‘Diverse Theater And Ever Changing Horizons’ is a thesis by Merel van Lieshout, Founder of Speels Collectief, as part of the completion of her MA Gender Studies at Utrecht University.
This thesis is an investigation on the contradictions and difficulties inclusive art companies in a western context face. The focus is on three companies in which mixed-abled artists work together to make performances within a professional context: Theater Thikwa based in Germany, Stopgap Dance Company based in the UK and Speels Collectief based in the Netherlands.
Merel conducted interviews with disabled and non-disabled members of each company. From there, she distilled six themes that she elaborates on in order to answer her research question: the companies’ vision when it comes to the meaning of dis/ability, their view on inclusion and diversity, the position of the companies in the arts field, difficulties regarding company management, the financial structure of the companies and questions surrounding selection criteria.
Merel argues for a political/relational model of disability read through feminist and queer perspectives. In this thesis she does not aim to provide definitive answers, instead she argues for contradictions and discrepancies to be held together in tension. The attempt with this research is to stimulate debate on the meaning of dis/ability and to consider the consequence of this meaning for the art world, and for society as a whole.
Speels Collectief has undergone enormous development since this research was conducted. Many of the issues that are discussed in this research have been better organized in the company since (such as: they are more inclusive on multiple levels and less in line with the binary system that is maintained in society). The contradictions and difficulties that are discussed, however, (unfortunately) still remain urgent for the art world and society as a whole.