Our Mission

To support and promote artists with disabilities working in a variety of disciplines in the creation of authentic non-sentimental expressions of the disability experience.

About Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture

In 1997, a small group of artists and advocates with disabilities got together in Vancouver to talk about bringing disability arts to British Columbia. Key among them were filmmaker Bonnie Sherr Klein and disability activist Catherine Frazee. Inspired by a growing international disability arts movement, and by Canadian disability activist Catherine Frazee’s urging to find “both pleasure and politics in disability culture.” Among those gathered were two artists whose lives already exemplified that call – filmmaker Bonnie Klein, and sculptor/dancer Geoffrey McMurchy. As Bonnie Klein put it: “Living with disability is an art. Our various and unique disabilities compel us to create innovative paths around obstacles. In both content and form, we are taking risks that only we can take.” They continued to meet, and by 1998, the first disability arts organization in Canada was born. Registered as the Society for Disability Arts and Culture (S4DAC), the nonprofit society’s goals were simple, but not easy: to support and promote artists with disabilities and to present disability arts festivals to BC audiences. The fledgling group pledged to present “authentic non-sentimental expressions of the disability experience,” to include all artistic disciplines, and to welcome all disabilities. People with disabilities were to comprise at least 50 percent of the board of directors. These have remained the organization’s guiding goals and principles through almost 20 years of building disability arts in Canada.

Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture developed and presented the first international multidisciplinary festival of disability arts in Canada in 2001, under the leadership of its founding Artistic Director, Geoff McMurchy. Until recently, this has been Kickstart’s signature event, showcasing quality artists with disabilities over a five-day festival held every three years. In our 16 years of operation, we have presented five such festivals, the most recent in September 2013. In 2012 Kickstart also presented the Wide Angle Media Festival – a film and video festival focused on disability perspectives.

In 2010, we spearheaded the development of VocalEye, Canada’s first audio description service for live theatre, in collaboration with five established Vancouver theatres. This led to the formation of an autonomous registered society, which now provides these services across the country. Kickstart has been internationally recognized for our innovative work in nurturing disability arts and culture and increasing access to the arts, and we have inspired other centres in Canada to develop similar festivals and arts events.

In 2014, Kickstart launched a change in program direction with The Fine Line Project, a series of monthly events showcasing the work of artists with disabilities in a range of media.

For our first foray in this new direction in 2014, we presented the “Fine Line Project,” a series of nine events from April to December, including readings, concerts, artist talks, and theatre performances. The positive audience response we received encouraged us to move forward with this kind of programming.

In 2015 we presented a variety of events exploring the theme “And I shall be happy”: a juried visual art show at the Pendulum Gallery; a collection of experimental collaborative performance pieces in “Mouthpiece,” presented at the Cultch; a street performance, “Get Happy,” by Velveeta Krisp and collaborators; and an artists’ talk and video screening with Kiss & Tell art collective.

2016 was an exciting year for Kickstart, we launched a new series of events under the theme, “Every Day In Every Way” under the guidance of our new Artistic Director, Yuri Arajs. This program of year-round events, with a focus on the visual arts and film, cemented our position as an ongoing contributor to the artistic vibrancy of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada.

We could not have brought these events to Vancouver audiences without the dedicated help and support of our various community partners, including Vancouver Adapted Music Society, The Queer Arts Festival, posAbilities, the grunt gallery, Gallery Gachet, Still Moon Arts Society, Vancouver Board of Parks & Recreation, Queer Film Festival, Realwheels, to mention a few. We continue to strengthen these partnerships, as well as forge new ones, as we grow and change.

What Now?

In 2018 Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture will celebrate 20 years of supporting and promoting artists living with disabilities! We are thrilled to have reached this milestone and are currently busy working on our anniversary programming, entitled "Celebrating 20 Years of Disability Arts & Culture". Stay tuned on our website and social media for all of the exciting events we have planned.

As a diverse community and movement, we are always evolving and growing. Whenever enough of us get together, we have a lot to say about disability and the arts. We don’t always agree, but we welcome more people in the discussion. We invite you to check out our events, and get involved!