Virtual event aims to help disabled Atlantic artists find community, funding

Ysabelle Vautour said it still feels weird to call herself a professional artist, considering she only recently started pursuing a career in art.

Her website, which shows off examples of her art, and where she tries to connect with patrons, is only a few months old.

But, she said she jumped at the chance to help organize the Disability Atlantic Arts Symposium, a virtual event aimed at helping disabled artists succeed.

"One of the people in that network saw a presentation that I did about a year and a half ago [where] I pitched an idea to create a New Brunswick Disability Arts Festival," said Vautour. 

"The idea is roughly the same, except it's on a bigger scale and now I have help. … It was pretty awesome that the person who connected us just so happened to be at that presentation and thought of me." 

The symposium is a collaboration between several artists, and art groups, including Theatre New Brunswick and the JRG Society for the Arts.

Natasha MacLellan, Theatre New Brunswick's artistic director and JRG Society board member, said she thought it was important for the group to promote disabled artists in the community.

"We wanted to do more because one of the things that artists with disabilities often say is that they feel isolated in their work and there doesn't feel like there's any community. And of course, that just got heightened in COVID," said MacLellan. 

"So the symposium kind of came together that way."

The symposium will feature panels on how disabled artists can establish themselves in ableist spaces and how they can access funding. It will also give artists a chance to speak with potential patrons directly.

Most of the panels are limited to artists who have a disability.

"It's really important that the artists get a chance to talk in a closed, safe space where they can talk about things that matter to them without having to explain them to anybody," said MacLellan.

Vautour said having a space for disabled artists is "invaluable" because they face barriers to organizing that other marginalized groups don't.

"Usually they're like in communities, you're not usually separated from your group, but persons with disabilities are...we're all over the place," said Vautour.