Liberty Festival 2025 Open Call - Participatory Research & Development Grants, Welcome to Wandsworth: London Borough of Culture 2025

In March 2024 Wandsworth Council was awarded the title of London Borough of Culture by the Mayor of London. Our vision for London Borough of Culture is to harness the power of culture to transform our residents' lives in terms of health, happiness and equality of opportunity. A key part of this programme is delivering the Mayor of London's flagship Liberty Festival which is committed to spotlighting and celebrating the very best of D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists in Wandsworth and in London as part of a joyful, radically inclusive festival where everyone is welcome.

Liberty 2025 will take place in Wandsworth between 24 and 28 September.

This call out is for Participatory R&D Grants. The decision on these awards will be made in January 2025 and the work is expected be carried out between February and April 2025.

What we are looking for:

We are excited to receive proposals in any artform and for any target audience. We'd be especially keen to fund proposals which:

• Take a thoughtful and/or innovative approach to accessibility
• Advocate for disabled people's rights
• Attract new audiences to disability arts
• Respond to our strategic principles for Liberty Festival 2025: improving access, including looking at digital means; increasing collaboration between D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists and organisations; advocacy that highlights issues/challenges for the public's attention; increase opportunities and development to those that might not ordinarily take part.

More about the Participatory R&D Grants

This R&D work could be led either by disabled artists to work with community groups of their choosing, or by disability organisations to work with disabled artist(s) of their choice.

If you would like to apply but don't know who to collaborate with, we would be delighted to signpost and broker connections between artists, organisations and community groups. Please contact us on mailto:[email protected] - [email protected] for support with this.