We’ve compiled a small selection of disability-specific festivals and events happening across summer 2022, with many of them also having hybrid or digital elements.

Unity Festival
When: 16 June – 2 July
Where: Wales, UK
Digital offer: New digital platform for some events.

Unity Festival is back this summer, taking place in Cardiff, Llanelli and Bangor in Wales. This will be the festival’s 10th event, but it’s first for 5 years. The festival features film, comedy, ticketed studio dance and theatre performances and a free street theatre programme. Companies taking part include Hijinx, Danza Mobile, L’Oiseau Mouche, Compagnie DK-Bel, Tanzbar Bremen, Mind the Gap, Taking Flight, About Face, Company Vero Cendoya, Blue Teapot, Avant Cymru & Ill-abilities, Drag Syndrome and Back to Back Theatre. This year, you can join online via Hijinx’s new digital platform, Hijinx Mobile, built in partnership with Escena Mobile and supported by the British Council.

ALL IN 2022 – The Theatre Sector and the Inclusive Performing Arts  International Symposium
When: 24 June
Where: Düsseldorf, Germany
Digital offer: Discourse programme livestreamed

A man and woman embrace each other with their legs, the man has prosthetic legs and the woman has foot impairments

Organised by Un-Label e.V. and kubia – Competence Centre for Cultural Education in Old Age and Inclusion with cooperation partners and venues Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus and asphalt Festival Düsseldorf. How can current theatre organisations promote accessibility for people with disabilities in the areas of staff, programme and audience? What knowledge and competences do staff members need to build up in the different working areas of theatres? What structural preconditions are needed and what changes in working methods? These are the questions addressed by the fourth edition of the international symposium ALL IN.  The symposium invites around 120 artists and cultural practitioners from the fields of dance and (music) theatre, representatives of cultural organisations, academia, cultural administration and cultural policy as well as all interested parties. In lectures, excerpts from works, discussion rounds and workshops, artists and cultural practitioners from Germany and abroad will provide insights into proven approaches and new ideas.

Clin d’Oeil Festival
When: 30 June – 3 July
Where: Reims, France.
Digital offer: In-person event only

Four black performers on stage in front of a huge crowd

Since 2003, the Clin d’Oeil Festival has been organised every 2 years by the CinéSourds organization, which aims to introduce sign language with all the diversity of its culture and art forms. This tenth edition of the festival will offer live performances, street arts, a movie competition, music and signed concerts, visual arts exhibitions and an exhibition of professional stands in the Village. Other aspects include educational and artistic workshops for 6 to 17 year olds, as well as research and development relating to the cultural heritage of the deaf through seminars, conferences and professional meetings. 

Gathered Together Festival
When: 6 – 9 July
Where: Glasgow, UK
Digital offer: In-person only

Group of learning disabled dancers in black t-shirts striking differing poses
Photo credit Ian MacNicol

Scotland’s leading inclusive dance company, Indepen-dance, presents Gathered Together 2022. Over four days, the festival will host performances from some of the world’s leading inclusive dance organisations. There will also be opportunities for dance artists and people interested in inclusive dance practice to come together and share skills, techniques, and knowledge through a programme of practical workshops. This year’s festival will include Curtis & Co from Nuremberg, Resident Island Dance Company from Taiwan, 111 by Eve Mutso from Estonia and Joel Brown who currently dances with Candoco, and Con Cuerpos from Colombia.

Unlimited Festival
When: 7 – 11 September
Where: London, UK
Digital offer: Several ‘hybrid’ events, online film screening programme

In a photo by fine art photographer Suzie Larke, a nude woman lies face-down on the stage of an empty auditorium. The woman, who looks anxious, is holding a microphone in her outstretched right hand. Her body is broken into four pieces and appears to be made from porcelain.
Storms Don’t Last Forever © Suzie Larke.

Following the first digital festival in 2021, Southbank Centre celebrates the artistic vision and creativity of disabled artists with both live and digital work this September. Featuring dance, performance, comedy, music and visual art, the biennial festival showcases ambitious creative projects by outstanding disabled artists and companies. Southbank Centre has been presenting the Unlimited festival since 2012. The festival provides a platform for new commissions and existing work, shared with audiences from around the world. Southbank’s partner, commissioners of exceptional art by disabled artists Unlimited, is at the heart of the festival. Unlimited aims to share the impact of work by disabled artists in the UK and around the world, reach new audiences and shift perceptions of disabled people.