Developing the first North East Deaf Festival
On 1st and 2nd November 2024 at Gosforth Civic Theatre we will be seeing the first ever North East Deaf Festival.
So what has led us here?
Upon starting as a bridgebuilder Paul started exploring what he’d like to focus his time on and was drawn to mental health faced by d/Deaf[1] people. He wasn’t actively part of the Deaf community before, despite being deaf, but knew a fair bit about the accessibility issues the community faces. He started thinking about how to bring together organisations that support d/Deaf people, raise aspirations in young d/Deaf people, raise awareness in the hearing community of the issues faced by d/Deaf people and start to shift the dial on inclusion in Gateshead.
With encouragement from a local mental health nurse who pioneered mental health support for d/Deaf people, he contacted a few local d/Deaf artists and asked for their help finding some d/Deaf young creatives to form part of a steering group. Gathering momentum as people started to rally around the idea, Paul drew on funding from the Gateshead Community Bridgebuilders to run the steering group meetings, sourced a BSL interpreter, and the group started work. Here is what we’ve learned and what has developed…
From a ‘professional’ focus to a community focus
The original plan had been to run the festival as a young creative-led event in a high-profile professional venue like the Glasshouse or the Baltic, with support in design and delivery from established professional deaf arts organisations. What it has become is an event in a community venue, with design and delivery driven solely by d/Deaf people in the community, of which many are young d/Deaf creatives. The change in venue was a steer from local artists and was largely a practical one – start small, build it up, perhaps move to those more ambitious venues in future. As it happens, a community based venue feels more in keeping with the community focus of the festival.
The change in terms of who has power in the work was more a mixture of pragmatism and principle. The group chose not to involve an established d/Deaf arts organisation in order to retain budget and space for a larger number and greater range of smaller workshops and exhibitions. Paul also chose not to involve organisations in the steering group, despite his earlier intentions to find ways to unite the sector, deciding to focus on developing the power of the young creatives in the group rather than introducing the challenges, needs and power dynamics of organisations.
The Development of the steering group
This is a festival by young d/Deaf people, for young d/Deaf people. It’s about showing local young d/Deaf people what they can do, raising aspiration through inspiration and opportunity. Paul was keen to have young people involved from the start – and to reiterate that message to them again and again: ‘this is your festival’. As the group has progressed, Paul has been conscious to step back in discussions, encouraging the young creatives to voice their opinions and to really seize ownership over this festival – and it’s working. The steering group has done the work of choosing a venue, developing social media channels and a website, and choosing the programme of the festival. They’re doing the work of making the festival a reality, building their power in this space.
How History has echoes in community
The hearing community has a lot of work to do building trust with the Deaf community, who have a long history of being disabled by broader society. The traumas of the past are communicated down through families. As Paul says: ‘deaf children with deaf parents, they’ve been taught these stories of how difficult it was when they were growing up, and it’s passed on to them. So you can understand there’s a bit of mistrust with hearing communities’.
Paul is responding to that mistrust by working to get local organisations to show the Deaf community that they are welcome, that they will be supported to access their facilities, using the festival as a jumping off point. This will hopefully become part of the festival’s legacy…
Developing a legacy
The legacy Paul seeks for the festival is both one in the Deaf community and one in individuals. In the community he’s building links with local organizations. Gateshead FC Community Foundation, who host Paul in his Bridgebuilder role, are talking about running arts and wellbeing activities specifically for d/Deaf people in future. A local cookery school is talking about putting on a course specifically for d/Deaf people. The festival gives Paul a mechanism to meet with organisations, which opens the door to conversations about inclusivity for d/Deaf people more generally.
Paul is also seeking a legacy that will live on in the individuals who are making the festival happen, including:
- Seeking a mentor for a young creative in the steering group who’s looking for a career in animation.
- Seeking funding to turn one of the young creatives’ scripts into a film which can be shown at the festival.
- Building confidence in young people who haven’t been involved in something like this before.
All this work builds opportunity for those young creatives, it helps them realise their power and capabilities and be an agent for change for the d/Deaf community, which will hopefully live on long after the festival.
The Deaf Festival will run on 1st-2nd November 2024 at Gosforth Civic Theatre. Check out the festival’s website https://weyayedeaf.org.uk/
If you think you could help with anything we’ve talked about in this blog (especially the ‘legacy’ part!) please get in touch with Paul Kerr at Paul@gfc-foundation.org.uk
[1] For more on the difference between ‘deaf’ and ‘Deaf’ see this article from ConnectHear.