Projects

DoubleTAKE

Background

Over the last decade Tallaght Community Art has regularly collaborated on arts projects with people with disabilities through partnerships with number of disability support organisations. As a result of these collaborations a number of requests have been made by individuals and through advocates to have this work consolidated in a more strategic and sustainable way.

In January 2009 Tallaght Community Arts and Cheeverstown extended an invitation to a number of disability service providers who provide services to a range of people with disabilities to meet to explore how they might work together in a more sustained manner in providing arts experiences for service users.

An initial meeting took place in February 2009 where an interested group convened a steering group and DoubleTAKE was set up under the auspices of Tallaght Community Arts.

DoubleTAKE Steering Group

DoubleTAKE partners; Tallaght Community Arts, Cheeverstown, St Michael’s House and The Dyspraxia Association of Ireland have extensive experience of providing and delivering the arts in an inclusive environment. The group positively welcomes other disability organisations to join the steering group.

DoubleTAKE Mission Statement

We believe that everyone is creative and that everyone should have the opportunity to develop their creativity.

Finding arts forms and practices to include people with different types of disabilities requires creative thinking to devise new strategies and implement positive action to provide opportunities for all.

DoubleTAKE is an arts initiative that seeks to develop and support people with disabilities to develop their creativity through and in the arts.

Double TAKE is seeking to develop a sustainable programme to grow the cultural entitlement of people with disabilities over the long term.

Aims

• To enable all people irrespective of age, gender, level of disability sexual orientation, or cultural background to use the medium of the arts to express and communicate
• To empower people by providing a supportive environment in which they can develop new skills and integrate with the wider community and in then in the long term develop meaningful friendships.
• To maximise the persons inclusion in society via participation in cultural activities in their local community.
• To encourage independence, individuality and creativity through the arts by facilitating the personal and artistic development of each individual
• To initiate meaningful participation in community cultural development by members of our disability community via arts training, arts practice and fun.
• To improve networking and exchange within the disability art community by making links with similar initiatives locally, nationally and internationally.

Objectives

• To develop programes for people with disabilities to develop their interests and skills in music, drama, sound, dance, writing, visual arts and digital media
• Increase access for the disability arts community to mainstream art facilities and networks
• To provide a space and resources for individuals and groups to grow their creative capacities.

Strategy

Double TAKE intend over the next 2 years to develop a range of projects as part of a sustainable programme of work with the disabled community. We aim to involve individuals with disabilities to be actively involved in mainstream arts activity and to come into contact with arts work made by established and emerging contemporary artists.

Regular workshops and projects will be programmed by Doubl TAKE partners RUA RED under the auspices of Tallaght Community Arts, the cultural anchor tenant in the new arts centre.

One such project initiative will be DoubleTAKE OPEN STUDIO – an integrated studio for individual emerging and established artists.