DAiSY - Disability Arts in Surrey

13/10/2025

💡 Friday Forum - Guest Spotlight: Charlie Fitz💡

We're so pleased to announce that Charlie Fitz will be joining the Friday Forum lineup.

Charlie Fitz (she/they) is a sick, disabled, and neurodivergent artist, writer, and grassroots disability arts organiser. Her interdisciplinary practice spans multiple mediums, exploring lived experiences of illness, disability and trauma through storytelling, folklore and collaboration. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, with work shown at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, the Southbank Centre and The British Museum with Shape Arts.

Alongside her creative work, Charlie is a trustee of DAiSY (Disability Arts in Surrey), a member of Resting Up Collective and a co-director of the remote artist studio TRIAD³. She also consults and mentors in accessibility, disability culture and language. Grounded in disability justice, her practice and organising reimagine care, community and the radical potential of disabled creativity.

Join in the discussion with us! Tickets link via the website/in bio.

10/10/2025

Final few days of voting! We're so pleased to be involved with Surrey Artist of the Year.

Organised by New Ashgate Gallery in partnership with Surrey Artists Open Studios, this annual event has championed local artists since 2009, offering a platform to showcase their work and connect with new audiences.

Take a look over the artists and cast your vote! https://www.newashgate.org.uk/whats-on

Surrey Artist of The Year 2025

Voting is now open for your favourite artist taking part in open studios. Visit our wonderful opens studios and either vote using the brochure or vote online.

More info https://surreyopenstudios.org.uk

Shortlisted artists will take part in a group exhibition at The New Ashgate Gallery and a winning artist will receive a solo exhibition at the gallery in 2026.

Surrey Artist of The Year is kindly supported by the Patricia Baines Trust.

09/10/2025

What does it mean to build a sustainable creative culture?

At DAiSY FEST this year, we’re exploring how networks help us grow, not just quickly, but meaningfully and durably. In a time of funding cuts, inequality and rapid change, networks might be one of our strongest tools for resilience.

Through conversations at the festival, we’ll reflect on how cultural ecosystems can thrive through:

✅ Care-based leadership
✅ Shared practices and pooled resources
✅ Inclusive approaches

Join in our conversation at DAiSY FEST's Friday Forum, at G Live this November. https://buff.ly/zWD8y7s

08/10/2025

Friday Forum at DAiSY FEST 2025 isn’t a typical symposium.

Our free-flow, open-table event is a working conversation for artists, academics and cultural leaders to think aloud about how networks really function in the arts, from the smallest peer groups to the largest sector-wide alliances.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll share some of the questions we’ll be unpacking together at G Live, Guildford (21 November).

What makes a strong network? We'd love to hear your thoughts, and of course, join us on the day.

👉 Tickets/info:

DAiSY FEST 2025 - FRIDAY FORUM – G Live, Fri 21 Nov 2025 - A Festival of Connections – Friday Forum On Friday 21st November, join DAiSY and friends for the DAiSY FEST 2025 Forum - an engaging day of conversation, collaboration, and connection, designed to bring artists, organisations, and com.....

07/10/2025

💡 Friday Forum Guest Spotlight: Oliver Sumner 💡

We're so excited to announce that Oliver Sumner will bring his insight to the Friday Forum discussions.

Oliver Sumner is Manager of CVAN South East, part of the Contemporary Visual Arts Network in England. Current initiatives include the Platform Graduate Award and the Neurodivergent Peer Group.

He's a specialist in creative learning and visual arts engagement and has undertaken independent contracts for cultural organisations including Arts Council Collection, the British Council, Engage, Greater London Authority, Hayward Touring, National Saturday Club and Tate.

Oliver has a history of curatorial and socially engaged projects with artists, including roles at Camden Art Centre (London), John Hansard Gallery (Southampton) and Aspex Portsmouth.

Based in Portsmouth, Oliver is a neurodiversity advocate. He recently began a part-time role as a Peer Support Worker (Neurodivergence) in Adult Social Care for Portsmouth City Council.

06/10/2025

✨ What is the Friday Forum?

The Friday Forum ( Friday 21st November, G Live Guildford) is a day of conversation, collaboration and networking designed to explore what makes inclusive communities thrive. From exploring macro and micro networks to grassroots connections, the programme highlights how collaboration strengthens artistic practice.

Alongside two long-table events, you’ll enjoy performances, film screenings, artist-led workshops, and networking opportunities. Join us for a rich and inspiring day that places community at the heart of creativity. This event has BSL interpreters.

A light lunch is included, and more refreshments are on site. 🎟 Book your ticket via our website!

03/10/2025

💡 Friday Forum - Guest Spotlight: Jennifer Gilbert

We're so excited to announce that Jennifer Gilbert will be joining the Friday Forum lineup.

Jennifer is a Manchester-based gallerist, freelance producer, and curator, working with self-taught, disabled, neurodivergent, deaf and overlooked artists. In 2017 she launched the Jennifer Lauren Gallery to showcase and empower artists internationally, having previously managed a national arts charity for under-represented artists. Through her work, Jennifer hopes to: demystify what is regarded as art, continue to challenge the stigma surrounding this field, and to re-look at how work is displayed and written about within contemporary art.

In her freelance role, Jennifer helps disabled and neurodivergent artists with their professional development, alongside providing mentoring and more general support. Jennifer also does consultancy work alongside galleries, museums and organisations, with a particular focus on access and inclusion -

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Discover the rest of the line-up via our website - reserve your spot today!

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02/10/2025

50 days to go! We can't wait for DAiSY FEST 2025

Are you coming to the Friday Forum? We're super excited to share that Friday attendees will get to experience a performance art by sound and movement artists Gerald Curtis & Xan Dye. As neurodivergent artists, they explore stimming, movement, sound and improvisation as a way of expressing identity and building new audience dialogues. Their project Practicing in Parallel merges drawing, rhythm and performance in powerful, thought-provoking ways.

Alongside their performance, the Friday Forum features discussions, film screenings, and artist-led workshops — all exploring what Connections mean in creative communities. 🎟 Book now to be part of it: https://buff.ly/zWD8y7s

08/09/2025

🗄️ 🎭 From our archive - We’re dusting off moments from DAiSY FEST's past - laughter, creativity, and connections. This November, DAiSY FEST is back with even more to share.

(Image: Performers at DAiSYFEST 2016)

05/09/2025

Last chance to submit to our open call! We’re seeking artworks that explore the theme of ‘connections’ - the threads that link people, places, memories, and ideas. We’re looking for art that responds to this theme in imaginative and personal ways – from stories of human relationships to reflections on identity, environment, community, or technology.

👁️ What we’re looking for
- 2D or wall-based artwork (painting, photography, illustration, mixed media, digital, etc.) This can be existing work or an idea for a new piece
- Artwork that you're happy to sell
- Work that speaks to the theme of Connections
- Submissions from d/Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent artists living or working in Surrey or surrounding areas.

🌸 If you’re not already part of the DAiSY-Chain artist network, you’ll need to join (for free) via our website https://buff.ly/VyePNth before submitting your work.

⏰ Deadline: Monday 8th September

💻 Visit our website to read the full brief and for more information on how to apply!

03/09/2025

🎨 Last chance to submit to the Open Call! 🎨

💭 For DAiSY FEST 2025, we’re seeking artworks that explore the idea of ‘connections’, the threads that link people, places, memories, and ideas. We’re looking for art that responds to this theme in imaginative and personal ways – from stories of human relationships to reflections on identity, environment, community, or technology

👁️ We’re looking for

- 2D or wall-based artwork (painting, photography, illustration, mixed media, digital, etc.)
- Work you're happy to sell at the exhibition
- Work that reflects the theme of 'Connections'
- Submissions from d/Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent artists living or working in Surrey or surrounding areas.

🌸 If you’re not already part of the DAiSY-Chain artist network, you’ll need to join (for free) via our website buff.ly/VyePNth before submitting your work.

⏰ Deadline: Monday 8th September

💻 Visit our website to read the full brief https://buff.ly/YD0cOXn