Sofia Barton is a multidisciplinary artist based in the North East of England whose practice is significantly shaped by her dual Pakistani and Indian heritage. Her work is an ongoing exploration of hybrid identities, delving into cultural artefacts, hidden histories, and South Asian folklore, exploring the interconnections between diverse cultures and their environments.

In this workshop Sofia will lead us in mindful drawing to explore themes of grounding, collaging, and connections to nature.

Ashokkumar (Ashok) Mistry is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and curator working in the UK and internationally.  Ashokkumar didn’t identify as neurodivergent until he was in his 40s, and it was a seminal moment for his artistic practice. Since then, he has been focused on researching and writing about disability and neurodiversity.

In this workshop Ashok will lead us in writing beyond language which is to say, writing outside the rules of language. This stems from Ashok’s Aphantasia which means he finds it difficult (almost impossible) to picture things in his mind’s eye. He has come to realise this may be why he often begins artistic projects with writing as a starting point, rather than design.

Building on techniques from Theatre of the Oppressed, Alina and Liza will guide (aspirational) art workers through a process of visualising their rejections, mapping them onto those of peers, tracing shared patterns and structural conditions, and eventually producing a zine with practical prompts to help reject individualisation of rejection and keep a collective revolutionary horizon in view. Rejection sensitivity and the instability of fragmented work can be especially challenging for (neurodivergent) art workers. This workshop aims to initiate a collectively authored guide to coping steeped in solidarity and mutual support, without allowing those coping strategies to become forms of adaptation to the very systems that continue to harm us and our communities. Let’s fan some flames of discontent.

Evan Ifekoya is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice mirrors their role as a spiritual practitioner, perceiving art as a platform for redistributing and renegotiating resources, challenging implicit rules and hierarchies in public and social spaces.

This workshop will focus on personal collections that hold stories, and how they can be anchors for meaning-making and creative practice.

Kasra Jalilipour is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist, writer and educator, based in Derbyshire, UK. 

Kasra is leading a writing focused workshop on dream mapping, a process that combines creative writing and visual aids to process ideas and thoughts. It’s also a great tool for diminishing the fear of the blank page! Kasra will be bringing in references from their own practice, and invites attendees to do the same.

Long-time friend of Making Time Abby Nocon will take us through her systems for keeping on top of her finances.

First we will go through some basics, tips, tricks and spreadsheets, and then share a period of co-working on our own spreadsheets, with the option to ask questions and troubleshoot.

Abby Nocon (she/they) is an artist and writer based in London. She creates stories, worlds and systems that reimagine how we experience knowledge, spirituality and community. She works alongside non-linear time and ritual technologies to stimulate public imagination and create new solidarities. We are hopeful we can get her back to lead something connected to astrology and creative practice at some point, too..

Aby Watson is a neuroqueer artist, performer, choreographer and activist. She is proudly dyslexic, dyspraxic, autistic and has ADHD. She has been part of Making Time for 2 years. She is the 2024 Bruce Millar Graduate Fellow and founding director of the Scottish ND Performance Network.

In this playful workshop, neuroqueer choreographer Aby Watson shares her process of stimprovisation: sensory-seeking improvisation through practices of movement (stimdance), object (stimplements), and voice (sensinging), directed by the sensorial curiosity of the bodymind.

This workshop offers a practical introduction to stimprovising – you do not need performance experience to join us, only a willingness to play and explore!

Daniel Oliver is a dyspraxic performance artist, lecturer, and researcher. He makes raucous, dyspraxic-led performance worlds with mysterious and complex back stories that audiences are drawn into and take roles in.

If you go to the doctor about a rash but on that day the rash disappears what do you do? Draw it own? Tickle the doctor in just the right way so they know what it felt like? Or create the conditions for the rash to arise again? 

This is a workshop about different ways of presenting, representing, and re-enacting neurodivergent experience in performance.