EXPLORERS – Illuminating the Wilderness, is an innovative programme of art and discourse that will challenge perceptions through creating supportive and deeply affecting interactions between neurotypical and non-neurotypical collaborators. The EXPLORERS programme will positively increase public, artists’ and arts professionals’ awareness of the extraordinary contribution people with complex needs can make to mainstream culture and will position them as leaders.
EXPLORERS is a three-year programme of holistic, collaborative work that will deliver six co-commissioned exhibitions and installations to form a ‘festival of cultural inclusion’ in 2019. The artworks will emerge from relevant, creative and meaningful engagement with neurodiverse communities placing the discourse of inclusion at the centre of mainstream exhibition spaces and programmes in England and Sydney, Australia.
The inherent awareness raising and discourses in EXPLORERS will open up greater understanding of the relevance to art and culture of diverse states of being. Different ways of perceiving and interacting with the world provide rich territories for creative programming and new art.
The EXPLORERS partnership of 12 national and international organisations has been selected for their individual expertise and their openness to change and socially connected practice that is necessary to provide a legacy of cultural producers highly experienced in inclusion and neurodiversity. All partners are established leaders in audience development and digital work. Partners include: