Multi-sensory arts session with Turner Prize nominated artist Catherine Yass

🎨 Turning the Tide: Multi-Sensory Arts Sessions with Catherine Yass

Join us for an extraordinary multi-sensory arts experience led by Turner Prize-nominated artist Catherine Yass, open to young people aged 8–16 and anyone with a passion for art! Artworks created during these sessions will be showcased as part of a free, month-long riverside exhibition in September 2026 during the Totally Thames festival. 🌊✨

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🌟 About the Programme

Turning the Tide is a major cultural engagement project brought to life by Catherine Yass in collaboration with:

• 🎭 Thames Festival Trust
• 🎪 Graeae — a disabled-led theatre company
• 🏛️ City of London Culture Service

The project has been shortlisted for the prestigious Art Explora Académie des beaux-arts European Award — the leading European prize championing new dialogues between the arts and audiences. Rooted in Catherine's own personal experience caring for her daughter who has cerebral palsy, the project's mission is to turn the tide on perceptions of disabled people, celebrating and making visible those who are often marginalised in public space.

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🔑 Four Core Elements of Turning the Tide

🎥 Installation
A major site-specific video installation featuring disabled performers from Graeae Young Company, projected over the Thames onto the historic old Blackfriars Railway Bridge columns. This free public artwork will centre disability in an iconic central London location, anticipated to reach an audience of over 10,000. The installation will be live for four nights in September 2026, with films created through a workshop rehearsal process at Graeae studios.

📚 Education Programme
A series of visual art, film & photography creative workshops running over 10 months, led by Catherine Yass herself, designed for disabled/SEND children, young people, and adults. The programme supports participants in developing new art skills, building confidence, creative ownership, and social empowerment — helping them express their experience of how disability is perceived in public space.

🖼️ Exhibition
A free, month-long riverside exhibition at a prominent central London public space for the Totally Thames festival in September 2026, expected to attract an audience of approximately 390,000 people. The exhibition will also feature documentation of the workshop process by Deaf photographer Becky Bailey.

🎬 Film
Created by Catherine Yass alongside renowned videographer Hugo Glendinning, this film will serve as the culmination of Turning the Tide — an artwork in its own right — with screenings planned at museums and galleries in 2027 and significant potential for international touring to film festivals and galleries.

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🏫 Workshop Details at RSBC

Location: RSBC (Royal Society for Blind Children), with a site visit to the Thames

Two workshops will run with the same format, allowing two separate groups from the RSBC community to participate. Importantly, young people are welcome to attend both workshops if they wish! Each workshop is 4 hours long, including a 45-minute lunch break.

🌊 What Happens During the Workshops?

These immersive sessions engage with the River Thames as a colourful, rippling, moving, light-filled, deep, and mysterious body of water:

• Morning session: The group heads to the river with Catherine Yass to gather sensory impressions — sounds, smells, colours, light, and textures — using words and sound recordings.
• Back at RSBC: Participants bring together all their gathered impressions, discussing how they can be presented. Activities include recording voice and sound, and holding coloured acetate to the light to explore colour and luminosity.
• Videos will be projected around the room and onto individuals as part of the creative process.
• Photography and film documentation will capture the process for Catherine's artwork film about Turning the Tide.

📸 Documentation note: Workshop participants are welcome to opt in or out of being photographed and filmed. Those who opt in will need to complete relevant permissions and release forms.

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💡 Why Join?

• Work directly with a Turner Prize-nominated artist 🏆
• Explore the Thames through all your senses 🌈
• See your artwork displayed in a major public exhibition reaching hundreds of thousands of visitors
• Build skills, confidence, and creative pride in a supportive, inclusive environment 💪

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👉 Sign up here

Any questions? Don't hesitate to reach out — we'd love to hear from you! 💬