About the Programme
About VX Labs
VX Labs are integral to our work. They inspire and support our productions; their learning feeds into Wellspring Commissions and produced work, while commissions and productions generate new questions for future Labs.
The programme aims to create opportunities for disabled artists to develop new ideas and interrogate conventional non-disabled-friendly theatre-making practices and to support new writing.
Since its launch in 2023, we have been discovering fresh ways of creating theatre that we had not dreamt of before.
Why VX Labs?
Themes for each laboratory stem from direct dialogue with disabled artists and peers: we hear their artistic ambitions and the barriers they encounter in pursuing these. We want to change this and to see the change happening now.
This active listening remains the programme’s inspiration, infused with a bold and inquisitive approach where we keep asking What if? and Why not?.
What makes VX Labs important?
Each Lab offers disabled practitioners a space for debate, experimentation and career development in a collaborative residential model.
Our learning and recommendations from each Lab are shared widely in the sector and become an integral part of our work: They inspire and support our productions; their learning feeds into Wellspring Commissions and produced work, while commissions and productions generate new questions for future Labs.
Who are the VX Labs for?
- Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent theatre-makers
- Producing, touring and presenting theatres, and independent producers
- Policy makers, funding bodies and trusts
The Lab reports are practical toolkits for both artists and organisations. Besides, for true change to come, these cannot be separated.
