Artist Development Session: Creative Diversity - Artist Talks & Workshops

A session to be inspired and explore how diversity can influence and expand your practice, with further opportunity to experiment with digital tools for art, design and craft.

Join us from 11.30 - 4.30pm, Thursday 16 January for a unique event in partnership with The Design Suite at Adam Smith Theatre, where creativity meets cutting-edge technology.

Ever wondered what Equalities, Diversity & Inclusion monitoring was for?
EDI is a common term used in many funding application forms, but what does it actually mean? And how can consideration for equality and inclusion inspire new creative directions? Whether you’re curious to learn how you can make your practice more inclusive, understand what sort of barriers exist, or how these challenges can bring an imaginative influence to approaches and methods of making, join us at the Design Suite to learn together. You’ll learn about the ins and outs of EDI, as well as experience a descriptive, guided walk with artist Juliana Capes and unravel the mysteries of how to write an Access Statement (and find out what they are!) in a practical session with artist Heather Marshall.

Artist Talks: Juliana Capes & Heather Marshall
If the idea of exploring inclusion to inspire your creative process ignites your curiosity, come and hear from two artists who traverse diversity to produce their artworks. There will be two artist talks and two practical workshops.

Lunch Break:
After the talks, enjoy a break with lunch, refreshments and a chance to mingle. This is your time to connect with fellow creatives, exchange ideas, and start thinking about how exploring diversity could expand your own practice.

Hands-On Workshop Demos: 3D Printing & Laser Cutting:
The day will unfold in the Design Suite where you are also invited to get inducted into using the space for future visits. In the afternoon, we will be offering two workshops to demystify the world of digital fabrication, guiding you through live demonstrations of the 3D printer and laser cutter. These demos will give you a clear understanding of how these powerful tools work, sparking ideas on how you might use them in your own projects. Workshops are limited to 12 people, so early booking is essential. This is a fantastic opportunity to get up close with the equipment and gain the confidence to start using it in your own work.

Booking Options:
You can choose to attend just the Artist Talks & Lunch, or opt for the full experience with both the Talks and the Design Suite Inductions. These will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so be sure to reserve your spot early!

Tickets are £10, with an actual cost of £98 per person. You will be refunded £5 of your ticket on the day on your arrival.

This event is a collaboration between Fife Contemporary and ONFife
Find out more about OnFife's Design Suite at Adam Smith here.

Getting there by Train: The Design Suite at Adam Smith is a 4 minute walk from Kirkcaldy Train Station – find timetables, routes, and journey options here.

Getting there by Bus: The Design Suite at Adam Smith is a 6 minute walk from Kirkcaldy Bus Station. Stagecoach Buses run frequently between Kirkcaldy Bus Station and destinations around Scotland – plan your journey here.

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Juliana Capes is a multidisciplinary visual artist who has exhibited extensively, most recently at Sett Studios, Jupiter Artland, CCA Glasgow and Alchemy Film Festival. She works in film, installation, sculpture, description, song, painting, drawing, print and participation. Her diverse artworks often use the vocabulary of natural phenomena to ask questions about the processes of feeling, seeing and believing.

She is passionate about access to the arts and concurrently works in a participatory way in creative learning in galleries, education, health and community contexts. Over the last 15 years she has worked extensively with a Visually Impaired audience, notably as lead artist on the National Gallery of Scotland’s Visual Impairment programme and is well known as an audio describer for the visual arts and film.

Heather Marshall (she/her) is a queer, disabled and neurodivergent artist and writer. She creates theatre, live and public art with and for people who may not traditionally engage in the arts due to physical, financial or social barriers.Previous projects have included Burst- an performative audio installation designed to explore and soothe anxiety created in collaboration with Tiny Changes and Refuweegee and performed in Arabic, Farsi, Ukrainian and English, My Aunties a Vandal- digital theatre exploring alternative methods of communication for Imaginate and Stupid Outside- a project with accompanying visual arts guide for The Fruitmarket Gallery that detailed the ways in which a group of young adults overcame their social anxiety to create a street art campaign.Heather is currently co-leading a project with the Lincoln Centre New York that researches global disability culture with a focus on language and access adaptions. The results have been presented at Big Umbrella Festival NYC and ITAC Auckland.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Adam Smith Theatre, Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, United Kingdom