QUIET PARADE
Deadline is June 3, 2022 at 12:00pm ADT
“To crip is to open up with desire to the ways that disability disrupts.” — Kelly Fritsch
In collaboration with MSVU Art Gallery (MSVUAG), and with support from the Bluenose Ability Arts and Film Festival and Eyelevel Gallery, artist Aislinn Thomas is seeking proposals and participants for QUIET PARADE, a sensory-friendly celebration taking place in Kjipuktuk / Halifax on the afternoon of October 15, as part of Nocturne 2022.
Public spaces and celebrations are typically very loud and bright, presenting barriers for many neurodivergent people and anyone who thrives in low stimulation spaces. Though awareness about low-stimulation accessibility is slowly growing, many people have to avoid or limit time in public spaces and gatherings due to access barriers. As its name suggests, QUIET PARADE will be a parade but also a platform to collectively create a vibrant, extravagant, low-stimulation event that embraces access as a shared and interdependent practice. QUIET PARADE seeks to embody a quiet that interrupts the noise of the city, experimenting with new ways of creating and sharing space together.
About Proposals and Participation
QUIET PARADE will be shaped by the contributions and input of its participants and as such, may not take the form of a conventional parade. Organizers are seeking proposals from artists and anyone who is interested in participating in QUIET PARADE in any way and fully formed concepts are not required. If you would like to be involved, please submit a proposal with your idea for a float or other form of participation, such as creative movement, performance, wearable art, or puppeteering. You are invited to interpret this Call creatively and not feel limited by the language used within it. Proposals should envision and bolster your participation in the ways that fully suit and support your needs and desires. Some prompts for contemplation are:
- How will your float or participation contribute to collectively creating sensory-friendly access and quiet? What visual or textural aspects will you include and what will you avoid? For example, participants are asked to refrain from using lights, sirens, noisemakers, smoke, and fragrance.
- How does your float, participation, or contribution move along the parade route? Is it created or moved by bodies walking, rolling, or performing? Or by bike, stroller, wagon, or other means? Or is it better suited to take place in a stationary way, at the beginning or end of the parade route?
- Are costumes, puppets, banners, workshops, and/or performances involved?
- What does low-stimulation celebration, flourish, extravagance, and/or creativity look like?
- QUIET PARADE organizers can facilitate introductions to help you realize your vision: If you are an artist, would you like to partner with an organization? If you are an organization, would you like to partner with an artist?
- How could your contribution facilitate your own access or others’? How might you incorporate other forms of experimental access, beyond low-stimulation access?
- What forms of support do you need to make your contribution possible?
While all are welcome to submit a proposal, QUIET PARADE centers folks who are Mad, d/Deaf, Sick, disabled, chronically ill, Spoonie, Crip, neurodivergent, and labelled with intellectual or developmental disability. QUIET PARADE recognizes that disability and language is fluid and that there can be barriers to identifying as disabled. QUIET PARADE holds space for uncertainty about disability identity and for those who do not have a relationship with disability culture, language, or community. Proposals that support and prioritize BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour), racialized, LGBTQIA2S+, and multiply-marginalized artists, creativity, and communities are encouraged. There are no limitations to who can propose a “float” and both individuals and groups are encouraged to submit proposals, including individuals, artists (of all mediums), ad-hoc community groups, or organizations. The proposal review and selection process will be determined by the quantity and scope of submissions received.
Access & Accessibility
QUIET PARADE is guided by the understanding that accessibility is contextual, varied, and dynamic. While QUIET PARADE centers low-sensory accessibility, it’s important that everyone who wishes to participate is able to do so. Organizers are committed to addressing access conflicts and are working to create a range of points of access to QUIET PARADE. Examples of forms of access that will be integrated into QUIET PARADE are visual description, seating options, a Loud Zone, fragrance reduced / low-toxicant products, ASL interpretation, and an Access Guide.
Included in the commitment to accessibility is the prioritization of safety and wellbeing within the context of COVID-19. All aspects in the planning and creation of QUIET PARADE will uphold or exceed public health recommendations and prioritize the needs of participants in this ongoing pandemic.
Funding
There is funding available to QUIET PARADE participants in the form of artist, production, and/or materials fees. The purpose of these funds is to support participation in QUIET PARADE and to assist with the creation of floats. Funding allocation will be determined by the scale and scope of each proposal and the total number of received proposals. As such, examples of fees are not available at this time but funds will be distributed equitably and transparently. Applicants do not need to provide a budget with your proposal.
In complement to these fees, participating artists and groups may seek additional external funding sources, for which QUIET PARADE organizers can provide support letters as needed.
The deadline to submit proposals is June 3, 2022 at 12:00pm ADT
Applicants will be notified of the status of their submission by June 30, 2022
About Aislinn Thomas
Aislinn Thomas (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes video, performance, sculpture, installation, and text. Many of her recent projects respond to a disability. She is grateful to work alongside and in the legacy of so many who treat access and survival as spaces for creative acts, experimentation, and pleasure. Aislinn is a white, disabled and chronically ill settler of Ashkenazic and British descent. She lives in Unama’ki, on ancestral and unceded Mi’kmaq territory.
Support from the Canada Council for the Arts for QUIET PARADE is gratefully acknowledged.
APPLY NOW
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If you have questions, need assistance/support with creating your proposal, or if the proposal process is inaccessible to you, please don’t hesitate to reach out! Feedback or concerns are welcome at any time and organizers will work with you to create a solution that meets your needs. QUIET PARADE organizers can be contacted via:
- email at quietparade2022@gmail.com
- the QUIET PARADE Accessibility & Feedback Form
- leaving a voicemail at 902-457-6291 and one of the organizers will return your call
The co-organizers for QUIET PARADE are artist Aislinn Thomas, and Claire Dykhuis & Laura Ritchie from MSVUAG.
