Visual Arts Nova Scotia is excited to present Supporting Art Audiences with Disabilities, a free virtual roundtable event happening over Zoom on Thursday, February 10 at 7 – 9pm AST. 

Presenters Kayla Besse, Ayoka Junaid, Paula Bath and Tiphaine Girault will join moderator Syrus Marcus Ware to discuss accessibility practices, and the alterations they would like to see supported to allow for fuller audience inclusion in the arts.

Their years of experience and knowledge of accessibility advocacy will be brought together to continue this important conversation and highlight the next steps that need to be taken by arts organizations. Through this conversation, the panel will focus on how accessibility work can be supported and further utilized, the fine curatorial details that need to be further focused on in the arts, and the training for accessibility services that are currently available.

Come for the conversation on Zoom, and participate in the Question & Answer session afterwards. An ASL interpreter and live captioning will be provided. Please let us know any additional accessibility needs you have. The goal of this event is to share the knowledge of what is being done in the field of art accessibility, and to discuss steps that can be taken to move forward. We look forward to seeing you there!

Register in advance for this panel discussion:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zukJ2F8hT0CFsrzG8U4upg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar (including the Zoom link).

This event will be recorded and a link to the recording will be sent to registered participants afterwards, in case any participants had internet issues. This video will only be available for registered participants to view for two weeks following the panel discussion.

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MODERATOR

Syrus Marcus Ware is a Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator, and educator. Syrus uses painting, installation and performance to explore social justice frameworks and black activist culture. He has shown in galleries and festivals across Canada. He is part of the Performance Disability Art Collective and a core-team member of Black Lives Matter – Toronto. He has won several recognitions including the TD Diversity Award 2017, the Steinert and Ferreiro Award 2012, and “Best Queer Activist” NOW Magazine 2005. Syrus is the co-editor of Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada (URP, 2020). Syrus earned his PhD at York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and is Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts at McMaster University.

PANELISTS

Kayla Besse (she/her) is a cultural producer, writer, and digital accessibility expert working at the intersections of disability justice, communications, and arts administration. Kayla currently lives in Guelph, Ontario, and works as the Public Education Coordinator at Tangled Art + Disability. Tangled is a 100% disability-led non-profit organization and art gallery dedicated to cultivating disability arts and accessible curatorial practices. She co-produces and co-hosts Crip Times, a podcast interviewing artists, academics, and activists navigating their practices amidst COVID. She is also an Access Activator—a person trained with the British Council Canada to deliver Relaxed Performance facilitation. She completed her Master of Arts in the School of English & Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, where she was studying representations of disability in literature and film.

Ayoka Junaid was born in Tiohtià:ke/ Montreal/ Canada and raised on Ktaqmkuk island /Newfoundland/ Canada. Ayoka shows up as an American Sign Language interpreter, a sustainable artist, community-based educator, learner, and an activist.

Ayoka is happiest outside exploring, collecting dyestuff and printmaking materials while considering the intersections between language, art, and mathematics.  All reoccurring themes in her/ their art practice and graduate studies.

Ayoka has focused attention on deepening and broadening connections between professional interpreting and art practices since completing Visual Arts NS’ New Grad Program and the Anna Leonowens Certificate in Gallery and Studio Management in Kjipuktuk/ Halifax/ Canada.

Originating from France, Tiphaine Girault has a BA in Graphic Novel and works in French, English and two sign languages. For over ten years Tiphaine has worked as a professional artist in comic arts, printmaking and sign language translation and performance. Her work has been featured in several exhibitions and documentaries. Tiphaine has hosted national arts leadership residencies expanding art practices in sign language with SPiLL.Propagation, and in 2018, was honoured for her leadership in the arts in LSQ in Quebec.

After learning American Sign Language (ASL) at the age of sixteen, Paula Bath went on to study translation, communication, and cultural in institutions and to obtain a BA and MA in Communications. Paula is currently a Ph.D. student in Social and Cultural Analysis at Concordia University. Her work is observational and conversational and brings images and texts together to explore moments when dominant social ideas, beliefs and social structures are lived, felt and discussed by people. Paula is thrilled to live and work in the spaces of sign and spoken languages – ASL, langugue de signes québécoise, English and French.

ORGANIZER

Hana Kujawa (she/her) is from the small mountain town of Banff, Alberta. She has a BFA in  Photography from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and is currently completing her Masters of Art in Art Education at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. Hana loves spending time outdoors, and taking abstract photographs of classically beautiful scenes. As a disabled artist, she has focused her research on the needs of disabled audiences.