// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
'Disabled artists need opportunities, not just access'
Deaf artist Cathy Mager has created projections exploring sign language across Bristol
Disabled artists are still being excluded from opportunities despite Bristol's reputation as an inclusive city, campaigners say.
Deaf artist Cathy Mager, who set up Spectroscope in 2022 to create radical public installations by deaf and disabled people, said the city is lucky to have cultural institutions who value inclusion.
"Most arts organisations are committed to accessibility but there's a difference between access and showing work by deaf and disabled people," she said.
Jess Douek, a singer who has chronic pain, has won funding to create Bristol's first fully-accessible grassroots music venue so emerging disabled artists aren't "locked out of that rite of passage".
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Mager, who is deaf, started projecting images of British Sign Language (BSL) onto a neighbour's house during the pandemic, which led to similar projects being commissioned at the Arnolfini and Bristol Light Festival.
Spectroscope provided an outlet for these installations and connected her with other disabled artists in the south west.
Earlier this month, it hosted a gathering for artists at Ham Green House in Pill, and is soon launching an artist residency at East Quay in Watchet.