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People at the launch event

1000 day countdown: The Accentuate Launch

Launched at Brighton’s culturally iconic Dome, this was an opportunity for people to find out more about Accentuate and served as a showcase for the talent of the South East.

The 3rd December 2009 marked International Day Of Disabled People and 1000 days to the Paralympic Games.  Accentuate has set itself the same timeframe to create a cultural shift.  Caroline Cardus was commissioned to design a poster to signal the beginning of the countdown.  Copies of these posters were shown in the Dome and in the NCP car parks nearby, to highlight the journey the guests had made to attend the event.  Signdance Collective, AMI award winners, performed “Here” a dynamic piece from Dances For A Lost Traveller.  Rachel Gadsden observed all the action from the mezzanine balcony and produced a series of “live drawings” that captured the event. 

The entire space over head was strung with hundreds of fragments of railway timetables; an installation by Jon Adams who will be working with Accentuate over the course of the programme, to creatively assess the journey.

Creative Landscapes is an Accentuate project led by English Heritage, which aims to explore disabled peoples relationship to the historic environment.  Sensory Soundings is a film installation by Project Artworks, commissioned as part of this project. Accentuate was very pleased to show this installation at the launch in the sympathetic historic environment of the Dome.

The art and performance was put into context through a panel discussion around what it might take to achieve a cultural shift in 1000 days.  The panellists were:

  • Actor Mat Fraser
  • Director and Producer Ewan Marshall
  • Paralympian Danny Crates
  • Artist Caroline Cardus
  • Writer and Presenter Jill Cochrane

Accentuate is looking at ways to unite Sport, Art, Film, Culture, Tourism and Heritage, learning from each others’ approaches and experiences. 

Currently Paralympians have a higher profile than disabled artists.  Danny Crates commented on why this may be:

“People actually understand that these Paralympians are full-time international athletes and because we have that perception it should be fairly easy to move that across and take it into culture, art and media. We can show that people with disabilities don’t just become great sportspeople they actually become great people in every walk of life.”

Award-winning BBC TV producer Ewan Marshall added to this saying:

“We’re fortunate in this country that we have very good coverage of the Paralympic Games. It’s treated very seriously and I can only wish we had the same profile for disabled arts. It’s important for disabled people to go for what they want to do. If you want to be an actor do it, and in that way you will help the process of change.”

The launch of Accentuate was a very promising start to an ambitious programme of national significance, which looks set to deliver some transformational work across the South East. 


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