The Eastern Front Theatre Accessibility Project team has as a goal to recognize the barriers faced by underrepresented artists to accessing the performing arts in Nova Scotia, to offer recommendations on how we can clear these roadblocks and create a more welcoming arts sector for everyone. These barriers move beyond the definition of physical accessibility and include challenges faced by anyone viewed as invalid by the larger arts community. We will create a space where those most affected feel safe to dream together, support one another, and reimagine a future where there are options to success. We recognize that those who must be prioritized in this conversation are those who have faced the most challenges and who have been left on the outside. Artists with intersecting identities are least likely to feel included in this process and are those we have the most to learn from and will be welcomed as leaders in this process.
Our team of Community Consultants is made up of underrepresented artists including Nat Chantel, Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis, Carmen Lee, Raymond Sewell, Kirsten Olivia Taylor, Maeghan Taverner and is led by April Hubbard.
Our team of Community Consultants is made up of underrepresented artists including Nat Chantel, Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis, Carmen Lee, Raymond Sewell, Kirsten Olivia Taylor, Maeghan Taverner and is led by April Hubbard.
The Accessibility Project Team
Photo by Emily Invidia [IMAGE DESCRIPTION – April, a light-skinned white woman with short auburn hair, sits in her black manual wheelchair. She wears glasses & a flowing gold satin gown. The light highlights the definition of her bare arms. Her wheelchair sits diagonal to the camera to show gold fabric draped through the spokes of her wheelchair. Her upper body faces the camera, one arm wraps around the back of her seat, gripping the frame of her backrest while the other is draped on her lap. Her legs are crossed, her bare feet show beneath the hem of her skirt. The pose accentuates the strong curves of her body. April looks directly into the camera with the mysterious hint of a smile on her lips. Columns of purple and violet light frame her against a black backdrop.]
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PROJECT COORDINATOR, APRIL HUBBARD
April Hubbard began her career as an actor before developing her skills as a director, producer, board member, accessibility advisor and arts administrator after entering the world of disability and finding there was no longer a space for her on stage. As the Chair of the Halifax Fringe Festival, she provides a platform for others excluded from mainstream performance. In 2019, April became a professional trapeze artist and acrobat when she began performing with LEGacy Circus. She cofounded disabilityX Halifax, a storytelling event created and led by people with disabilities and is currently working with Drifting Amber Collective to remove barriers to access in the arts and to support people with unseen bodies & unheard voices to claim creative control. She is an outspoken advocate whose focus is to empower people with disabilities to discover their voice and to be leaders in designing the society in which they wish to live. April proudly shows her body without hiding its differences, which serves to both challenge assumptions and to normalize the presence of people with disabilities in our everyday world. |