The first Creative Thinking Network meeting in Ireland will be convened by Caroline Bowditch in Dance Limerick on Saturday 12th September.
The purpose of the Creative Thinking Network is to bring people together, who have an interest in arts and disability to
– share information and opportunities
– seek advice and support
– potentially develop new collaborations.
The focus for this first meeting will be on the performing arts. Members will be asked to introduce themselves and their organisations at the beginning of the meeting.
Arts & Disability Ireland’s intention is to test the Creative Thinking Network format here in Ireland. It is hoped that this approach to networking will lead to collaborations and partnerships in different art forms between artists with disabilities, companies, venues, organisations, curators and producers across Ireland.
If you wish to attend, please RSVP to amie@adiarts.ie by Wednesday 9th September.
Please include information about any access requirements you may have.
Creative Thinking Network was established as part of Caroline Bowditch’s role as Scottish Dance Theatre’s Dance Agent for Change. It was established to bring together individual artists and arts organisations, across art forms that have an interest in arts and disability. It’s open to anyone that it may be relevant to and group members are encouraged to invite any other interested parties.
Examples of previous Creative Thinking Network connections in Scotland:
Ramesh Meyyappan & The Beacon, Greenock
Ramesh was looking for a venue in which to develop a new theatre piece. The Beacon met Ramesh at Creative Thinking Network and offered him space to work in. They also programmed the new work in their venue.
Indepen-dance & Scottish Youth Theatre
Scottish Youth Theatre were seeking experienced practitioners in participatory and inclusive practice to develop a programme of integrated dance in ‘special schools’. Indepen-dance met Scottish Youth Theatre and they collaborated on a schools programme.
About Caroline:
Originally from Australia, Glasgow based performance artist and choreographer Caroline Bowditch, describes herself as a performer, maker, teacher, speaker and mosquito, buzzing in the ears of the arts industry in the UK and further afield. She has choreographed/performed work as Girl Jonah with Fiona Wright, created her own work Proband (2007) – with support from a Wellcome Trust Arts Grant – and co-created NQR and the Long and the Short of It as Scottish Dance Theatre’s Dance Agent for Change (2008-2012).
In 2012, Caroline created Leaving Limbo Landing for the Cultural Olympiad. In 2014, she created Falling in love with Frida, which had a sell-out run at the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won a prestigious Herald Angel award.
Caroline is a founder member of Weave Movement Theatre (Melbourne) and The FATHoM Project (Newcastle). She is Artist in Association with Paragon Music (Glasgow) and a Visiting Professor at Coventry University. Caroline’s consultancy work in accessibility and inclusivity includes ongoing work with Skånes Dansteater, Sweden and most recently with Australian organisations Access2Arts, Arts Access and the Australia Council for the Arts.
While in Limerick, Caroline will be performing ‘Falling in Love with Frida’ on Friday 11th September and she will also lead a workshop on Saturday 12th September, from 2pm-6pm at Dance Limerick.
Photo: Anthony Hopwood
