Information Tent

Find out more about the festival and our I Am Network

• Festival partners & funders

  Linda Bell (ActionSpace)

  Linda Bell is a leading ActionSpace artist. Linda worked with students from The Garden and Stormont House Schools to co-create an interactive large-scale sculptural artwork which was displayed at our Worship Street Hub throughout the festival week. Experimentation and play are central to Linda’s work – elements of the sculpture could be billowed, waved and wafted, walked upon, combined in different ways, and even worn!

  See highlights from Linda's workshop

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  AFK

  This year was our third year collaborating with AFK to provide a work experience programme for disabled young adults. The Cultural Ambassadors programme supported participants to co-design workshops for schools, consult with organisations about their accessibility for disabled young people, lead a festival project, and support the delivery of events throughout the festival week.

  Creative Facilitator Ross Bolwell-Williams has written a blog reflecting on his experience of working on our Cultural Ambassador programme:

  Read Ross' blog

  "This project has let me learn new things, do lots of activities and it has given me the confidence to travel independently."
  - Franc, Cultural Ambassador

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  Corali Dance

  Corali explored unity through movement and art. Workshops at Jack Tizard School brought the Pixies and Dragons classes together with a series of activities including drawing, living sculpture and choreography using coloured circles on different levels. Elements were then tested and refined by our team of Cultural Ambassadors at one of their masterclasses with Corali.

  This collaboration culminates in a film you can watch here:

  Watch the Corali Dance film

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  Catia Silvestre

  Catia worked with students to create unique garments that were further embellished by visitors during the festival as models of collaborative design. Free from the constraints of traditional fashion, everyone can see their ideas and identities translated into this wearable art.

  Catia's workshops included collage, working with fabrics and even a catwalk! You can see photos in the Gallery, and check out a virtual fashion show created with Multimedia Designer Romain Potier here:

  Explore the virtual fashion show

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  Digit Music

  Digit Music has developed a unique and accessible instrument that students used to create their own music. Cmpsr uses a joystick and buttons to produce a range of instrument sounds and rhythms, and Digit uses a simple arrow notation system instead of the traditional stave so everyone can follow and play the evolving compositions.

  Members of the Cultural Ambassadors worked with Digit Music to prepare an interactive session for schools at Stratford Youth Zone during the I Am Festival week. Digit Music also compiled a playlist of students' favourite songs to sing and dance along to during the festival.

  Check out the I Am Festival playlist

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  English National Opera

  ENO worked with the Cultural Ambassadors and Watergate School to co-create a sensory opera workshop for students with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD). This required ENO to adapt the way they would usually work, to ensure students with the most complex needs could get the most out of the experience.

  Molly Bertrand, Lead Teacher for Creative Learning at Watergate School, has written a blog reflecting on the experience:

  Read Molly's blog

  "They had understood that, more important than the design, more important than the story, more important than the music, were the interactions between themselves and the pupils. This is where the magic happens. It is so important that we don’t play at children, we play with them."

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  Graeae Theatre

  Graeae Theatre Company joined forces with Woodfield School to challenge the term ‘SEND’ as a community of D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people. With young people as artistic leaders, they staged a procession through the streets of Hackney on Tuesday 21 June. Keep an eye out for photos in the I Am Festival Gallery!

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  Mouth That Roars

  Mouth That Roars is a not-for-profit company providing participatory youth film and creative media arts activities for marginalised young people. In Focus is their weekly inclusive film group for young people with learning differences. Young people learn film techniques such as camera, editing, special effects, sound, directing, and also make their own films. You can see a selection of these films in our online Cinema.

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  The Economist Educational Foundation

  The Economist Educational Foundation created a resource inspired by the Graeae protest event happening on Tuesday 21 June. You can find a link to the resource alongside a version for learners with Moderate Learning Difficulties in the Get Creative Tent.

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  Wood Street Walls

  Wood Street Walls creates murals and runs paint jams and events, celebrating community and street art. For the I Am Festival, students have designed and assisted in the creation of a mural on a wall in London, working with the team using painting and stencilling techniques. Photos of the mural will be going up in the I Am Festival Gallery.

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  I Am Festival 2022 has been made possible thanks to funding from Kusuma Trust, Old Street District Partnership and Arts Council England.