This year’s festival will be taking place from 11 - 13th March 2026, delivered in partnership with Tate Modern.
Over the week, we will be exploring the theme Journeys, showcasing diverse artistic voices and inclusive approaches to creative practice. We anticipate that we will host over 300 Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent young people from a wide variety of London's education settings.
As part of the festival, we have also commissioned two fantastic organisations; VOOT Collective and Touretteshero, who will be working with three schools from our I Am Network to co-create exciting projects with their students.
We have many exciting events taking place during the festival week, including:
- Activity curated and delivered by our brilliant Cultural Ambassadors – a group of Deaf, disabled and neurodiverse young people facilitated by artist and facilitator Jo Paul. Over a year, our Cultural Ambassadors meet weekly to develop their creative skills, work with different artists, and design their own activities for the festival.
- Creative workshops and performances for Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent children and young people.
- Workshops for professionals working in the cultural sector on how to make your programme more inclusive. An opportunity to hear directly from those working in the sector including The VOOT Collective and SLiDE.
I Am Festival is specially arranged for invited SEND schools. It isn’t open for public booking. If you are a teacher working in a SEND school and would like to learn more please contact iam@anewdirection.org.uk
