DOI: 10.18848/1833-1866/cgp/a911 ISSN: 2473-5809

Building a Creative Community

Sage Tokach, Julia Listengarten
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<p>Since 2023, we have been building a collaborative project between university students and community members with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Uplifting the importance of care, patience, and the value of disability, this inclusive arts project intersects with the process of collective performance creation in a university theater environment. Throughout the development of three iterations of this project, we position ourselves in a growing body of literature and creative practice exploring the intersection of inclusive and artistic methodologies. With each iteration of the project, we revisit, interrogate, and expand our goals, often unearthing new queries in the process. This article invites deeper reflection on our process, prompting us to reevaluate, reimagine, and rethink our scope and efficacy by asking hard questions. What does it mean to create something rigorous and professional but also inclusive, adaptable, and accessible? How does existing disability scholarship influence our practice, and where are the gaps in exploring genuine collaboration with artists with IDD? How do we challenge, uplift, and display the distinct talents and generative potential of participants with and without disabilities equally and encourage both groups to lead and learn from each other? In this article, we explore the tensions that primarily revolve around the notions of the reshaping process, reframing leadership, and building community. As we acknowledge the influence of theoretical frameworks on our inclusive practice, we also seek to reflect on practical implications that raise new questions about the complexity of inclusive arts projects and bring new ideas to the field.</p>

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