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Sarah Pickthall

@sarahpickthall

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curatorial diversity engineer, transitional systemic coach & community-digital-dance producer curious about the spaces that unite & divide us all.

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Introducing @gracecurrieart - the third of our four current #SyncingSpace @SyncThinking residents who has studio space at home.

She joins Syncing Space with generous support from @dashdisabilityarts and is a bit of a firework with ‘bursts of energy but also ‘fizzling out’.

She reminds us that highs and lows of being a disabled artist and that is ‘just how it is’. Grace you are brill, you light up our skies!

Over the past few weeks, Grace has hosted an open studio and this way of influencing sits at the heart of her practice that longs for connection and joy.

Go to syncingspace.org and check out her studio

With thanks to our other partners and supporters for this residency @VentureArts @RocketArtists @DASH @actionspace and our creative supporters who make it all possible and @acegrams who are supporting Syncing Space so that artists with learning disability and autism can find and define their leadership for the road ahead and see themselves as internationally relevant.

#LearningDisabledLeadership #DisabledLeadership #SyncLeadership #LeadershipFireworks

Image Description - A montage photograph of Grace smiling at the camera surrounded by her artworks. by @sarahpickthall

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4 days ago

Introducing Maddi Lingard @maddilingard - one of our current #SyncingSpace residents @SyncThinking who has studio space and support @venturearts in Manchester.

Over the past few weeks Maddi has let us into her world and the joy she finds in capturing her memories of family and friends and her interest in fashion. She’s currently exploring the moon as metaphor, less fierce than the sun, gentle in its ebb and flow. Sometimes shining bright and sometimes hardly there for us to see. Kindness is a value that Maddi aspires to which is evident in the work she makes and her gentle reflection in her studio postings.

Go to syncingspace.org and check it out.
With thanks to our partners and supporters for this residency @art.dis.singapore @VentureArts @RocketArtists @DASH @actionspace and our creative supporters who make it all possible and @acegrams who are supporting Syncing Space so that artists with learning disability and autism can find and define their leadership for the road ahead and see themselves as internationally relevant with something (as Maddi would say) ‘to ‘show the world’.

#LearningDisabledLeadership #DisabledLeadership #SyncLeadership #MaddiMoon

Image Description - A drawing by Maddi Lingard in pencil of a stylish person with a foxy bob and a black spotted dress. by @sarahpickthall

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16 days ago

We’re deep into our 4th online #SyncingSpace international residency @syncthinking for artists with learning disability and autism to find and define their arts leadership.

This week and next we’re going to focus on our 4 brilliant artists in residence but firstly throwing light on our first ‘in studio’ session exploring choice of colour as it relates to who we are as artists and how we lead, facilitated by co-programme leader, the wonderful, Thompson Hall and @tanyasartstudios. Go to www.syncingspace.org and if you have a life in colour and a learning disability or autism you can upload your colour experiments too.

@aceagrams funded, this residency is made all the better working with our brilliant team @annilim @coldharvcash @sheep_films and Oli Pyle.

Big shout out to our partners and supporters: @art.dis.singapore @venturearts @actionspace @rocket_artists @dashdisabilityarts and our creative supporters who make it all happen.

#LearningDisabledLeadership #DisabledLed #DisabledLeadership SyncLeadership

Image Descriptions - A series of photographs of artists in their studios, making work,sharing it and posts in our new colour uploader. by @sarahpickthall

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18 days ago

Last week was a strange one, full of disappointment for self and others but also a week that surfaced a new sense of what disabled-led steadfastness and stealth can feel like in the fight for disability justice in all its manifestations in our respective societies today. Disappointment yes, but a source of joy and impetus in so many ways.

The chance for @SyncThinking to join hearts and minds again with @shubbakfestival was compelling.

We came on board to share the story of 63 Days of Sit-In - a performance and documentary film by Basta Theatre based in Palestine. The showcase was at Theatro Technis in London, and it felt such an apt and a vital continuation of the work started with British Council investment in Sync Arabi through our leadership programme in partnership with Shubbak, and @arttoheart in person in 2023 in Jordan and the UK

Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent leadership and community building often have activism as a core construct. It is all too familiar to be left with no choice but to take to socials and the streets to protest at the inequity of life and opportunity, over access to health insurance and care, travel and transport, buildings, education – arts and culture, access - all of it. We are left out of so many decisions about our lives and leadership, it feels unfathomable at times. As one of the Palestinian ‘fighters’ in the documentary so poignantly shared, if we are included in our society, ‘we complete each other’.

Sync worked alongside Willie Elliott. 16 years ago this month, Willie was a key protagonist in the audio description at the opening of the London 2012 Paralympic Games - an unforgettable spectacle which Jenny Sealey (a Sync Alum) co-directed. It still stands as a testament to the energy and joy felt in the fusion of arts, access and activism!

Telling our stories often feels like activism or acting up in some way and there’s power and celebration in that. And laughter too – where would we be without that?

You can read the full article https://syncleadership.com/acting-without-permission-sarah-pickthall/ by @sarahpickthall

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a month ago

Sync is delighted to be working with @shubbakfestival again following our leadership programme SyncArabi in 2023.

63 Days of Sit-In, from Basta Theatre Collective (@basta.theatre ), is based on the 63-day sit-in staged by Palestinian disability rights activists inside the Palestinian Legislative Council during the COVID-19 pandemic, demanding the implementation of disability rights legislation and equal access to healthcare and public services.

4th September we have access for blind and visually impaired audiences across all performances and film with an additional touch tour at 7pm.

7pm
touch tour
7.30pm
40-minute performance followed by
35 minute documentary film screening

📅 4 September 2026
📍 Theatro Technis, London
🎟️ https://www.theatrotechnis.com/whatson/63-days-of-sit-in-%7C--يومًا-من-الاعتصام-63
Age guidance: 13+

Theatro Technis is fully wheelchair accessible, with guide and hearing dogs welcome, a loop system in the main hall. Please get in touch with dan@shubbak.co.uk if you require a companion ticket and sarah@cuspinc.org for more info re:AD - please share with anyone this may be a delight to experience @extantltd @sallyboothartist @liz.porter.5855 @rachelgadsden @vocaleyesaudiodescription @kelsieacton1 @sarahpickthall

IMAGES: (2 Khawla Darsalim), (3-4 Ikhlas Sawalha), (5 Nikos Kanistras)

63 Days of Sit-In was developed with the support of the Disability Under Siege (DUS) Network, University of Birmingham and British Council Palestine through the Jerusalem Creative Spaces programme. The London presentation is supported by British Council, Wijhat (an initiative of Al Mawred Al Thaqafy – Culture Resource), Sync Leadership and Dais Hale.
ID a montage in grey and dark shades, a man lies across a set of boxes covered in projections - the words 63 Days Sit-In with partner logos by @sarahpickthall

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2 months ago

Happy Birthday to one of the most brilliant artists and community connectors, I’ve ever had the privilege to work alongside @tank7051899 aka Andy Kee who celebrates a big 60yrs on the planet. Andy through all the projects we’ve worked @oskabright beginnings @sprungdigi and your very own #PictureThis your passion for inclusion for the rights to an arts life and digital life with safety and care for all but particular learning disabled artists and leaders is immense. You are a legend and part of Disability Arts history. I’m sure @appelinesansebastion @annilim would agree, so happy birthday dearest Andy.
ID: pics of Andy I front of his art wearing his art and sitting next to me at an art gallery with his hat on. by @sarahpickthall

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4 months ago

Darling @emilymurayama moo-chan. Wishing you the best birthday, my beautiful soul. Love you to the moon!
ID: face-painted small people outside a green village hall by @sarahpickthall

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5 months ago

This #EarthDay, I’m thinking about power. Who gets it, who keeps it, and who gets left out.

#Deaf, #Disabled, and #Neurodivergent people have long been innovators, problem-solvers, and pioneers. From shaping space exploration to redefining how we work and connect. Yet our contributions are often overlooked or only valued in times of crisis.

As climate challenges grow, so does the urgency to centre disabled voices. Not as an afterthought, but as leaders in building a more inclusive, sustainable future.

Our power. Our planet. It’s time both were shared.

Read my latest article with some thoughts on all of this - link in my bio 🔗✨️

Image description: Deaf participants in NASA's and the U.S. Naval School of Aviation Medicine's joint weightlessness research program sit in a zero-g aircraft that flew out of Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. The program ran from 1958 to 1968.

Image credit: U.S. Navy/Gallaudet University collection

#OurPowerOurPlanet by @sarahpickthall

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6 months ago

8 years ago tomorrow my invincible mum, took flight. Seems like yesterday and the missing you, so haunting, strange and tender. I often laugh with siblings and friends remembering how deliciously brilliantly stubborn you were and how fiercely you loved us. And how much you wished I’d brush my hair!
ID me and Ann on our infamous Egyptian trip. by @sarahpickthall

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6 months ago

I've just published my first article over on LinkedIn, part of a new series exploring #DisabledLed, #DisabledLeadership, #DisabledSpaces, #DisabledSupervision, #DisabledCoaching, #DisabledGovernance and more.

While NASA shows us new perspectives from space, here on Earth, the space for disabled people is shrinking. Funding is failing and falling short. Support is being cut. Opportunities to lead and create are disappearing.

This isn’t just about inclusion anymore; it’s about solidarity.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be orbiting this subject, looking for new perspectives and ways of centring all the Disableds!

Stay tuned for more and read my first article via the link in bio 🔗

This beautiful image was taken by my lovely moon-crazed photographer brother @markpickthall ❤️

#DisabilityJustice #Solidarity A close up shot of the moon with a deep blue sky by @sarahpickthall

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6 months ago

My dad contracted Parkinson’s in his 60s and that and a raft of mini strokes, from decades spent in noisy planes, he (and we) really struggled with the insidious creep of it. Yesterday was Intl Parkinson’s Day and today on Radio 4, a focus on Parkinsons and ping pong! My dad loved ping pong! In fact as a family it has always brought us together in all our funk. Had we known back then, we could have brought a table, lived a life of family leagues rather than sit in silence with cups of teas and the strange hush that accompanied the condition then.
Thanks to my mate @leodrules for the feature and lovely local friend, Andrew Staib for featuring. The piece is about 21.20 minutes into Broadcasting House show today, Sunday so at 9.21 a.m. Captions on BBCSounds.
ID: a sideways black and white photo of my dad in his early 20s in old flight togs by his little plane.

#KicktheShakeyBucket #ExerciseforPain #Sweeney #PingPongParkinsons by @sarahpickthall

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6 months ago

Lovely lunch with @tangled_arts team - take2 and a cheeky lie down in the lobby @wellcomecollection reminding me of my time here working on #RelaxedEvents and all the lovely well resourced access. Here for my final visit to #1880thatexhibition and the newly installed #TheComingOfAge - Feeling welcome and loving it. That and Jet’s de-vine incentivised water bottle, must have!
Image Descriptions:
(i)My legs up in the foyer.
(ii)Tangled Art+fam.
(iii)A beaut water bottle in baby pink with lines of hydration encouragement.
(iv)A horizontal view of #AnthonyGormley figure. by @sarahpickthall

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6 months ago