Page 323 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21

The festival is the host platform that invites us to listen and decide collectively how to
respond and change. DISRUPT aims to explore new or different ways of working in the
performing arts, including practical steps on how communities, artists and organisations
can collaborate more equally, while considering more democratic futures for the performing
arts sector.

Over the two days, there will be discussions, performances, panels and workshops exploring
themes such as motherhood and parenting during lockdown; the increase in domestic
violence; the complexities of communicating with loved ones via Zoom; the impact on
mental health; and what people would like to keep from the pandemic as we move into
recovery, and much more.

The programme has been created entirely from open submissions and selected by a panel
of 14 community members and artists. The festival brings together creatives, artists,
communities, cultural and community organisations, researchers, charities, schools, and
members of the general public, harnessing collective learnings from a difficult year and to
reimagine the role of the arts in our societies. Please be aware that DISRUPT will address
distressing themes such as suicide and domestic abuse.

The commissions for DISRUPT that will form the programme of work across the festival
include:

• Rebecca Biscuit x Heather Bandenburg: If the first year of a child’s life is so
important, what effect does it have if this happens in a global pandemic? During

lockdown, in the UK cases of post-natal depression have almost tripled as new
parents found their expectations turned upside down. Mummy Vs is a performance

that will examine the effect of COVID-19 on the childcare crisis and the pressures on
new parents, bringing the domestic to life in the spectacular nature of a wrestling
show.

• The Margate Bookie x Co-Relate: Development of The Feedback Machine, an
innovative online platform which provides feedback and support to writers at all
levels during the pandemic. For DISRUPT, the creators for The Feedback Machine will

be discussing the project, as well as talking about the complexities of creating digital
communities during the pandemic.

• Peer Productions x the National Association for Children of Alcoholics: 50 Days:
Alone Together tells the story of ten teens and their first 50 days in lockdown. The

drama has been designed to support young people’s mental health and a range of
charity partners (including NACOA) whose work both informed and supported the

project.