ELEVATORS RESIDENCY PROGRAM
Elevators is a partnership between Impulse Theatre and Embrace Arts Foundation that supports micro-projects from local neurodiverse and disabled artists. Up to 3 projects receive one-on-one mentorship each year.
Facilitator Tiffany Tjosvold (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and arts educator whose practices are rooted in movement and play. She is a chronically ill individual whose experience informs her desire to create accessible artistic spaces. Tiffany is also the founder of Embrace Arts Foundation, a multidisciplinary arts organization for individuals of all abilities.
“There have been times in my life when I have been able to successfully participate in full residency programs and there have been times when I haven’t had the capacity to do so. Even in those seasons of differing capacity, I wanted to create” - Elevators Program Facilitator and Peek Fest Accessibility Coordinator, Tiffany Tjosvold.
Elevators is an opportunity for artists who want to create new work, receive mentorship, and share their ideas in a way that fits their current capacity. The program seeks projects in any style of performance including: dance, theatre, music, storytelling, and/or interdisciplinary work. Applicable projects must be led by a self identifying disabled and/or neurodivergent artists. Project participation can be in-person, or digitally.
PAST PARTICIPANTS
ELEVATORS 2022
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Isabella Blue and the Legend of the Rowan Witch Green Violet Productions A musical adventure through The Woods, Isabella Blue is guided by a talking backpack to find the Rowan Witch and grant her a wish. One year later her sibling Avery follows, finding the journey to be quite different... ARTISTS: Eva Hocking (He/They) Rachel Levy (They/Them) |
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Colours of Restricted Access
Luka Garvin A filmed exploration of the black and white nature of legislation juxtaposed with the colourful and expansive nature of disability. ARTISTS: Director: Luka Garvin (They/Them) Dancer: Tiffany Tjosvold (She/Her) |
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Snapshot
Noelle Theobald “Snapshot” is a short narrative performance that goes through ‘snapshot moments’ in a young girls life as she gets an arthritis diagnosis. Experience the highs, lows, and eventual acceptance of coming to terms with the diagnosis of a chronic illness through the eyes of Elise Johnson, a young aspiring theatre kid, as she struggles to come to terms with her new life. ARTIST: Noelle Theobald (She/Her) |
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ELEVATORS 2021
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Joy and All It’s Friends
by Claire Bruce Joy and All It’s Friends is a physical theatre piece exploring the many emotions that one has at nighttime. My name is Claire Bruce (she/her) and I am a disabled artist who creates on the unceded territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Esquimalt and Songhees Nations) and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples. I'm a feisty Latina who loves the colour pink. I love to make art that brings joy to other people. I have performed in a wide variety of shows with Embrace Arts Foundation including: bloom, Creature Caste, & Sylvia and the Cephalopod. I've also trained with the Interdependence Collective and All Bodies Dance Project. |
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Remiss Gendering
by Joanne Cuffe Remiss Gendering is a creative way to respond to repetitive misgendering. The project aims to support colleagues, friends, family and community members who say they want to remember to use my pronouns. A short screendance is being audio described and captioned, and later will be followed by a new GIF or sound clip reminder each time remiss gendering happens. Joanne Cuffe (they/them) is active with cross-disability dance and creative access as a visitor in Lək̓ʷəŋən homelands. Over the past decade, they have been honoured to facilitate dance improvisation with 100 communities and groups, connecting with 2500 unique participants from 4 years old to 103 years young. Joanne is a neuroqueer nonbinary person of Irish-Scottish-english-settler descent. They are interested in collaborative, place-based, intersectional, multisensory screendance. |
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50 Shades of Grief: A Neurotic Erotica
By Regan Shrumm 50 Shades of Grief: A Neurotic Erotica is collection of the lightly fictionalized stories on the general awkwardness of sexcapades during the pandemic. It is just as good as going to therapy. Regan Shrumm (she/her/they/them) is a queer, genderqueer, and disabled artist and curator who has been living on and off of the traditional and unceded lands of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples for the last 12 years. |
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ELEVATORS 2020
Elevators 2020 showcased micro presentations of visual/tactile art and poetry from local neurodiverse and disabled artists.
In 2020, Elevators included the work of: Adam Irwin-Gunn, Andrea Jones, Luka Garvin, Janelle Resendes, and Rachael Buchanan. These pieces were presented with full audio description prior to Wee Peeks, Peek Show 9, and the Residency Showcase.