Sync
Sync South East is a leadership development programme designed to support and develop Deaf and disabled people and disability arts organisations and projects in the South East of England so that they can reach their true potential.
Two programmes are running, one for individuals and one for organisations.
This site gives you a chance to find out more about who is on the programme and what is going on. Keep checking back to find out the latest news, or sign up for our information bulletin below.
Photos on the site are a mixture of our own images (taken by the Sync teaml), images sent in by organisations and individuals themselves and commissioned images. Many thanks to Mandy Legg for the great images of our organisations introductions day.
I am a Special Effects Creature Artist who works within the film and television industry.
The Freewheelers Theatre Company brings disabled and non-disabled actors and supporters, production teams and the local community together.
We use theatre and dance, wheelchair and voicebox technology, multimedia, animations, puppets and shadows to create innovative work.
My work is Dance Theatre/ Signdance/ Music and I am interested in the search for truth & truthful expression in performance. I am also interested in the development of disabled/ Deaf dancers' performance vocabulary.
Sensations from nature provoke an emotional response from a particular motif around which I construct a painting. Nature is not slavishly copied but the sensations are submitted to the necessity of making a picture in which the compositional elements are brought into unity over the whole surface to achieve stability. The painting is a response to God’s creation in all its varied forms, its glorious colour, dynamism and vitality.
I have worked in the sector for over 15 years, as a freelance inclusive arts project manager, performance storyteller, workshop facilitator and disability arts consultant. I feel passionate about empowerment and passing on our ‘life stories’ skills knowledge and experience. When I work with story (traditional or personal) I love to explore the representation of disability. Our stories and images of ourselves enrich our lives and form a central part of the cultural fabric of the social history of Disability. They matter, and are a strong source of inspiration to me.
Caroline Cardus is a visual artist interested in language, identity and sub-cultures. She originally trained as a painter and printmaker, and now her work covers a range of mediums including digital photography, collage, text based work and steel signage. Some of Caroline's work is about hers and others experience of disability.
Dada-South supports Deaf and disabled artists providing innovative opportunities for engagement, experimentation and development. Dada-South invests in the creativity of disabled and Deaf people, enabling their practice to grow and achieve a dynamic profile and reputation for excellence.
Caroline is a dynamic producer for fine art, film and cultural events. Currently she is developing her directing and writing skills to make a debut short film. Caroline also works for the BBC in Audio and Music as a Knowledge Organiser and has specialist film archive practice.
StopGAP Dance Company is a Surrey-based dance company made of professional dancers with and without disabilities who perform over 40 times cross the UK and abroad and lead integrated dance workshops for over 2,500 people a year. The company of 5 dancers perform contemporary dance in theatres and schools as well as touring its new outdoor dance work to street arts festivals.
I am a registered archivist and work on access and learning programmes using archive material. I wish to explore further how heritage can be used to support an individual’s growth and empowerment. I am currently working on several projects which use film and drama to convey past stories, which, conversely, also uses historical stories as inspiration for the arts.
Creative Future bridges the gap between the community arts and the professional arts sectors in the South East. We provide talented marginalised* artists and writers the chance to reintegrate through their own talents by providing training, support, exhibiting and publishing opportunities, selling & promoting their work at the highest levels. We raise the profile of individual artists/writers and the organisations they access, whilst challenging public stereotypes of marginalised people.
(Marginalised: *Those with mental health problems, learning difficulties, homeless people, substance misusers, offenders & ex-offenders.)
I am Signdance Collective's artistic director, actor & film-maker, and a creator of signdance.
I am an access consultant working with arts and heritage organisations to improve their policies, practices and premises to ensure inclusivity.
I am a visual artist and disability equality training consultant. I am committed to personal and professional development and the transformational, revolutional efforts this requires.
Rachel Gadsden is a British contemporary visual artist who uses figurative narrative art processes to explore notions of what it is to be human. During 2007 and 2008 Rachel was the first Historic Royal Palaces artist in residence at Hampton Court Palace and Rachel is currently also the first artist to be commissioned to work with Parliamentary Outreach for the Breaking Barriers National Exhibition and Project.
We are Stingray a club based arts project run by and for people with learning disabilities in and around Oxfordshire. The Stingray Crew is made up of 5 volunteers. We each lead a different part of the work. We support each other and work as a team. We are a small part time project with big full time ideas!
I'm a digital publisher and journalist energised by opportunities to build sustainable relationships and lasting partnerships that help people and organisations find creative, cultural voices online.
I was born deaf. I am a freelance dancer, teacher, actor and choreographer. I like to incorporate sign-language with dance movements, together they form a unique style of dance that I call Signdance.
I am a practising artist working in a wide variety of media, but especially sculpture. For the last sixteen years I have worked in the community running/facilitating workshops. I co-founded 'Artscape' an arts related group based in Petersfield for adults in the early stages of recovery from long and enduring mental health issues. I'm also involved with many other projects including 'Outside In', 'Metal Monkeys' and 'Creative Response'
I'm an arts person. I work as the Director of Dada-South and I'm interested in people's different experiences of disability and creativity.
Joel is a painter he prefers to work in oils on canvas but as he isn't always able to go to his studio to work he has mastered watercolours (being more practical), but in a perfect world he would choose to paint in oils on large canvases.
I am a professional dancer in Anjali Dance Company. I am also Associate Director of Education. This includes planning workshops, preparing a team of teachers with learning disabilities and then teaching workshops all over the UK. I also do speeches with Nicole, the Artistic Director at many conferences.
Anjali Dance Company is a pioneering professional company that exists to realise and celebrate through dance the potential of people with learning disabilities.
I am currently the Head of Learning at Pallant House Gallery and have been employed at the Gallery for eight years, initially as an Outreach Officer. I am an artist and trained as such at Bath Academy of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. In my late twenties I had a period of clinical depression that had a profound effect on my life.
No Handbags creates visually striking performance based experiences that are emotionally engaging and blur the boundary between performer and audience.
The company of performers with learning disabilities aims to challenge traditional perceptions of theatre and facilitate the artistic expression of non conventional artists.
Outside In runs a biennial open art competition that was set up in 2006 to offer opportunities for marginalised artists.
Outside In is trying to create a level playing field where access to the art world is possible for all who create.
Our aim is not to turn people into ‘artists’, but to challenge the art world to embrace and make itself accessible to a wider range of individuals and ways of making.
I am an illustrator and Arts Development Professional mainly interested in developing engagement with the Arts.
I am an installation artist interested in the nature of perception and the uncertainty of binary divisions. My work refers to the research of modern physics, and philosophical dialogues of impermanence, drawing on concepts that harness uncertainty. Over the last few years, my work has been evolving into a more process oriented exploration, which places an ever increasing emphasis on the network: whether cognitive, biological or social.
My name is Gary and I am an artist and film maker. My first short film was about a disabled escort, and my second film was a split screen film commissioned by DADA-South, called 'Coming Out.' I sold my 3rd short film, 'Early One Summer' to an American distribution company. Most things I do stem from my writing, (with the exceptions of painting & photography) and I have worked with disabled people within the arts since 2003.
I am an artist interested in conservation and sustainable development; this includes people, the environment and wildlife. My covers for an Urdu magazine take us back to when life was sustainable and I am working with another Asian group on projects to do with solar Power and water purity. Currently I am going to France for 3 weeks to work preparing a project with a school and my gallery there on the Catalan donkey, their Cultural symbol but much in decline.
