Creative festival held for blind, deaf and neurodiverse young people

The festival aims to provide access to artistic spaces and opportunities for all children and young people

"I find it quite hard to talk about my feelings, instead I'd rather write them in a song or put them into art."

Keira Curry is 19 and neurodiverse.

She loves art and this week will be a cultural ambassador for London's I Am Festival, a weeklong celebration of blind, deaf and neurodivergent children and young people's creativity.

The events are created and delivered by ambassadors like Keira, and hosted in some of London's leading venues.

"Expect the unexpected," she says.

Keira Curry is one of the festival's cultural ambassadors and will be running her own workshop during the week

Now in its ninth year, the I Am Festival aims to empower those involved to explore their creativity and embolden children who lack access to artistic settings.

It's run by London-based not-for-profit A New Direction, and this year's theme is "See Me, Hear Me!"

"A huge part of the festival is around inviting deaf, disabled or neurodivergent children and people into spaces which for a variety of reasons may not be accessible to them," says programme manager, Beth Robertson.

Children will take part in dance, poetry, crafts, music, visual arts and theatre

"It's all about equitable access," she adds.

The festival is supported by Arts Council England which provides £1m in funding to A New Direction each year and pairs disability-led companies with the initiative.

Abid Hussain, the council's director of diversity, said the festival was a great way for students to "showcase their creative talents and leadership skills".

"I'm delighted that some of our leading disability-led companies including Graeae, Blink Dance Theatre and Coney are working directly with schools and young disabled people to inspire the next generation of disabled artists and leaders to contribute to the creative life of England."

'Be open-minded'

For Keira, she wants people to make fewer assumptions and to appreciate difference.

"Don't let stereotypes be a closed book, be open minded," she says.

"Just because you're divergent doesn't mean you can't be smart. Sometimes I just want people to ask me questions rather than assume."

Running from 11 to 15 March, the week will be hosted at historic sites like Tate Modern, the National Theatre and Sadler's Wells - as well as at Kensington Palace, where a "top-secret mission" is to take place.

Education leaders, charity and private sector representatives will all be involved, alongside pupils from 25 special educational needs and disability (SEND) schools.

It is hoped expertise will be shared on how to manage neurodiverse and disabled pupils. The organisers also hope that the employers invited will learn of the benefits and possibilities a deaf, disabled or neurodivergent workforce can offer.

'I'm amazing! You're amazing!'

A key focus has been putting disabled and neurodiverse people at the forefront of the planning

Keira is one of 10 ambassadors who have been planning the projects and helping organise the events.

She'll be at Sadler's Wells with her own idea called Fabulous Flowers, which sees participants make flowers out of cardboard to express themselves.

She told BBC London: "It encourages everyone to make a flower using the colours based on their personality. For example, green can mean you're happy, yellow can mean you're excited, red can mean you're upset and a rainbow can mean you're everything, you like everything."

The ambassadors have also curated their own event, called "I'm Amazing, You're Amazing", which is being launched at the festival.

All the ticketed events are sold out, but that doesn't mean you can't catch what's on.

If you're near any of the locations across the week, you'll be able to see the participants in action while A New Direction will be posting updates across the week on its social media channels.

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