Jo Verrent
Quality can be a sticky issue when we are talking about art and creativity because quality means different things to different people. Creative Minds is pushing that conversation forward and this week Jo Verrent, Senior Producer at Unlimited, tells us about how she defines quality.
My name is Jo Verrent and I’m the Senior Producer for Unlimited.
Unlimited gives money to disabled artists from England and Scotland to help them make work and helps their work tour the country – and maybe even beyond.
Creative Minds have asked me to write about my views on learning disabled artists and quality, something they are looking at very seriously.
I love work by learning disabled artists – I always have done. I remember seeing a show called The Big Sex Show by The Lawnmowers over 20 years ago. It was funny and perfect for its audience. I loved it.
I’ve seen work with learning disabled people in by many, many companies – Carousel, Dark Horse, Face Front, Heart ‘n’ Soul, HiJinx, Janice Parker Projects, Magpie Dance, Mind the Gap, Stopgap – far too many to name – and in my house I have a number of paintings by learning disabled visual artists too, working with projects like Outside In, ProjectAbility and Project Artworks. Oh and I love Beautiful Octopus Club, DigiEnable, Oska Bright Film Festival and many other club nights and creative projects we are lucky enough to have around the UK.
For me, learning disabled artwork can be some of the most fresh, exciting, innovative and excellent work out there. But that doesn’t mean that it is all high quality.
It would agree that the work being produced is extremely inspiring. On the funding it is still very difficult to get hold of it. This is from my own personal experience.also people with autism can be aswell extremely talented artists, as seen at Polly’s Place near Ascot.A similar project in Cornwall which gave work placements to people with learning disabilities closed last year due to Council cuts(one of my most saddest journeys in 2013 was having to pick up my artwork from Penzance). Like l said at a recent TR2 Open Day l hope that the mainstream artists and audiences members of the future will come from projects like the Funky Llama Project and Oska Bright.