Back in December six young creatives with Tourettes came together for a weekend of thinking, talking and making at Battersea Arts Centre. Together with researcher Will Renel we explored the theme of sonic inclusion. I’m excited to announce that once again we’re teaming up with Will for another weekend of meeting and making, this time remixing Shakespeare’s Globe. Here’s Will with more information on the weekend and how to get involved:

Hi, I’m Will – an artist and researcher at The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design – part of the Royal College of Art in London.

I’m in the middle of an exciting research project called ‘Sonic Inclusion’ that aims to develop a better understanding of the ways that sound makes people feel included or excluded from public places.

I’m working with the Touretteshero team to create a weekend event called Remixing the Globe which will take place at Shakespeare’s Globe on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd September.

We’re looking for ten creative young adults with Tourettes aged between 16 and 25 to join us in London and be part of the project.

Some background to the Sonic Inclusion research:

Hearing, listening and sound have an effect on everyone, they’re not niche issues.

Historically, sound and hearing have received little attention in the design of public spaces, particularly in relation to the ways that sound and hearing might make people feel welcome and included or unwelcome and excluded from places like theatres, arts centres and galleries. The Sonic Inclusion research places the lived experiences of D/deaf and disabled people at the heart of the project and aims to challenge the existing understanding of sound and social inclusion in public places.

In December 2016, we ran a Sonic Inclusion co-design weekend at Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) where a group of young adults with Tourettes from across the UK worked together to explore what sound and social inclusion means to them. We spent two days chatting and sharing lived experiences as well as making recordings, illustrations, poetry and photographs. We co-defined a series of six sonic inclusion principles as a starting point for thinking about how venues could use sound to make their buildings more socially inclusive.

Remixing the Globe will use all the brilliant thinking and learning from the weekend at BAC as a creative foundation to build on. The event will offer a warm welcome to the young adults involved in the research previously, as well as anyone new who’s interested in taking part.

About the event:

Over two days you’ll work with other young people, me, and the Touretteshero team to make recordings throughout Shakespeare’s Globe. We’ll put these recordings together to create a giant sound map. Once we’ve made our map we can start to mix and remix the sounds, think about sounds that we might want to add, change or take away, and find creative ways to make our map interactive, using illustration, text, pressure sensors, smart phones, microphones and speakers. We have lots of ideas for things that we might do across the weekend but there are also lots of gaps to fill with our individual ideas and collective creativity and imagination.

On the Saturday evening, we have the opportunity to attend a relaxed performance of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe. A free ticket will be available to all workshop participants, but attendance at the show is optional.

On the Sunday, we’ll share our experiences from across the weekend with a small audience of invited friends and Shakespeare’s Globe staff who’ll come and see/hear what we’ve made.

After the event we’ll be looking to record a podcast that we can use to share what we’ve been doing with the world.

Interested in getting involved? Here’s what you need to know:

• The event is open to young people aged 16-25 with Tourettes or associated conditions. (If you’re a young person with another disability and would like to be involved, please do get in touch).

• The workshops will take place at Shakespeare’s Globe on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd September 2017 from 11am to 5pm on both days. You’ll need to be available for both sessions – but please get in touch if you have any questions about this.

• The venue is wheelchair accessible and has accessible toilets.

• You’ll need to make your own transport arrangements to and from the venue but we can provide up to £40 to each participant to cover transport costs. Travel buddies from London stations to the venue are available on request – please get in touch if you have any questions about this.

• The event is open to young people from outside London: please get in touch if you’d like help to arrange overnight accommodation – we can suggest places to stay and help cover the costs.

• Lunch will be provided on both days.

• A free ticket to the relaxed performance of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe on Saturday 2nd September will be available to each participant. Attendance is optional.

• Places for the workshop will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The event’s free but you’ll need to complete a registration form and commit to attending on both days.

We’re really excited about Remixing the Globe over the weekend, and to working together to think about how we can transform public places so that everyone’s given permission to be themselves and feel welcome and included.

Email william.renel@network.rca.ac.uk for more information and to secure your place.

The deadline for returning the completed registration forms is Friday 25th August.