Sarah Pickthall - Sync
Sarah Pickthall  ©

Sarah Pickthall

When Disability and Digital Collide – Public Talk by Sarah Pickthall
Presented by British Council, Singapore International Foundation and Very Special Arts

Sarah Pickthall is an independent digital producer working with disabled and deaf artists and makers in the UK and globally. Sarah also co-founded the Sync Programme alongside Jo Verrent. Singapore Programme 2019 alongside Jo Verrent.

In 2013, Jo and Sarah started Short Circuit – a research project looking at all the wonderful things that can happen when digital and disability collide. Short Circuit does not mean ‘breakdown’ as we often believe the term to mean but ‘the path of least resistance’. Funded by Arts Council England, Short Circuit worked with Lighthouse Digital Arts Agency in Brighton as part of the Brighton Digital Festival when Honor Harger, now the Executive Director of the ArtScience Museum in Singapore, was at the helm. Short Circuit paired disabled and deaf artists from all disciplines with digital artists and producers. The outcomes were extraordinary. 

Sarah’s lecture explored how when digital and disability collides, disabled and deaf artists:

  • get the access they need, to reach their potential in life and the workplace; 
  • harness extraordinary ways to express hidden perspectives as individuals and communities; 
  • find new ways of making art accessible for performances and artworks for everyone to enjoy.

The talk was held on:
Monday, 15 July 2019
Time: 12:30 to 14:00 (Registration starts at 12 pm)
Venue: International Involvement Hub
60A Orchard Road, #04-01, Tower 1, The Atrium@Orchard, Singapore 238890

About Sarah Pickthall

Sarah Pickthall is an independent digital producer working with disabled and deaf artists and makers in the UK and globally. Sarah was the Artistic Director of SprungDigi.com from 2013-2017, a community project which gives hundreds of people with learning disability access to the digital, many for the first time.

In 2013, Sarah and Jo Verrent started Short Circuit – a research project looking at all the wonderful things that can happen when digital and disability collide. Short Circuit means ‘the path of least resistance’. Funded by Arts Council England, Short Circuit worked with Lighthouse Digital Arts Agency in Brighton as part of the Brighton Digital Festival when Honor Harger, now the Executive Director of the ArtScience Museum in Singapore, was at the helm. Short Circuit paired disabled and deaf artists from all disciplines with digital artists and producers. The outcomes were extraordinary.

Sarah is currently the producer for deaf dancer/choreographer Chisato Minamimura who explores sound visually and through vibrations, which are illustrated beautifully in her most recent work – Scored in Silence (showing at British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2019 and ready to tour). Sarah also co-founded the Sync Programme and developed Sync Singapore Programme 2019 alongside Jo Verrent.

About SYNC Programme

What is Sync?
Sync is a development programme for disabled artists and arts managers who want to forge a fantastic career and a more fulfilling future as pioneers in the arts. We will make sure the programme is accessible to all our participants so they can get on with designing their pioneering pathway on our programme. Over 5 days in July 2019 in Singapore, Sync will share skills in how to develop your leadership skills through short lectures, group exercises and Sync Coaching. 

Sync Coaching
Sync Coaching is designed around disabled people’s individual experiences and challenges. Through face to face and online 1hr sessions, participants learn how to think and feel differently about themselves and their careers and move forward in exciting new ways.

Authentic Leadership
Sync believes in authentic leadership. Being authentic is being true to yourself, not trying to be something you are not, but building your career around your natural skills and talents and your lived experience.

When did it start?
Developed in the lead up to London 2012 by two disabled arts leader from the UK: 
Sarah Pickthall (www.sarahpickthall.com) a coach, consultant and digital dance producer.
Jo Verrent (www.joverrent.com) also senior producer for Unlimited.

Sync has helped make it possible for disabled people to achieve great things in the arts. Through intensive face to face programmes led by Sarah and Jo, Sync has supported many of the leading disabled artists and arts managers in the UK, Australia and South Korea to progress their arts careers further than they thought possible.  

Society is often designed in a way that stops disabled people from being ambitious and achieving their potential.  Sync often talks about ‘breaking through the glass ceiling of possibility’.  

Working in disabled-only teams, Sync is a force for change and Sync has proven the difference it can make.  Over the last 10 years, 100s of disabled artists and managers have taken part in our 1 day, 2 day workshops and 5 day intensive programmes and have learned with us online. 

 

Share this