The Festival of Voices is a celebration of self-advocacy in Somerset’s learning disability community. It is the culmination of the OurSelf Advocacy project, run by Openstorytellers, commissioned by Somerset Community Foundation. The project’s aim is to find out about the current state of self-advocacy in Somerset and to raise awareness.
OurSelf Advocacy is co-led by people who have a learning disability. The team has discovered that the link between self-advocates and those that need to listen (the audiences) is broken. Quite often audiences come to self-advocates with their own agenda, sometimes audiences say they are listening but don’t update the self-advocates on their actions or at worst, don’t actually do anything.
Our response is the Festival of Voices, a day where the power is in the hands of the self-advocates and their voices will be the loudest in the room. The Brewhouse will be filled with self-advocates who will be using their creative voices to affirm their rights and highlight what matters most to them. The audience will be full of those who make decisions that affect the learning disabled community from Somerset Council, the NHS, the police and other places of ‘power’.
We are inviting groups of people from the learning disabled community to come and be involved on the day.
In the run-up to the Festival of Voices, OurSelf Advocacy will be running workshops for self-advocates, whether they have experience, or they are new to the world of self-advocacy. We will explore what we mean by ‘our rights’ and follow the sparks of inspiration that can turn our experiences into a powerful, creative voice. We will use music, movement, poetry, art, and theatre to tell the decision makers what they need to hear.
If you would like to attend, please tell us:
- How many people you’d like to bring – the more the merrier
- If you’d like to create something to share in advance – we can set you a challenge, or visit you in person to support you
- If you need to talk about transport
Email ben.waller@openstorytellers.org.uk or simon.blakeman@openstorytellers.org.uk to book your places or to find out more.
