In May 2022, Jess Thom and Katie Goldfinch (Touretteshero) led a two-day online workshop on Relaxed Performance.
Jess Thom is a performer and the artistic director of Touretteshero. Katie Goldfinch is an artist and collaborator at Touretteshero. The workshop explored different ways to work in a relaxed creative way. It was about how accessibility can be incorporated into artistic works with creativity, imagination and sensitivity.
For nearly 10 years, the group Touretteshero has championed the practice of Relaxed Performance in the UK and internationally. This practice focuses on disabled and neurodivergent people. Invisible barriers are challenged, such as having to behave a certain way in the theater.
The workshop participants learned about the most important elements of Relaxed Performance. They were encouraged to learn how to integrate them into their work from the beginning. Together they reflected on how culture has changed a lot since the Corona Pandemic and what can be done to ensure that people with disabilities are not left behind in the cultural sector.
Participants had the opportunity to exchange ideas with other artists and explore how accessibility can enrich individual and collective artistic practice.