Equity, Diversity, Inclusion – I add Access – EDIA. It’s better when it’s inherent in everything we do. I’ve been involved in the design and development of inclusive and accessible ways of working in the arts since 2009. Through my work I have a focus towards an intersectional lens, exploring EDIA where experiences are layered and compounded. Training as Integrative therapist since 2021 I am engaging with rigours learning and deepening awareness of lived intersectional experiences.
Working in both the mainstream and disability dance and theatre sectors, I work with originality, playfulness and sensitivity, inspiring and challenging in equal measure, bringing the best out of people. I work collaboratively and can offer consultancy and troubleshooting, depending on need. My key facilitation skills are:
Mentoring people in best practice around inclusion and access through:
Focused sessions that work with your practice to create optimal inclusive and accessible environments – from ½ day to full day workshops and longer residencies. The sessions are responsive and designed around your specific questions and ideas.
Speaking and facilitation around soft skills, attitudes and nuances of what inclusion and access is, what it means, and for who. I work with understanding the importance of language in everyday practices.
Developing soft skills, attitudes and nuances of artistic inclusion
Artists
Working collaboratively with artists from different disciplines and backgrounds who are interested in developing their practice.
Mentoring artists who get stuck, or need support to move through environmental barriers and barriers within themselves so they can thrive.
Artistic workshops and residences inviting artists to embed best practices and access into their artistic work.
Producers & Arts Organisations
Individual conversations to demystify what access and inclusion is within their particular situation.
Supporting individuals to navigate difficult conversations they encounter around access and inclusion
Developing actions to making their work more inclusive.
Developing approachable attitudes around inclusion and access.
“We really appreciated your generosity, and found your intervention so interesting and pertinent, it really seemed to resonate with many of the participants (including ONDA and British Council). It left us thinking how ill-equipped we are in a big machine of an institution to accommodate or open up that liminal space which is so vital, and what we can do about it. Thank you for sharing some of your journey, experience and thoughts about all of this.” Head of Arts, British Council France.
Read my approach to work & CV
Snapshot of previous work & organisations
British Council France & UK, Fast Familiar (previously FanSHEN), Wysing Arts Centre, We Are Epic (a CIC in association with Epic Arts, Cambodia), Dan Daw Creative Projects, Westminster Society for Disabled People and many individual artists. My work covers:
- Mentoring of the development of Access Docs for Artists website
- Conversations around individual artistic practices shaping the collective voice.
- Where does (dis)ability and chronic illness sit within the artistic voice?
- Development of access documents, how much to reveal and when?
- Provocations on: What is inclusion? What does inclusion feel and look like for this new artistic collective?
- Shaping best practice around inclusion and access within the structure organisations
- Co-development of the inclusive development
- Inputing into policies and procedures in conjunction with organisation Boards
- Co-developing of Arts Administration Traineeship
- Co-mentored trainees, and worked with them to develop further ways to support people identifying within LGBTQI+, D/disabled arts communities.
- Facilitating organisational development events and trainings in a open, accessible professional manor
With We Are Epic I produced and was an artistic collaborator for Buffalo Boy, an international collaboration with Epic Arts in Cambodia.
“We particularly appreciate Lou’s ability to bring models of thought from her many areas of expertise (performance, Feldenkrais and now counselling) and well as insights from lived experience, to give us ‘ways in’ to complex subject matter. She asks difficult questions with compassion, demanding intellectual rigour and authenticity in an area that is so often reduced to tokenism” Fast Familiar
I’m always keen to develop national and international collaborations with partners, organisations and artists looking to develop their skills and understanding of EDIA in the arts or creative sectors.
Read about my inclusive artistic work with disabled children and teenagers with challenging behaviours here
Find out more about my past artistic performance practice here
Lou Coleman 