Paralympics – Buckinghamshire Culture

Discover something extraordinary this July with Open Weekend

Everyone is invited to explore their creativity, and our varied county, during our jam-packed Open Weekend, 25th-28th July. With 34 contributors running 54 events across Bucks, there is plenty to enjoy. You can take part in free or low-cost activities and maybe try something new or go somewhere you have not been before!

Photograph shows four musicians dressed as superheroes and all carrying instruments — Vache Baroque, History of Sounds

Whether you are looking for something to do with little ones, a chance to try a new artform, time to learn, or time to chill out – there is plenty to choose from. This year’s fantastic programme includes opportunities to watch or join in with singing, dancing, music-making, crafting and much more. You might also visit an exhibition, listen to an author interview, enjoy live music, join a themed tour or explore local heritage. Events are taking place in person across the county, and online too.

See the Buckinghamshire Culture website for the full listing: www.buckinghamshireculture.org/open-weekend-whats-on and follow #BucksOpenWeekend and #TogetherWeCelebrate for social media updates.

This year organisations will be offering a wide range of activities on the theme of Together We Celebrate, inspired by the Paris Olympics and Paralympics 2024. Buckinghamshire has an extra special reason to celebrate as it is the proud birthplace of the Paralympic movement, and this year we have asked our event organisers to think about how they can honour this heritage. This year Open Weekend will be part of Buckinghamshire Council’s wider Together We Celebrate programme of activities and exhibitions themed around our shared advocacy of diversity, inclusivity and accessibility taking place throughout the summer.

A celebration of togetherness runs through all of the 2024 Open Weekend events, and some are offering particular activities to make your own medal (at Hughenden), design a Paralympic poster (at Aylesbury Library), or explore Paralympic artefacts and stories through a new Virtual Museum (online via the National Paralympic Heritage Trust). Please join us in celebrating the power of art and culture to bring people together and develop inclusion and understanding.

Photograph shows five participants from Missenden Walled Garden sitting on wooden benches and showing the vegetables they have picked — Missenden Walled Garden

Bill Morris, Buckinghamshire Culture’s Chair says: “We are so pleased and proud that once again organisations and individuals across Bucks have put together a programme of fantastic events. It is wonderful to see so many activities promoting inclusion and togetherness, and in a Games year, its extra special to celebrate our unique role in creating the Paralympic movement.”

Ruth Page, Buckinghamshire Council’s Head of Culture said: “Open Weekend is a brilliant way to celebrate the range of creative and cultural things you can do in Bucks. It is great to see so many activities taking place with the theme of ‘Together We Celebrate’ and showing how we can lead the way for access and inclusion.”

Open Weekend is made possible thanks to funding from the Rothschild Foundation and Buckinghamshire Council. It is co-ordinated by Buckinghamshire Culture and is delivered in partnership with organisations and creatives across the county.

Garden stepping stones containing mosaic and gem stones on a bed of bark chippings — Garden Stones created by Feedback Global

Further Information

Buckinghamshire Culture

Buckinghamshire Culture is the creative and cultural partnership for the county, developed to drive forward the Buckinghamshire Cultural Strategy. Building an inclusive, uplifting and supportive creative hub, we connect, build and nourish creative individuals and organisations. We share and celebrate the value of creativity and culture to everyone’s lives – embedding it across essential agendas. We harness the power of working together through collaboration and partnership, shaping joint projects that support happier and healthier lives for our residents. Together, we can better celebrate and share stories of our communities and county. More information on Buckinghamshire Culture: https://buckinghamshireculture.org/

Together We Celebrate programme coordinated by Buckinghamshire Council

To mark the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, we are once again asking Buckinghamshire’s communities to join us and our partners in celebrating the county’s unique and proud Paralympic heritage. Our collaborative approach aims to bring like-minded partners, organisations, and communities together to recognise Buckinghamshire as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement. A series of activities and exhibitions themed around our shared advocacy of diversity, inclusivity and accessibility will take place throughout the summer as Together We Celebrate. More information on Together We Celebrate: https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/events/together-we-celebrate-2024/

Culture

STORIES receives Arts Council Funding

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Fireside by Nikki & JD and Lost Dog Dance

Buckinghamshire residents are invited to explore the power of stories and join walks, fireside performances, story-telling and village portraits this Summer/Autumn. There will be a range of community-focussed activities across the county as Buckinghamshire Culture pilots STORIES, a programme that aims to shine a light on the rich history and life of the county, thanks to public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

In this first year of STORIES activity, we and our partners, will work with artists, communities and other organisations to develop our ideas. Taking inspiration from our beautiful natural landscapes, our pilot season will include performances of Fireside by Nikki & JD in several Buckinghamshire locations. Inspired by the Paralympic story we will recruit d/Deaf and disabled artists to form an artist collective working with Ellen Renton, spoken-word artist and poet, to create new work. And inspired by the nature of our county as a place of small towns and villages, we will celebrate the nature of community through village portraits created by Theo Clinkard Dance, captured in photographs by Camilla Greenwell and new writing from a range of writers.

Stories Creative Associate, Eckhard Thiemann, says: “STORIES is an invitation for residents and visitors to discover and participate in new cultural experiences in places that make the county unique. We take panoramic shots of modern village life, animate natural beauty spots through performance, and delve into the important history of paralympic heritage. The outcome will be new stories to remember, to share and to inspire us.”

Clive Harriss, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Leisure & Culture said: “Buckinghamshire Council is pleased to support this new initiative being run by Buckinghamshire Culture. Projects like this do so much to bring the arts to life in our local communities, allowing people to watch and participate in new cultural experiences which entertain and inspire all ages. The funding we are providing helps to ensure that everyone is able to access and enjoy something exciting in their local area.”

During this pilot Season we will work with a number of communities in local villages. We will partner with a range of organisations, including BuDs, National Disability Arts Collection and Archive, National Paralympic Heritage Trust among others.
We will be sharing opportunities for commissions and volunteering as the year progresses, please keep an eye out on social media if you are interested in collaborating with us.

Following this period of exploration, we will continue to work with artists and communities to weave together stories of people, places, histories and future dreams to celebrate unique places and moments across the county. We aim to share further STORIES work with residents across 2025 and 2026.

STORIES Season 1 is made possible thanks to public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and support from Buckinghamshire Council, National Paralympic Heritage Trust, Rothschild Foundation and a number of other partners.

A still from Within Sight showing Ellen Renton running through parkland towards the viewer, down a straight path lined with trees.

Culture

Archive STORIES

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Call Out to D/deaf and Disabled Artists

Paid Opportunity

Application Deadline: Tuesday 7th May, 2024, 5pm

We invite performers (theatre, dance, circus), musicians, composers, spoken word artists, writers, poets, visual and digital artists to apply.

We are looking for up to four artists from a variety of disciplines, to be part of an artist collective with writer, poet and spoken word artist Ellen Renton, to create new works based on the exploration of Paralympic and Disability Arts archives in Buckinghamshire. The project is called Archive STORIES. We are particularly keen to hear from artists based in Buckinghamshire or neighbouring counties or artists with a strong connection to Buckinghamshire. This is a paid opportunity.

Archive STORIES coincides with this summer’s Paralympic Games in Paris and forms part of Buckinghamshire Culture’s new season of STORIES, a pilot season of events and activities taking place across Buckinghamshire between May and November 2024.

Please see our Call Out form for more information and to apply. This link contains all the details that you need to know in advance of an application, and a form to gather your application responses. Please click here to apply https://forms.gle/uWNSfh5zypCcYiJr8

You can also download the Call Out document, as either a Word or PDF below. These documents contain the same information as the Google Form.

For further information or assistance please email: Ursula White (Engagement Producer) ursula@buckinghamshireculture.org

PDF:

archive-stories_ddeaf_disabled-artist_call-out-final Download

Word document:

archive-stories_ddeaf_disabled-artist_call-out-final-word-doc Download

Culture

See Mascots, Torches, Racing Wheelchairs and much more across Bucks

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colourful graphic showing elements linked to the Paralympics

The Together We Build exhibition and events programme kicks off on 9^th September and runs until 4^th November at cultural venues across Bucks. 12 venues that have chosen to take part, will celebrate our County’s Paralympic heritage by displaying objects chosen by disabled Community Curators, and running events inspired by the Paralympic story.

Our project celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the London 2012 Paralympics, honouring the work of Dr Guttmann and the heritage and stories linked to this amazing event. We are extremely proud to be working with a group of passionate Community Curators, who are bringing their voices to the project and sharing their stories too.

This is a chance to see a selection of Paralympic objects that have not been on display before, including: the Tokyo 2020 Torch, a Paralympic Athlete’s shirt designed by Stella McCartney for 2012, the Swaypole Dress and Gravity Corset from the 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony, lion and futuristic mascots and Chris Hallam’s Racing Wheelchair, among others. These items will be on display at venues across the County and via our virtual gallery.

In October (date tbc) we are hosting an online Panel Discussion exploring the legacy since 2012. This event will also begin to shape our thinking about an Access Manifesto for cultural venues in Bucks.

To find out more about the exhibition and events, to view our virtual gallery and to book a place for the Panel Discussion, please visit: www.buckinghamshireculture.org/Together-We-Build

Chris Hallam's Racing Wheelchair — Chris Hallam’s Racing Wheelchair

Waddesdon Manor are leading on a schools programme for this project and will create a schools resource inspired by the objects chosen by our Community Curators, as well as hosting a schools event on site in September 2022.

Buckinghamshire Culture is leading this project. Project partners include those who hold Paralympic collections: Buckinghamshire Archives, Discover Bucks Museum, National Paralympic Heritage Trust and Waddesdon. And those who will host objects, displays and events for our exhibition: Amersham Museum, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Bekonscot, Chiltern Open Air Museum, Discover Bucks Museum, The Elgiva, Marlow Library, Milton’s Cottage, Queens Park Arts Centre and Waddesdon Manor.

For further information about the project and to see all opportunities as they arise please see: www.buckinghamshireculture.org/Together-We-Build and #TogetherWeBuildBucks on social media. Or contact Lallie: Lallie@buckinghamshireculture.org

Together We Build is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players. Support has also been provided by Buckinghamshire Council.

Culture

Celebrating 10 Years Since the London 2012 Paralympics

14th July 2022 buckinghamshireculture

Photograph shows a Paralympic athlete on a court with spectators behind

This year, in the County where the Paralympic movement started, we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the London 2012 Paralympics. We will honour the work of Dr Guttman and Buckinghamshire’s position as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement through a collaborative project bringing together cultural organisations and d/Deaf and disabled Community Curators across the County.

Together We Build will share the story of the Paralympics, the forerunner of which Dr Guttman started in Stoke Mandeville in the 1940s; now known all over the world. We will do so in Autumn 2022 through a multi-site exhibition and accessible events programme across 10 well-loved Bucks cultural venues. This work will be backed up by training in access and disability awareness, development of an Access Manifesto and collection of memories and reflections relating to the 2012 Paralympics.

We want to share the voices of d/Deaf and disabled residents by empowering them to take on the role of Community Curators, to choose an object that will form part of the exhibition. Working with the National Paralympic Heritage Trust, our Community Curators will create their own interpretation, sharing why their chosen object is important to them, and what it means to them now. They will also work closely with the host cultural venues to develop associated, accessible events and activities, forming a collective programme across the county.

The interpretation created by our Community Curators will be displayed alongside the curatorial/factual details for the object, sharing and valuing the voices of this community. We are seeking 10 Community Curators (deadline 18th July!) – for details of how to apply please see: www.buckinghamshireculture.org/Together-We-Build

We will be offering small grants to voluntary heritage and community organisations that wish to develop and deliver an event inspired by the Paralympics, paired with one of our host venues and as part of the collective programme of activity in Autumn 2022 – details on criteria and how to apply coming soon.

Bill Morris, Co-Chair of Buckinghamshire Culture said, “It is fantastic to see so many of our cultural organisations coming together to share the story of the Paralympics. I look forward to seeing what objects the Community Curators choose and how they tell their stories, as well as that of the Paralympic through the exhibition.”

Councillor Clive Harris, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure at Buckinghamshire Council said: “This is such an important story for our county, yet we often find that although it is well-known in Stoke Mandeville where it all started, and internationally, it is not well-known across wider parts of Buckinghamshire. It is brilliant that our cultural partners want to celebrate it and share the story with people across the whole county and beyond.”

Buckinghamshire Culture is leading this project. Project partners include those who hold Paralympic collections: Buckinghamshire Archives, Discover Bucks Museum, National Paralympic Heritage Trust and Waddesdon Manor. And those who will host objects, displays and events for our exhibition: Amersham Museum, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Bekonscot, Chiltern Open Air Museum, Discover Bucks Museum, The Elgiva, Marlow Library, Milton’s Cottage, Queens Park Arts Centre and Waddesdon Manor.

Together We Build is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players. Support has also been provided by Buckinghamshire Council.