale Jamie Hale is the Founder and Artistic Director of CRIPtic Arts. Email: jamie@cripticarts.org Tel: Not public Social media: Twitter @jamierhale; Instagram @jamierhale; Facebook jamiehalewrites Jamie Hale is an award-winning theatre maker, poet, (screen)writer, charity CEO and founder and Artistic Director at CRIPticArts. Their work focuses on crip- and queer- realities, and the urgency of living as a disabled person. Jamie’s first poetry pamphlet, Shield was published in 2021. It was read by Jack Thorne in the 2021 MacTaggart lecture, where he described them as an “extraordinary voice”. Their solo film,…
- [Incubate - Alumni](https://cripticarts.org/incubate-alum/): Disabled people in the arts are carving new ground and leading change, as individuals, or running small organisations. Successfully leading projects, organisations, campaigns, and movements requires an understanding of everything from brand and pitch to finance and project management. Incubate takes Jamie’s journey and the development of CRIPtic, and supports four emerging disabled arts leaders or organisations through everything they had to learn – from successes to failures and mistakes to experiments. 2024 Incubate Members Princess Olowogboye / BLKINK Productions At BLKINK, we’re not just about storytelling; we’re about painting the industry with a darker touch! Our mission? Unleashing narratives that…
- [Breakthrough - Alumni](https://cripticarts.org/breakthrough-alum/): Breakthrough supports two disabled artists who are at the peak of their careers, and facing barriers preventing them breaking into the mainstream, with the goal of creating something small – and high quality. Artists will receive a £6000 commission to produce a sample of professional quality work. This could be anything from a 5-minute scene from a play, a song, a showreel, a lighting portfolio or a short video – we want to nurture creativity and encourage exceptionalism. 2024 Breakthrough Artists 2023 Breakthrough Artists You may also be interested in Reach Supporting emerging disabled scriptwriters & performers to develop their…
- [Launchpad - Alumni](https://cripticarts.org/launchpad-alum/): Launchpad celebrates disabled artists and makers, removed from the pressures and oppressions of being defined by non-disabled people. It builds a world outside narratives of diagnosis and medicalisation. A world in which we can imagine crip pasts and crip futures, in which we can joyfully bring our whole selves, as storytellers, dancers, musicians, magicians, and more. 2024 Launchpad Artists A.C. Smith A.C. Smith is a playwright and songwriter who has won awards from the RSC and Soho Theatre. She has previously developed work with the Bush Theatre, HighTide, the Old Vic, and RADA. She loves exploring the boundary between real life…
- [Reach - Alumni](https://cripticarts.org/reach-alum/): Reach is a space for disabled storytellers to create work that does not have to be explored through a non-disabled gaze. It allows you to write universally, to talk about disability in your work – or to not talk about it – and to be free to create what you want to create, instead of what you’re expected to. It gives you the space to define the future trends in theatre instead of responding to them, choosing new directions, new work, and new stories. It moves you beyond the tropes about disabled people and the stories we’re encouraged by non-disabled people…
- [Cookie Policy (UK)](https://cripticarts.org/cookie-policy-uk/)
- [Frequently Asked Questions](https://cripticarts.org/frequently-asked-questions-2/): What do you mean by disabled? The focus of CRIPtic is on disabled people within the arts. By this, we mean “all people who face disableist [including audist or neurotypist] barriers”, or “people who identify themselves as disabled and/or are identified by others as disabled in society”. Audist barriers are barriers created assuming on a hearing world, which exclude and marginalise deaf people. Neurotypist barriers are barriers created assuming on a world constructed for neurotypical people, which exclude and marginalise neurodivergent people. Our definition of ‘disabled’ covers everyone who faces socially constructed disableist barriers in their lives. We recognise that…
- [Get Involved](https://cripticarts.org/get-involved/)
- [Past Shows](https://cripticarts.org/past-shows/)
- [All Our Shows](https://cripticarts.org/all-our-shows/): The Acts 2025 Coming soon
- [News & Updates](https://cripticarts.org/news-updates/)
- [1:1s](https://cripticarts.org/11s/): Bookable sessions with Jamie Hale, Artistic Director of CRIPtic Arts for creative advice & support. Our advice sessions are open to anyone – whether you are looking to explore your creativity, or build a career in the arts. Please note: 1:1 advice sessions are added to this calendar as and when Jamie has availability in their busy schedule. If no sessions are listed here when you visit, please do check back at a later date, as we aim to add new ones whenever capacity allows. This year, we’re also excited to be including Open 1:1s with other members of the…
- [Shows](https://cripticarts.org/shows/): You may also be interested in: Support & Collaborate Collaboration is at the heart of innovative and exciting work. We are always looking for partners to create with. If you want to programme an existing show, or collaborate on a showcase, or new programme, get in touch via contact@cripticarts.org. Artist Development Nurturing the practice and work of deaf and disabled creatives is integral to us. Take a look through our projects and opportunities to see how can support you.
- [CRIPtic x Lewisham Borough of Culture](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-x-lewisham-borough-of-culture/): About CRIPtic x Lewisham Micro-Festival is bursting onto the scene on 16th July, with a day of workshops and performances celebrating the explosive talent of deaf and disabled people in the borough.  Running as part of Lewisham Borough of Culture 2022, over the day you can dive into workshops brimming with creativity and learn to scratch records from found materials, create poetry and turn recycling into craft. As the sun sets, we’ve got an incredible lineup of performances from poet Daniel Sluman (recently shortlisted for TS Eliot Prize), singer-songwriter and poet Miss Jacqui (Roundhouse, Southbank, Theatre Royal Stratford East), singer-songwriter…
- [The CRIP Monologues](https://cripticarts.org/the-crip-monologues-2/): About Disabled people exist under constant scrutiny. We are an object of fascination, stared at but rarely fully seen. Nobody wants to be caught staring at disabled people’s bodies – but once we’re on stage, the stared at are staring back. The Crip Monologues is a new show from creator Jamie Hale and Director Jamil Dhillon, with scripts by Hayleigh Morrow, Theo Angel, Emily Brenchi, and Simi Roach. It is an invitation into the intimate narratives disabled people share with one another, an exposure of life under constant non-disabled scrutiny, and a reclamation of the power of performance from the…
- [NOT DYING](https://cripticarts.org/not-dying-2/): About Created by Jamie Hale, NOT DYING is a multidisciplinary solo(ish) show exposing the interiority of their experiences with disability and mortality, framed against the social context of disableism. Fusing poetry, monologue, and theatre, NOT DYING is both a manifesto of change – boldly highlighting the way disableism sears across their life, limiting their independence and autonomy – and a love letter to wholeness, queer sex, and the bold, transgressive act of living joyfully as a disabled person. Deftly balancing the starkness of facing one’s death with the expansive work of being a disabled person in the world, it brings…
- [Networking](https://cripticarts.org/networking/): Facilitated open discussion space for people to build connections. Our networking sessions are open to anyone – whether you are looking to join our community, explore your creativity, or build a career in the arts. You may also be interested in Workshops A year-long programme of creative workshops led by industry-leading creatives and emerging artists. 1:1s Bookable sessions for creative advice & support – from feedback on work to career development. Salons Facilitated open discussion space for people to build connections
- [Salons](https://cripticarts.org/salons/): A year-long programme of writers’ salons, led by industry-leading creatives including a workshop, reading and open mic. Our salons are open to anyone – whether you are looking to join our community, explore your creativity, or build a career in the arts. You may also be interested in Workshops A year-long programme of creative workshops led by industry-leading creatives and emerging artists. 1:1s Bookable sessions for creative advice & support – from feedback on work to career development. Networking Facilitated open discussion space for people to build connections
- [Workshops](https://cripticarts.org/workshops/): Our workshops are open to anyone – whether you are looking to join our community, explore your creativity, or build a career in the arts. You may also be interested in Writers’ Salons A year-long programme of writers’ salons, led by industry-leading creatives including a workshop, reading and open mic. 1:1s Bookable sessions for creative advice & support – from feedback on work to career development. Networking Facilitated open discussion space for people to build connections
- [Jobs](https://cripticarts.org/jobs-2/): Casting Call – The Ache of It Two Performers CRIPtic Arts, The Acts January 2026 London/Bristol Old Vic We are casting for two performers for, The Ache of It, a new work by Caitlin Magnall Kearns, which will be performed as part of CRIPtic Arts’ The Acts at Bristol Old Vic Weston Studio in January 2026. About The Ache of It Set in a seaside B&B in Northern Ireland, The Ache of It follows Simon, a married cab driver with osteoarthritis, and Fiona, a fat, bisexual widow, as they embark on a complex, decade-long affair. The Ache of It places…
- [NEWS AND UPDATES](https://cripticarts.org/news-and-updates/): News and updates What’s on at CRIPtic LEARNING AND REFLECTIONS
- [CRIPtic Access Services](https://cripticarts.org/access-services/): CRIPtic Access Services include access advice, workshops, and bespoke training informed by policy, best practice, and experience. See how we can help you, and get in touch below. Workshops & Training We provide arts-informed, interactive, tailored workshop and trainings for your organisation, taking you through disability awareness and equality to anti-ableism, addressing language, culture and access, helping you provide an exceptional service to your employees, freelancers, and people accessing your provision. Why not take a look at our taster training videos for the cultural sector and book us for training if you found them helpful? Creative Access Consultancy Are you…
- [Concrete Commitments and Inadequate Access](https://cripticarts.org/concrete-commitments-and-inadequate-access/): Concrete Commitments and Inadequate Access (hereafter Inadequate Access) is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. The research is being carried out by Sam Brewer, CRIPtic Arts’ Arts and Community Lead, with support from Jamie Hale, Artistic Director.  It aims to research and develop a consensus and series of cross-sector commitments around the levels of access that should be provided for disabled (including deaf and neurodivergent) audience-members.  Our fundamental question is ‘at what point do we boycott or campaign against a project which has refused to meet feasible legal and social obligations to disabled artists and audiences?’The research recognises that different projects are…
- [Breakthrough](https://cripticarts.org/breakthrough/): Applications for Breakthrough are now closed. Breakthrough is about disabled artists succeeding in the mainstream. We’re looking for practicing creatives who’ve “done it all” in disability arts, who are mid-career and achieving success, and yet are still facing huge barriers to entering the mainstream. It’s about saying “we see your track record” and investing in you – to develop something tiny, perfect, and that truly showcases who you are and what you do. We want to support you in creating a calling card to mainstream recognition whatever that looks like for you. Who we’re looking for We are looking for…
- [Launchpad](https://cripticarts.org/launchpad/): Applications for Launchpad are now closed. Launchpad celebrates disabled artists and makers, removed from the pressures and oppressions of being defined by non-disabled people. It builds a world outside narratives of diagnosis and medicalisation. A world in which we can imagine crip pasts and crip futures, in which we can joyfully bring our whole selves, as storytellers, dancers, musicians, magicians, and more. Who we’re looking for Launchpad is a development and staging scheme for four UK-based disabled* writers/performers to further develop an existing work-in-progress piece. It culminates in a showcase in Autumn 2025/Spring 2026, where artists will stage a fully…
- [Artist Development](https://cripticarts.org/artist-development/): CRIPtic Arts is incredibly excited to announce the re-launch of our artist development programmes for 2025. Nurturing the practice and work of disabled creatives is integral to us. In 2025, we are running our four artist development projects – Reach, Launchpad, Breakthrough and Incubate – designed for emerging writers, fresh performers, experienced creatives, and company innovators. Read more below. Reach Supporting emerging writers to develop their first full-length solo show with online workshops, peer-facilitated sessions and residentials. Launchpad A development and staging scheme for creatives/groups to develop a 20 minute piece. Breakthrough A commission for a UK creative or company who…
- [Support and Collaborate](https://cripticarts.org/support-and-collaborate/): We are always looking for industry partners, new collaborators, or generous supporters. Take a look at our opportunities to collaborate below, or contact the team at contact@cripticarts.org. Opportunities Artist Development Programmes We’re looking for partners for our artist development programmes. Whether you’re interested in programming, facilitating or giving support in kind, get in touch with us at contact@cripticarts.org. Shows & Events We’re always looking for partners to collaborate with on new work or to programme our existing shows. If you have an idea for a collaboration or want to programme one of our existing shows, get in touch with our…
- [What's On](https://cripticarts.org/events/): Connect through Creativity, is a year long programme of arts workshops, writers’ salons, 1:1 advice and networking sessions. They are open to deaf & disabled people. Connect and become part of a Creative Community! Access At CRIPtic Arts Events All of our events are online with comfort breaks, BSL Interpreted, have auto-captions and self descriptions. What’s On Supported by You may also be interested in Artist Development Development programmes for deaf and disabled creatives. Funding Application Support 1:1 support for deaf and disabled people applying for funding
- [CRIPtic Cabaret x Trans Vegas](https://cripticarts.org/criptic-cabaret-x-trans-vegas-2/): About The deaf and disabled community is brimming with talent and creativity, yet there are so few professional opportunities for deaf and disabled artists that showcase the calibre of that work. CRIPtic began showcasing the work of deaf and disabled artists in 2019, with the Barbican Pit Party. After a sell-out run, they were invited back in 2021, where they staged another sell out performance generating rave reviews’ . In 2022, CRIPtic is excited to break out of London and bring the CRIPtic Cabaret showcase to TransVegas, supported by the TransCreative team. The CRIPtic Cabaret includes performances by folk singer Kit Knight (Manchester Folk Festival, Sunday Singaround Resident), comedian Sam Serrano (DAVE Disability Showcase; runner up for…
- [Research and Reports](https://cripticarts.org/research-resources-revolution/): Research demonstrating a need for change, informs our creation of resources Resources created can be used across the arts to embed the recommended changes Revolutionary changes to the arts industry are required for it to become truly accessible Resources Always the Audience Performers with high physical access needs in the London theatre industry Access to Literature The experiences of disabled writers working in the literature industry Being Hybrid A guide to running (accessible) hybrid events in the Zoom era. Working with AAC Users How to work with people who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication Research Projects Community Captioning Ben Glover…
- [About CRIPtic Arts](https://cripticarts.org/about-criptic-arts/): CRIPtic Arts exists to create an artistic landscape where disabled people flourish. We provide active disabled leadership which advances world-class arts work with disabled creatives. From high-quality community activities to showcasing breakthrough performers; we’re blazing a revolution in accessibility. We are a creatively courageous, accessibility-driven organisation, forging diverse disabled excellence, with community, ethics, and solidarity at the heart of our work. When we talk about disabled people, we mean “people who face disableist [including audist] barriers”, or “people who identify themselves as deaf or disabled – or are identified by others as deaf or disabled in society”. We also prioritise…
- [Being Hybrid Summary](https://cripticarts.org/being-hybrid-summary/): This is a summary of our guide to hybrid events. It has been written in Plain English.
- [Being Hybrid - Short Version](https://cripticarts.org/being-hybrid-short-guide/): A shortened version of our guide to online and hybrid events
- [Being Hybrid](https://cripticarts.org/being-hybrid-full-guide/): A guide to running hybrid events as cheaply and easily as possible.
- [Incubate](https://cripticarts.org/incubate/): Applications for Incubate are now closed. Disabled people in the arts are carving new ground and leading change, as individuals, or running small organisations. Successfully leading projects, organisations, campaigns, and movements requires an understanding of everything from brand and pitch to finance and project management. Incubate takes Jamie’s journey and the development of CRIPtic, and supports four emerging disabled arts leaders or organisations through everything they had to learn – from successes to failures and mistakes to experiments. Who we’re looking for Incubate is a leadership programme for four UK-based disabled* emerging cultural leaders. We’re looking for disabled people leading…
- [2021 CRIPtic Pit Party](https://cripticarts.org/2021-criptic-pit-party/): About Following their sold-out Pit Party in 2019, Jamie invited deaf and disabled artists to respond to the theme of ‘the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, by ourselves’ for the 2021 CRIPtic Pit Party. Sets included music, spoken word, poetry and a dynamic collaboration between Deaf hip hop artists. These performances were the culmination of an artistic development programme led by Jamie, supporting a cultural arts scene that has been hit hard by the pandemic. Their Pit Party recreated deeply personal experiences rarely represented on stage in a spirited, celebratory atmosphere.  Images & Reviews Creative Team Jamie Hale Director Mik Scarlet Producer Caitlin Richards Co-Producer Lata Nobes Associate Director…
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- [Privacy Policy](https://cripticarts.org/privacy-policy/): Who We Are Welcome to CRIPtic Arts. Our website address is: https://cripticarts.org. What Personal Data We Collect and Why We Collect It Comments When visitors leave comments on our site, we collect the data shown in the comments form, along with the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection. We may use an anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) to check if you are using the Gravatar service. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After your comment is approved, your profile picture will be visible to…
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- [2019 CRIPtic Pit Party](https://cripticarts.org/2019-criptic-pit-party/): About In 2019 Jamie Hale created the CRIPtic Pit Party. This comprised a hope-filled solo and mixed bill of work by disabled artists. To start, Hale performed NOT DYING in which they recount their full-circle story of progressive disability, from the agony and gracelessness of threatening death to the jubilance and defiance of survival. To follow, deaf and disabled artists expanded on the selected themes of anger, fortitude and joy in short sets of music, dance and spoken word. Developed through the Barbican OpenLab programme, NOT DYING came into being as Hale began experimental medical treatment. Determined to confront and…


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