Category: workshops – talks

Creative Networking Event- Disability Arts on the International Stage

Posted on by info@universityofatypical.org

As part of our International Day of Persons with Disabilities programme, we’re excited to bring back our Creative Networking Event for d/Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent artists.

This time, we’re focusing on disability arts on the international stage. Join us as we speak with artists Kate Guelke, Shiro Masuyama and Sinead O’Donnell about their experiences working internationally — exploring both the opportunities and the challenges that come with it. We are also joined by Niamh ​Flanagan (Director of Theatre and Dance NI) and Siobhan Molloy (Arts Council of Northern Ireland), who will discuss ​international opportunities for artists.

Date: Tuesday 25 November 2025
Time: 6:00 – 8:30 pm
Venue: Ledger Studio, Ground Floor 109-113 Royal Avenue, Belfast BT1 1FF

British Sign Language included.

The event is the perfect opportunity for any d/Deaf, disabled or neurodivergent artists across all artforms to network and skill share.

The event will involve a panel discussion followed by a chance to ask questions and to discuss key points with one another.

The event will also include an opportunity to network and connect with other artists while enjoying the refreshments.

We have a limited number of spaces available. We will give priority to d/Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent artists. This event is free but booking is essential.

Book your place here

Culture Night Belfast – Bbeyond Performance Art at UofA

Posted on by info@universityofatypical.org

Friday 19 September 2025, 5:00 – 8:30 pm
Drop-in event, no booking required
Ledger Studio

Bbeyond and University of Atypical present an evening of accessible performance art in the Ledger Studio. Drop-in from 5:00 pm to watch two members of Bbeyond perform their work. Performance art uses space, time and the body to create a reaction between artist and audience. You might not know what you’re going to experience during the evening, but we hope it will provoke a response! Audiences can enter and leave at any time during the performances, and no booking is required.

Bbeyond is an arts organisation based in Northern Ireland that focuses on Performance Art. Membership includes multidisciplined artists from many locations. Bbeyond are involved in local, national and international projects and in 2025 celebrate 50 years since Alastair MacLennan brought this art form to Ireland.

There are two artists performing at this event: Elaine McGinn and Sorcha Keeve. Sorcha’s performance will run from approximately 5:30 – 6:30 pm, and Elaine’s performance will run from 7:00 – 8:30 pm. There will be Bbeyond performance art film playing at the start and break of the event.

Sorcha Keeve, originally from Donegal, utilises their practice as a way of confronting and unraveling previous experiences and feelings. Specialising in sculpture and lens, the artist aims to create bodily manifestations of what lies in the psyche and simultaneously string together a cohesive narrative of what is seemingly unrelated. Through abstracting forms and manipulating material, the final body of work encapsulates the aforementioned aspects of Keeve’s practice, constructing a solidified collection of lived truths.

Elaine McGinn is a multi-disciplinary artist, born in Belfast and currently living and working on the North East coast of Ireland, where she has been active in areas of performance, community art and art education from 2004.  Elaine’s work draws from previous studies in art therapy and a focus on new directions in her art, taking on a contrast of media and material that serves to intersect and interweave throughout the performative space. It reflects on the poignant and precarious questions surrounding family, roles and relationships. The work resonates with both the domestic and the post-industrial environments of our time, spanning generations of storytelling, place and approaches to labour.

Content guidance: these performance sessions will involve direct engagement with audience members, if the audience member chooses. One performer will use eggs as part of their performance. One performer will be using wallpaper paste. Audience members should not come into physical contact with either material. If you have any allergies please let a volunteer know when entering the studio.

This evening will be presented with audio description which provides a spoken description of the visual performance to support blind and partially sighted audiences. If you would like to use the audio description please let a volunteer know when entering the studio and you will be given a headset. If you have any other access requirements to enable you to attend please email access@universityofatypical.org 

Atypical Book Club – The Haunting of Hill House

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Thursday 18 September 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Ledger Studio

In September, we will be reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

Alone in the world, Eleanor is delighted to take up Dr Montague’s invitation to spend a summer in the mysterious Hill House. Joining them are Theodora, an artistic ‘sensitive’, and Luke, heir to the house. But what begins as a light-hearted experiment is swiftly proven to be a trip into their darkest nightmares, and an investigation that one of their number may not survive.

Acclaimed as one of the finest ghost stories of the twentieth century and filmed twice as The Haunting, this is an unsettling examination of how fear can make us our own worst enemy.

The Haunting of Hill House is one of the classic haunted house stories, and was the inspiration for Mike Flanagan’s modern reimagining for Netflix in 2018. The novel is from the perspective of Eleanor, a young woman who so badly wants to escape her confined life that she accepts an invitation from an academic she has never met, to join a trip to Hill House. The house unsettles her from the start, as do the unfriendly staff, but Eleanor finds camaraderie with the others staying there. The four of them begin investigating the secrets of the house as an adventure, but soon begin to experience things that they cannot explain. As with so many good horror stories, the big question of the novel is what evil is in the house, and how much of the terror is what they have brought with them.

Some things we might discuss during our meeting are: loneliness, depictions of mental illness, family dynamics, queer subtext, and the house as setting.

Content notes for The Haunting of Hill House: Suicide, mental illness, hallucinations, depictions of violence, isolation, religious imagery.

All welcome! Book your free place online (booking is not required, but if you book in advance you can provide your access and dietary requirements)

Atypical Book Club

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Thursday 15 May 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Ledger Studio

On 15 May, we are hosting our very first Atypical Book Club! We hope that it will be the first of more regular meet-ups to discuss books with an atypical perspective. If you are interested, please come along to our first meeting and let us know if you’d like to see more.

For our first book, we will be discussing Martha Well’s All Systems Red, the first of the Murderbot Diaries series. The new TV adaptation starts in May, so this is a great chance to read and talk about the original novella first!

All welcome! Book your free place online

Deaf awareness workshops

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The workshop will be invaluable for anyone working in the arts and culture sector who wants to make their venue or organisation more inclusive and welcoming to Deaf people.

We have 2 separate workshops: one in Belfast, and on in Derry.

Belfast:

When: Thursday 20 March, 1:00 – 3:00 pm.
Where: Ledger Studio, 109-113 Royal Avenue, BT1 1FF.
Sign up using the Belfast deaf awareness workshop registration form

Derry:
When: Tuesday 25 March, 2:00 – 4:00 pm.
Where: Destined, 1 Foyle Road, BT48 6SQ.
Sign up using the Derry deaf awareness workshop registration form.

These workshops are made possible by funding from Department for Communities.

You must be over 18 to attend.

Sounds Atypical

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University of Atypical’s intimate gig at the Ledger Studio will shine a spotlight on Belfast’s d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent musicians as part of Sounds of Belfast festival.

The evening will also include the launch of a brand new music grant for d/Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent musicians who are based in Belfast. The grant is funded by Belfast City Council.

Continue reading “Sounds Atypical”

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