Parliamentary Outreach project wins top award
11 December 2009 (updated on 22 April 2010)
Artist and have won a national arts award for a pioneering cultural programme designed to help promote engagement with Parliament.
The Disability and Deaf Arts (DaDa) arts award for 2009 was awarded to Rachel Gadsden for her work on the Parliamentary Outreach project Breaking Barriers.
The winners were chosen after an online and postal public vote on a shortlisted selection.
The project, Breaking Barriers, worked with the national charity Rethink and people affected by severe mental illness and looked at how communities have engaged with Parliament in the past and how Parliament remains just as relevant today.
The DaDa awards celebrate excellence in the work of deaf and disabled artists and are awarded annually. They were presented on the International Day of Disabled People on 3 December 2009 in Liverpool.
On receiving the award Rachel said:
"I feel extremely proud to be the first artist to be commissioned to work with Parliamentary Outreach with the Breaking Barriers and Rethink Parliament artistic projects, and I am ecstatic to have won the DaDa award in the 'Arts Award Category' for this work.
With the support of Parliamentary Outreach and Rethink, I have had the opportunity to play a role within an organisation that is working with vulnerable people on a ground breaking visionary artistic project, where many individuals have the opportunity to have their voices heard within the Parliamentary context.
The endorsement from Disability and Deaf Arts is absolutely fantastic!"