Chronically ill Artists Network

Because the mountains we’re climbing are getting steeper every day. 🧵(3/3)

#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN #DisabilityJustice

✅ Share this campaign
✅ Call in your organisation
✅ Pay chronically ill artists
✅ Embed access, don’t bolt it on
✅ Make space for new ways of working
✅ Sign up to our newsletter, follow us, and donate to support our work if you are in a position to 🧵(2/3)

A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing a hill, beyond this hill the landscape has flattened out, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. Black text reads “You’ve heard the stories. You’ve read the words. Now what?”

All this week we’ve been posting the experiences and voices of chronically ill artists, shared with us by our members. Here’s what you can do now (especially non-disabled and non-chronically ill allies) 👇 🧵(1/3)

Image description: A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing a hill, beyond this hill the landscape has flattened out, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. Black text in speech marks reads: “Access is a collaboration. Just like other creative collaborations - it shouldn’t all fall on our shoulders”.

Image description: A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing a hill, beyond this hill the landscape has flattened out, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. Black text in speech marks reads: “Access benefits everyone. You make the arts richer when you make them accessible”.

#ClimbingTinyMountains (🧵3/3)

Image description: A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing a hill, beyond this hill the landscape has flattened out, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. Black text in speech marks reads: “Productivity ≠ Value. Chronically ill artists may work slower. That doesn’t mean the work is lesser”.

Image description: A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing a hill, beyond this hill the landscape has flattened out, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. Black text in speech marks reads: “Online access isn’t optional. Hybrid events should be standard”.

#ClimbingTinyMountains (🧵2/3)

Image description: A pink pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing a hill, beyond this hill the landscape has flattened out, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. Black text in speech marks reads: “Chronically ill artists are not a “risk”. We are an opportunity for deep, flexible, radical creativity”.

Image description: A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing a hill, beyond this hill the landscape has flattened out, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. Black text in speech marks reads: “Fluctuation is not unreliability. It’s a reality of our lives. Planning with care makes it manageable”.

Access isn’t optional. It’s not a ‘nice to have’. It’s a right. If your event, residency or opportunity isn’t accessible to chronically ill artists, then it’s not for all artists. 🧵(1/3)

#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN #DisabilityJustice

What if we designed the arts with chronically ill people in the room from the beginning?

Let’s stop expecting chronically ill and disabled people to “fit in” to broken systems. Let’s build new ones. 🧵(2/2)

#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN

Image description: A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing a hill, beyond this hill the landscape has flattened out. Black text reads “Let’s reimagine the landscape”. There is a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom.

What if rehearsal periods were 8 weeks instead of 4?

What if deadlines flexed around access needs?

What if residencies happened from bed, not just a barn in the countryside? 🧵(1/2)

#ClimbingTinyMountains

Image Description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, with a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. The following quote is in black text and speech marks “Chronically ill artists bring different timelines, different rhythms, different truths. That’s not a weakness, that’s innovation”

#ClimbingTinyMountains 🧵(4/4)

Image Description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, with a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. The following quote is in black text and speech marks “We're not making a poor man's version of a show, we're making different and exciting work. There's creativity in limitation”

#ClimbingTinyMountains 🧵(3/4)

Image Description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, with a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. The following quote is in black text and speech marks “How do we convince people that we are worth taking a risk on?”

#ClimbingTinyMountains 🧵(2/4)

Image Description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, with a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. The following quote is in black text and speech marks “I lost a job I was actually really good at because of illness”

Hiring a chronically ill artist isn’t a risk. It’s an opportunity to make your work more thoughtful, inclusive, and radically creative.
#ClimbingTinyMountains 🧵(1/4)

They still create. But the mountain is steep.
They’re not climbing for inspiration.
They’re climbing to survive.

Are you a mountain climber? Share your experiences using #ClimbingTinyMountains, and sign up for our newsletter (link in bio) 🧵(4/4)

Zaya’s work has won awards. But they’ve lost jobs after flare-ups. One organisation told them it was “too-hard” to accommodate their energy-limiting condition. Another called them a “trouble-maker” for asking to attend events online. 🧵(3/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains

“For years I hid it. I thought I had to. When I finally told people, I found out that others had been hiding it too. We could have been supporting each other all along”. 🧵(2/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains

Image description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and backpack, climbing one of a series of 3 hills to the left. The black text on the right reads “Meet a Mountain Climber. Name: Zaya, Profession: Freelance theatre-maker and visual artist, Based on real experiences from CIAN focus groups”. The pink graphic gem logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network is in the top right and pink text along the bottom reads #ClimbingTinyMountains

Meet Zaya (she/they). Zaya has been making theatre and painting for 15 years. But no-one knew they were chronically ill - not even their collaborators. 🧵(1/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains

Image description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, with a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. The black text in speech marks reads “That fear isolates us, but together we’re louder”

Share your thoughts and experiences on the isolation and exclusion faced by chronically ill artists, using #ClimbingTinyMountains 🧵(4/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN #DisabilityJustice

Image description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, with a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. The black text in speech marks reads “So many of us have hidden our illness out of fear. Fear of being labelled, overlooked, or seen as less”

What we need is to be seen, supported, and included. 🧵(3/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains

Image description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, with a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. The black text in speech marks reads “Chronically ill artists are chronically unheard”

We’re here.

We’re working.

We’re building whole worlds - in between symptoms, flare-ups, hospital visits, and rest. 🧵(2/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains

Image description: a pink graphic line drawing on a white background, with a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. The black text in speech marks reads “It’s scary to fight your corner all the time when it’s already super hard to have a chronic illness”

Fighting for your right to be here shouldn’t be part of the job description when working in the arts. Being chronically ill is already a full-time job. 🧵(1/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains

A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. A quote in black text and speech marks reads: “We are not lazy. We are navigating inaccessible systems, one tiny mountain at a time”

Have you faced barriers in the arts because of chronic illness? Use #ClimbingTinyMountains to share your story.

#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN #DisabilityJustice #RestIsResistance

A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. A quote in black text and speech marks reads: “When I’m really exhausted, working creatively becomes harder and harder”

We don’t want one-off access panels or performative allyship.

We want embedded change - access, support, and space to create without risking our health. 🧵(4/5)

A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. A quote in black text and speech marks reads: “Dealing with healthcare, benefits… getting the support you need - it’s rare for most of us”

That pressure? It’s crushing.

The arts sector doesn’t need more “resilience”.

We need rest. Support. Access. Equity. 🧵(3/5)

A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. A quote in black text and speech marks reads: “It’s not just one barrier, it’s hundreds of small ones, every day”

Many chronically ill artists live with the constant tension of trying to appear “sick enough” to access support, while also trying to prove they’re “capable enough” to be taken seriously in the arts. 🧵(2/5)

A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure with a stick and a backpack climbing one of a series of 3 hills, with a pink gem-shaped logo for the Chronically ill Artists Network in the corner, and #ClimbingTinyMountains at the bottom. A quote in black text and speech marks reads: “It’s almost like climbing the tiny mountain, and then climbing the same mountain again and again”

Being a chronically ill artist means waking up each day with no idea what your body will give you.

It means exhaustion. Isolation. Starting over again and again. 🧵(1/5)

Like, repost, and share your experiences too, using the hashtag #ClimbingTinyMountains

Sign up for our newsletter at the link in our bio. 🧵(4/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN #DisabilityJustice

Join us as we tell the truth about what it’s like to survive and create in a world that wasn’t built for us. Because when the arts aren’t accessible, everything takes more energy, more time, more courage. 🧵(3/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN

Everyday, chronically ill creatives face invisible barriers - inaccessibility, stigma, financial precarity, & an industry that still sees us as a “risk”.

But we are not broken.
We are tired of climbing alone. 🧵(2/4)

#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN

Image description: A pink graphic line drawing on a white background, showing a figure climbing one of a series of 3 hills.The text reads ‘Climbing Tiny Mountains’.

Climbing Tiny Mountains - a campaign by & for chronically ill artists. All this week we will be posting about the experiences of chronically ill artists, generously and courageously shared with us by our members. 🧵(1/4)
#ClimbingTinyMountains #ChronicallyillArtistsNetwork #CIAN

A pink and purple page of illustrations on the theme of Navigating & Progressing in the Arts when Chronically Ill, including sections on change in the arts sector, discussions, systems being ableist, finding connection and community, learning to communicate your needs, and believing in the social model

An orange page of visual notes and illustrations on the theme of Saving up tiny joys and Finding openings for joy in a chronic creative life, including sections on Joy as resistance and a creative force, creative play, joy as a way of pushing through, nurturing your disabled joy, having generosity in access, and reframing what counts

ICYMI visual notes from our networking events this past year, all done by the wonderful Amber Anderson!

We'll be sure to have more events in the new year, so follow us and keep an eye out for those announcements :)