At the start of the year, we transformed our Young Artists Development Programme (YADP) into a zine. Zines are small booklets like magazines, which have been used by lots of different communities to communicate ideas artistically. Our zine, called The Department for Wonder and Play, brought together the brilliant work of 18 young disabled creatives working in lots of different ways.

We worked with a brilliant designer called Zoë Thompson. Zoë has her own zine, sweet-thang, whose 8th edition will come out in Spring 2025. Zoë’s worked with Touretteshero on lots of different creative projects. She did an amazing job bringing all the artists’ work together in a beautiful way.

Photo: Jessica Wulandari Walker

We chose the theme, The Department for Wonder and Play, for a few different reasons. Play is really important to us – it’s something we consider in everything we do, including the YADP, which is all about playfulness, experimenting and trying new. The Department for Wonder and Play is a playful spin on the Department for Work and Pensions – a branch of the government that many disabled people have difficult experiences with. We wanted to imagine what the ‘other’ DWP could look like – something wonderful and joyful.

The contributing artists were: Bryony Moss, Kit Bithell, Cara Compass, Rosa Thorlby, Ife Sonaike, Hope Shooter, Alice, Damilola ‘Dami’ Idowu, Sam Finch, Bolu Kolawole, Cheyenne Bing, Joni Roberts, Luigi Lollobrigida, Dan1s, John Lougher, KG, Robin Alexander and Harry C. Each artist produced something brilliant, and the range of artforms blew us away. We had song, dance, poetry, photography, essays, textiles, racing mice, radical compost devices, and leaf mazes. Each artist interpreted the theme differently, and it was great seeing how their work and ideas developed.

Zoë made sure that this eclectic body of work would all sit in the same zine. As well as everyone’s artwork, we included a poster of ‘playful words’ that our artists submitted, and an easy-read glossary which defines the specific terms the artists used in their work. In September we had a launch party at the Wellcome Collection to celebrate everyone’s hard work.

Some people joined online and were sent snacks and materials so they could celebrate from home. Zoë led a zine making workshop, there were some short speeches, and Harry C talked about what it was like making his dance video for the zine. We were lucky enough to have him perform his dance at our Biscuit Land Cabaret at the Southbank Centre later than month.

We had such a great time with The Department for Wonder and Play that we’ve decided to do it again. The next round of the Young Artists Development Programme will be the next issue of the zine. We’ll be opening applications very soon – but in the meantime, if you’d like to look at a digital version of issue one, you can download it here.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be spotlighting each of the artists featured in the zine. In these guest blog posts artists will share a bit more detail about their work and explain the processes behind the finished piece.

If you or your organisation are interested in receiving a printed copy of the zine, you can email: solidarity@touretteshero.com. Copies are limited but we want to make sure as many people as possible can get one.

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to our Department for Wonder and Play. We can’t wait to see what’s next!