DARE workshop in Sylhet ©

British Council

DARE (Disability Arts: Redefining Empowerment) is a project aimed at building understanding and confidence amongst the disability and the arts sector in Bangladesh. It is aimed to dispel the social stigma associated with disability, and build an accessible bridge between arts, disability and society. The project is focused to develop the capacity of artists and persons with disability through a series of training and capacity development programs in partnership with Dhaka Theatre, artists and arts organisations from Bangladesh and UK.  

DARE was launched in the end of 2019 in partnership with Dhaka Theatre. The launching event on December, titled Inclusive Arts: Exploring Disability Arts in Bangladesh, featured effective dialogue in the discourse, and representatives from different sectors with over a hundred people from government and non-government organisations, corporate entities, and key figures from arts and disability sector. 

Currently we are working on eight divisional cities in Bangladesh where both artists with disabilities and artists from local theatre organisations are participating together in order to get a better idea about how to work on disability theatre to create a sustainable platform on disability arts. We are aiming to bring the arts and the disability communities together to build their confidence, develop their creative skills and connect with the wider society positively.

More on Inclusive Arts: Exploring Disability Arts in Bangladesh

DARE workshop in Rajshahi ©

British Council

It takes a two-and-a-half-hour train journey to come here from Pabna, which is a bit difficult, but I want to come here because we do not get these kind of workshops for us. The workshop is different, and I think that it will be helpful for the people like us to be taken seriously in the society” – said Azizul Islam, a physically-challenged artist who travelled a long way to attend the workshop that took place in Rajshahi.

We never knew how to work with the people with disabilities before in theatre. It is amazing to see how they are participating and working with us side by side. This has been an eye-opener for me!” –Samir Pallab, a theatre artist working on the theatre arena of Sylhet for almost a decade exclaimed. “We now got an idea on the requirement of working with them and looking forward for the next workshop here.

DARE Online Tutorials:

In response to Covid-19, we have taken a portion of our workshop online. Produced under DARE (Disability Arts: Redefining Empowerment) project of the British Council, this tutorial series on 'Inclusive Theatre' is aimed to focus on how to work in disability theatre to ensure inclusive theatre practice.

More on DARE Online Tutorials

See also