Pushing ahead and going it alone

The Unlimited arts commissioning programme – originally established as part of the Cultural Olympiad around the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games – has for many years been enabling new work by disabled artists to reach large audiences across the UK and further afield. 

Adapting to lockdown 

Most recently, rather than go into ‘sleep mode’ during lockdown, it has not only continued to support disabled artists, but switched its commissioning focus, producing three tranches of micro commissions to support new work, fund research and development and provide mentoring to help keep disabled artists focused.  

For Jo Verrent, Senior Producer at Unlimited, being able to keep going was vital: “The artists that we support were able to dip into the same support that they’d always had – in fact, enhanced support, as many of their plans fell apart because of the pandemic. Being there for the artists in that very immediate sense was very important.

“We watched – just for a couple of weeks – to see how everybody else’s emergency funds worked before we planned our own. Then we were able to do a pilot, learn more about what disabled artists wanted and provide three rounds of emergency support over three months. So we were able to act quickly, but also in a learning and reflective way.”

Mojere Ajayi-Egunjobi – known as MJ – is the Unlimited Trainee currently based at Shape Arts, which together with Artsadmin has been working with Jo to administer the Unlimited programme since 2013. MJ has been working on a film that will coincide with the announcement of the next round of commissions. It contains interviews from artists that were commissioned previously, and also explains the application process to help new people who are trying to apply. 

A new approach

This film is just one example of how Unlimited has explored new ways of working during lockdown, but bigger changes are on the way. Although Unlimited is currently a commissioning programme – not an organisation – that will change within the next two years. 

Jo explains: “The push for this really came from Arts Council England as Shape Arts and Artsadmin are delivering a service for them. They felt very strongly that Unlimited needed to become a separate organisation and be resourced separately – partly because the way that strategic funds operate is going to shift and change. 

“It’s one of the only strategic programmes that’s ever been invited to make that transition, and part of that is because we’ve had a big influence out in the world – certainly bigger than our resources might suggest, and bigger than the staff team who deliver it.”

Unlimited aims to have its own board in place by the end of this year and begin operating as a non-profit organisation from April 2022. In the meanwhile it will be establishing how it operates and from where, but it definitely won’t be in London, says Jo. 

“Arts Council has asked us to look at the North [of England] and the Midlands as possibilities, but also we’re really interested in the idea of a geographically-dispersed workforce. DisabilityArts.Online do that now, and bigger organisations like British Council have had geographically – even globally – dispersed workforces for quite some time. We certainly think that many disabled people opt for less or little travel in some situations, so it might open up a wider field of people for us to employ. Working from home is not ideal for everyone; but working from home and an office space that can be adapted flexibly in terms of access, that might work really well.” 

MJ concurs: “There are a lot of distractions [working from home] but as someone with a long-term health condition, it is more manageable because I’m getting adequate amounts of rest. Having the balance between working in an office space and working at home, will actually be beneficial for someone like me. I’d be interacting with people at the office but having enough time to also rest and recuperate.” 

Direct benefits

But how will becoming its own organisation improve Unlimited? For MJ, it’s about giving the programme the structure to continue doing the work that it’s already doing: “It will give Unlimited the structure that people think it already has, as they already think of it as an organisation. It makes a big impact, so being an organisation will help it to continue to do that.”

For Jo, the single-biggest change will be around decision-making: “At the moment we devolve as much decision-making as possible to panels of disabled people. So all the selections, all of the main commissions, the research and development, and the Emerging Artists Awards, aren’t made by the Unlimited team—they’re made by panels of disabled people, and also allies and funders. We spend most of our time not doing things, but getting other people to. 

“As a programme we don’t have a governing board, so decisions around what we take on and where we get funding from are [currently] made internally, between Shape, Artsadmin and myself. Having a governing board and being accountable to a wide range of disabled and non-disabled people, will really help shape the future direction of Unlimited, and its long-term, sustained impact. 

“We have an Advisory Group at the moment, made up of some people who know Unlimited well and others who were on the outside, because we felt that it was important to get an outside eye on that process. When we applied to Arts Council for transition funds, we said that half of the new board would be disabled people; but the Advisory Group said ‘no. 75% will be disabled people, working towards a board of 100% disabled people.’ Even in that micro-example, you can see how governance can lead to a stronger decision than the pragmatic approach of ‘quick, let’s just go with what’s usually 51% – that’s the legal thing.’ That’s really telling. 

“The independent group that we appoint will help us keep at the cutting edge. One of Unlimited’s successes is that it’s always tried to really push ahead and to get right at the forefront of what needs to be changed, whether that’s about funding intersectional artwork or work that defies art form boundaries. We like to think we’re progressive in that way, but it’s not just about the artwork. The organisation has to be progressive in that way too. And a governing board formed of the right people can really help with that.”

Paul F. Cockburn is a journalist and regular contributor to DisabilityArts.Online
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