It was a real pleasure to be in the room as part of the press launch for the Unlimited Festival today with 3 of our Push Me for 90 second films.

The Push Me team have been busy filming, editing and blogging over the last few months and our artists have been eagerly awaiting for the films to make it into The Space.  The Push Me Collection has now had its first public airing to coincide with the launch of the what promises to be a transformative programme of events sitting  alongside the Paralympic Games.

Just before the screenings,  Jude Kelly OBE, Artistic Director of The Southbank described the Unlimited Festival as a turning point in ‘how work by disabled and Deaf artists is perceived and moves forward in the field.’ The Push Me Films validated this assertion.

Rachel Gadsden’s film was one of those screened at the event.  She told us that having seen the films she ‘felt like  she was flying.’ Not just because we’d pushed her to her edge on Firle Beacon as part of her first 90 second shoot but because she felt the force that comes from being part of a collective endorsed by Ruth Mackenzie OBE Director of the  Cultural Olympiad 2012 as nothing short of ‘world class brilliance.’

Claire Cunningham, another of our Push Me artists whose first film focusing on her commission, Menage a Trois is currently in edit, spoke candidly about Unlimited.

The work is rich and extraordinary and it deserves to be seen.  These are not shows about disability, nor is this disability on show.  Neither is it about ignoring the disability and only seeing the art – both are parts of the whole. Both are part of the lived experience and both have informed the incredible body of work you will see here in September.

Push Me is pretty much synonymous with what Claire asserts. We’re interested in creating beautiful bespoke 90 second provocations  that are accessible and transformative for all who see them and radically change the way we think.