Guest Blog by April Bracken
My name is April Bracken and I am a neurodivergent artist based in Dublin. With a background in theatre and a recent graduate of IADT's Equality, Diversity & Inclusion masters programme, I am passionate about creating inclusive artistic experiences for young people. Having recently been identified as autistic, and raising two neurodivergent children, I hope to bring an informed, empathic perspective when creating work for young audiences with additional needs.
In 2024, I was awarded the Arts Council’s Young People, Children and Education bursary to develop my practice of making work for young audiences with complex needs. The bursary involved an artistic residency in St. Michael’s House Special School, Ballymun, Dublin. We began with the theme of birds, and how they brave the elements to gather what they can find to build their home. My collaborator, dance artist Brona Jackson, and I explored various creative offers from this theme and worked towards creating a mini artistic experience for the young people. The young people were at the centre of the process, with their responses guiding and shaping the work.
As part of the bursary, I wished to develop a sustainable model of working as a neurodivergent artist with caring responsibilities. In my experience of working as a neurodivergent artist, there are a number of challenges to navigate:
Working in new, unfamiliar environments with lots of social interaction and without sufficient recovery time can lead to burnout
Those working in the arts sector are often reliant on networking events in order to source new opportunities and collaborators. These events can be inaccessible to neurodivergent individuals due to sensory overwhelm and the quick-paced, intensive social interactions involved
Observing new work in person, particularly when there is significant travel involved, can be too high an energy cost as a neurodivergent parent, as daily caring responsibilities require a large portion of your existing energy reserves!
A neurotypical way of working can be difficult to diverge from, particularly when you identify as neurodivergent later in your working life. I would have previously conformed to “typical” working hours in busy environments, and struggled quietly in these conditions
I aimed to address these issues during my bursary by introducing the following supports:
Rather than a typical five day, four week artistic residency, we scheduled the school residency for three days a week over six weeks. We would visit on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so that Tuesday and Thursday could be recovery days. As the classroom visits involved lots of intensive (and beautiful!) interactions, these recovery days allowed me to restore my energy and to prepare for the next day’s visits
I was fortunate enough to have Anna Newell as my project mentor, supporting me throughout the bursary. Anna is a leading artist in creating work for young audiences with complex needs in Ireland. Anna was instrumental in helping me organise the residency, connecting me with the school and with my collaborator Brona. Anna’s guidance and sharing of her trusted connections meant that I could reach out and find support for the residency at my own pace, rather than relying on in-person networking events that can be inaccessible for neurodivergent artists.
My collaborator Brona and I completed an access rider together. An access rider is a document that details an individual’s access requirements for a project. It is voluntary and can be useful to understand everyone’s needs so that necessary supports can be put in place. We used this document as a starting point for a conversation on what we both needed during the residency in order to do the work to the best of our ability. For example, I knew that I would need quiet breaks; although there was no appropriate space in the school for this, I could go for a walk during our lunch break before our afternoon sessions and Brona understood both where I was and why!
Although I wished to learn about international approaches to making work for this audience, it was not feasible for me to travel outside of Ireland to observe the work of other artists during the bursary period. Not only is it challenging to organise ad-hoc, neuro affirmative childcare for my children, but travelling to an unfamiliar environment can also be exhausting as a neurodivergent individual. Fortunately, I managed to connect with international artists who were willing to share recordings of their work and to chat with me about their practice. I spoke with Hayley Earlam, an inclusive dance artist based in Scotland, while she was in Ireland performing in Anna Newell’s An Attempt To Talk With The Beginning Of The World. I also spoke online with Christopher Davies, co-founder and artistic director of UK theatre company Bamboozle, who create immersive accessible theatre. Finally, I was supported by Baboró to attend their Galway festival as a Breaking Ground bursary recipient to observe Fields Of Tender by Sweden-based choreographer Dalija Thelander, with whom I also spoke online. This blend of local in-person and online interactions minimised the need for travel and made learning about various international approaches to this work more accessible.
Although I still have much to learn in terms of creating a sustainable practice as a neurodivergent artist, this bursary offered me the opportunity to explore an alternative model of working that I can continue to develop. A huge thank you to Neuro Pride Ireland for hosting this sharing of my experience and to the Arts Council for making it all possible!
If you’d like to read more about the artistic residency in St Michael’s House Special School, please check out my blog post on Anna Newell’s site.
Photography by Neil Harrison
Image descriptions:
1. Two artists, April and her collaborator Brona, sit on the floor of a classroom with a young boy. The artists are wearing black tops with golden silk wings attached to the arms. Both artists are holding small, white fingerlights covered in feathers to represent little birds. The boy has a soft, mauve scarf draped around his shoulders. He is looking down at his hand, watching the light of April's bird on his skin.
2. April and a young girl are facing each other in a classroom. They are looking at one another and smiling. The girl is holding the thumb of April's left hand. On April's right hand, she is wearing a bird puppet made from an orange opera glove. The puppet has white felt eyes, feather plumage on its head and a textured underbelly made from a blue dusting cloth with mini tassles.
3. A girl is looking down at a small bird that is perched on the right arm of her wheelchair. The bird is a small, white fingerlight covered in feathers. April is holding the bird in place with her left hand, her right arm with the golden silk wing raised in the background.
4. April and her collaborator Brona kneel on either side of a boy on the floor of a classroom, holding a soft, black and brown nest-like structure above their heads. The nest is large enough for all three of them to sit beneath. The boy is facing April, and all three of them are laughing. In the background, the boy's teacher is looking at him and smiling.
5. April kneels facing a girl who is sitting on a large, green bean bag in a classroom. They are looking at one another and smiling. The girl's right arm is outstretched towards April. April is wearing a bird puppet made from an orange opera glove, and the bird is nibbling the girl's palm. April's left golden silk wing is outstretched as she reaches towards the girl's hand.