Jamie
Hale
Creative Leader and CEO at CRIPtic Arts
Entertainment
I am a disabled multidisciplinary creative and CEO. I founded CRIPtic Arts in 2021, because nowhere in the arts was accessible for me, and the only way I would find accessible spaces was through creating them. I felt extraordinarily lucky to have showcased and curated work by myself and other disabled performers at the Barbican Centre in 2019, and committed to passing that forward, by creating spaces that were accessible for other people as well. Two years later, we run year-round community workshops for disabled people interested in creativity, alongside development programmes for four different groups of performers – from those beginning their careers, to those breaking into the mainstream.
I never expected to be someone who ran organisations. In 2019 I’d never had a proper job, but with my experience at CRIPtic, and as Chair of Lewisham Disabled People’s Commission (carrying out one of the most in-depth research projects into the experiences of disabled people in a single area), I was also appointed CEO at Pathfinders Neuromuscular Alliance, a user-led organisation for people with muscle-weakening conditions.
Balancing this, I also have my own creative career, winning Director/Theatremaker of the Year in the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund Awards in 2021 for my show NOT DYING, which is now being developed into a full-length play, being one of the final three Jerwood Poetry Fellows in 2021-22, and with extensive work optioned or in development for television.
As someone with a significant condition- a full-time electric wheelchair user, dependent on 24 hour care, and using a feeding pump and ventilator (part-time) – I never thought that I’d have a job or a career, let alone achieve this much. Actually, with a lot of luck, support, and hard work, I’ve made it. I’ve always tried to aim for what I want, stick at it, and believe that one day, I’ll get there. I don’t want to be an inspiration just for being disabled, but I am proud of how I built my career, and my life, from nothing, and I hope that can inspire other people to do the same.
“Disabled people need to work together to change society. Regardless of our conditions and access needs, ultimately we’re a community, facing common barriers, and needing common liberation.”
Disability Power 100 2023 profile information has been self-submitted by the profile subject. Shaw Trust understands and respects that disability and impairment descriptors and language use varies from person to person. Shaw Trust assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or discrepancies in the content of this, or any other, profile page.
Image credit: Holly Falconer
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