CRIPtic Arts and Wandsworth Council announce full programme for Liberty Festival 2025

A programme of free events will run in venues across the borough, spanning immersive art installations, theatre, dance, cabaret, creative workshops and much more. From pioneering new voices to world-renowned talent, this year’s Liberty Festival is produced by one of the country’s most influential and outstanding disabled-led creative organisations, CRIPtic Arts. 

Access is embedded at the heart of the festival. All events will take a Relaxed approach to movement and noise with audiences able to leave and re-enter, tic and move around if needed. There will also be wheelchair access, accessible toilets and quiet chill-out areas to rest and relax in. BSL, Audio Description, Captioning and other provisions will be available throughout the festival. Please check the website for detailed access information for each event and venue. 

Kristina Veasy and Alejandro Ahmed will be sharing the stunning Capturing the Forest at Battersea Arts Centre, which serves as the central hub venue of Liberty. Their work is a festival-long immersive, multi-sensory installation inviting audiences to explore the emotional and physical presence of the forest. Other featured artists and organisations at the venue include Jack Wakely (Goblin), Oily Cart and Polyglot Theatre (When The World Turns), Simeon Campbell (SADBOI), AJ Venturini (Altar to Joy), Disco Neurotico & Deaf Rave (Takeover), Krystal S Lowe (Daughters of the Sea), BLINK DANCE (Elvis Died of Burgers) and Amanda Grace (Love In). 

Other work will be shared across the borough, including pieces from The Baked Bean Company (Life of I) and Chisato Minamimura (The Lost Golden Lotus) at Tara Theatre, with the venue also hosting a mini arts conference with talks, panel discussions and creative workshops from Sense Arts and Flawbored. Adrian Lee (Hexagram) will feature at World Heartbeat, CRIPtic Arts will co-host an open mic day at The Bedford. 

The Clapham Grand will host the opening night party on Wednesday 24th September featuring a boundary-pushing cabaret curated by the radical Midgitte Bardot (pictured below) and a powerful live music showcase by Wandsworth based Sound Minds. A joyful, relaxed, family friendly picnic with performances, including from Miss Jacqui will take place at Battersea Park to close the festival on Sunday 28 September.  

This year’s Liberty Festival will also highlight work taking place in Wandsworth in schools, community groups and with other disabled-led organisations, as part of the wider London Borough of Culture, including a SEND Schools Showcase at Wandsworth Council’s Civic Suite on Monday 29 September. 

Jamie Hale, Artistic Director, CRIPtic Arts said: ’Liberty 2025 is a celebration of the richness, diversity and innovation of disabled-led creativity. We're proud to be presenting a bold, unapologetic, visionary programme, centring access and demonstrating the skill, talent, and expertise disabled creatives bring.’ 

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: ‘The Liberty Festival is a wonderful addition to the fantastic programme of events in Wandsworth as the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture. 

‘This festival will provide a platform for disabled creatives to showcase their talent, innovative ideas and bold new work.   

‘The Mayor and I will continue to champion inclusive and exciting celebrations like this, to help our creative industry thrive and build a fairer, more prosperous London for all.’ 

Wandsworth Council Deputy Leader Kemi Akinola said: ‘Liberty is all about providing a platform for disability-led arts and staging the work in the hearts of our communities. During our year as London Borough of Culture, we are proud to present Liberty 2025 and are excited to share an exciting and challenging programme that we hope will reach new audiences and showcase the very best of disability-led art and performance.’ 

 
Full Programme: 

Liberty Festival 2025 Opening Night Party - Hosted by CRIPtic Arts, cabaret radical Midgitte Bardot and friends show off the best in disabled-led cabaret and performance arts, full line up to be announced. Sound Minds will follow with a showcase of live music bringing together music genres ranging from soulful blues to hiphop. 

Life of I, The Baked Bean Charity - Life of I is a production created by actors with learning disabilities which shows difference in the way they would like you to see it. Each scene has been written and devised by actors with the hope of breaking the stigmas and assumptions that are put upon them every day. The show highlights the intersectionality of life that people with learning disabilities experience, and the kinds of obstacles they overcome along the way.  

Love In, Amanda Grace - This one-on-one performance of care is an ode to intentional, gentle, transgressive love, where audience-participants are invited to share what’s in their hearts. Each sessions at the Love In last approximately 25 minutes, and all participants will leave with a personal love letter composed by The Lover during the session in response to their sharing. 

Elvis Died of Burgers, BLINK Dance Theatre - Devised by the four BLINK performer-directors who love food, Elvis Died of Burgers  takes you on a non-linear journey through the cast’s food memories, juxtaposed with a deep dive into the culinary conundrum surrounding the end of Elvis’ life. Audiences are invited to take a seat at the table as the cast delve into their own memories and food stories told with BLINK’s signature sensory and bizarre tangents. BLINK Dance Theatre are supported by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation. 

Altar to Joy, AJ Venturini - Altar to Joy is a participatory ritual-workshop where creators and audiences come together to co-create an altar that honours joy in all its complexity, inspired by the tarot card The Sun. Using intuitive art-making, storytelling, and creative materials to craft joy offerings for a shared, sacred altar that explores what it means to feel joy, especially when it isn’t always easy or accessible. 

The Lost Golden Lotus, Chisato Minamimura - The Lost Golden Lotus is a powerful new immersive film installation that reimagines the haunting legacy of China’s traditional foot binding cultural practices through a richly layered, sensory experience. With the air scented by lavender and agarwood, traditional Chinese teas inviting quiet ritual, and vibrotactile sound allowing you to feel the story, this installation engages the body as deeply as the mind. At its core is Visual Vernacular, a Deaf-led performance language of movement, gesture, and sign, creating a shared space for both Deaf and hearing audiences alike. 

When The World Turns, Oily Cart (UK) and Polygot Theatre (AUS) - When the World Turns is an award-winning immersive and sensory experience that playfully explores our connection with each other and the world around us. This accessible show takes the audience into the heart of a living landscape, featuring surround-sound, singing, lights, shadows, scents, water, puppetry and over 300 plants. It is experienced with small audience numbers to allow for lots of up-close sensory moments, a gentle pace, and plenty of breathing space for processing. The show has been expertly crafted for and with disabled children of all ages who experience complex and multiple barriers to access (often described as having PMLD.)  

Sense Arts presents Zarji Arts, Raji Gopalakrishnan and Zara Jayne Arnnold - Zargi Arts is a powerful and practical workshop exploring Deafblind access and inclusion in the arts. Designed for creatives, audiences and members of the Deafblind community, the session will offer insight, lived experience and tools for more inclusive practice. Led by artists and facilitators with expertise in Deafblind accessibility the workshop will cover approaches to making creative spaces more welcoming, adaptable and engaging for all. Supported by Sense and Arts Council England. 

Capturing the Forest, Kristina Veasey and Alejandro Ahmed - Capturing the Forest is a powerful, multi-sensory installation merging sculpture, ceramics, sound, film and movement immersing the audience into a fictional forest landscape. The groundbreaking international collaboration between artists Kristina Veasey (UK) and Alejandro Ahmed (Brazil), with producers In Between Time (UK) and Panorama Festival (BR) brings together disabled and non-disabled communities across the UK and Brazil in a unique, inclusive process. The immersive piece explores connection to nature through digital, physical and sensory design, inspired by the experiences of those who love the natural world but cannot access it. Capturing the Forest is an Unlimited / British Council International Partner Award, funded by Arts Council England. A programme of in-person and remote workshops, forest visits, and downloadable resources extend the forest’s presence for all of us who yearn for nature connection.   

Daughters of the Sea, Krystal S, Lowe and Ballet Cymru - Krystal S. Lowe and Ballet Cymru present a bold adaptation of the Welsh folktale Daughters of the Sea telling the tale of three women from different lands – a warrior, a healer, and a leader – journeying to find new adventures until a surprising foe incites them to stand together and fight to protect the freedom to choose.  Daughters of the Sea is a tapestry of multilingual spoken word, dynamic dance, and Kizzy Crawford’s soul/funk/folk music fusion. Funded by Arts Council Wales, Welsh Government, the National Lottery, and Tŷ Cerdd. 

Disco Neurotico and Deaf Rave Takeover - Pioneering neuroinclusive events company Disco Neurotico teams up with Deaf Rave to bring a unique, immersive and accessible clubbing experience to Liberty Festival. Designed to accommodate nervous, neurodivergent, deaf and hard of hearing partygoers, Disco Neurotico will feature: an eclectic selection of DJs playing party sounds from around the world; theatrical playmakers guiding the dancefloor; multiple rooms offering a gradient of sensory experience; curated board gaming and digital gaming; arts and crafts; a UV doodle wall where attendees can contribute to an evolving live art installation; bespoke calm space and recovery room; carefully considered access provisions such as silent disco equipment, haptic vests, trained wellbeing staff and absolutely no strobe lights. Supported by Arts Council England and Southbank Centre. 

GOBLIN, Jack Wakely in association with Silent Faces - Jack doesn’t care what you think you’ve heard - there’s no goblin in this show. They’re sorry you’ve been misled so terribly. They’re just a nice, normal human being. And, quite frankly, it’s really strange that you’d believe otherwise. A new solo work by Jack Wakely of Silent Faces Theatre (Godot is a Woman, A Clown Show About Rain, Follow Suit) and Degenerate Fox (The Dirty Thirty), Goblin combines clowning and Neo Futurism to examine the performative nature of trying to ‘fit in’. In association with Silent Faces. 

SADBOI, BirdGang Ltd presents Simeon 'Kardinal' Campbell - SADBOI is an explosive, personal story of understanding and unravelling. It follows acclaimed hip hop performer Sim, who is carried around by his thoughts, a struggle that’s complicated by modern distractions and issues that need addressing. Sim is a CODA (child of deaf adults) and SADBOI features embedded BSL, to welcome D/deaf audiences and enhance their experience of the work. Sim is a long-standing member of BirdGang Ltd and SADBOI was supported their unique HATCHWORKS residency in 2024. Further support for its development has been provided by Camden People’s Theatre (Seed Commission 2024), Arts Council England and Stanley Arts.  

Hexagram, Adrian Lee - Adrian Lee curates, composes, commissions, and performs exciting new repertoire for solo electric guitar.  Almost 100 years since the invention of the electric guitar, Hexagram draws on this rich cultural heritage and opens up areas of new potential including performing in spaces with beautiful, reverberant acoustics which reveal yet more of the instrument’s rich character. The show presents a range of repertoire including classical, contemporary and outright experimental - from the quiet intimacy of the unprocessed instrument to extended 3D soundscapes using multiple effects, loopers and speaker systems. 

CRIPtic presents: Past, Present, Future, ACTION!  A mini-conference for artists, producers, venues and artistic allies to explore the dynamic history of the disability arts and rights movements, and a chance to learn from some of the most innovative and inclusive arts practitioners working in the UK today. Join us for workshops and participatory sessions on inclusive devising and directing, including a demonstration of specialist DeafBlind devising techniques from Zarji Arts and drama games with FlawBored Theatre Company. We’ll also be hosting a series of panels on the past, present and future of Disability Arts, looking at the incredible heritage we draw from, how we work now, and the kind of future we want to co-create as disabled artists and activists. 

Open Mic & PechaKucha. This two-part event kicks off with a Pecha Kucha and presentation session (12–1:30 PM). Speakers can present 20 slides for 20 seconds each, or simply take the mic for 5 minutes. We’re excited to hear from people exploring themes related to disability arts, culture, identity, and activism. From 1:30–3 PM, the mic opens for a vibrant performance-based Open Mic, welcoming local disabled artists to share their poetry, music, spoken word, comedy, or any creative form. Whether you're a seasoned performer or just starting out, this is your space to be heard. Come to listen, support, or take the stage at one of Wandsworth’s most iconic music venues! 

Sunday in the Park. Join CRIPtic Arts for a joyful picnic in Battersea Park to celebrate the end of Liberty Festival 2025 public programme! Expect good vibes, great company, and a headline performance from Miss Jacqui. Pack your blanket, bring your friends and family —and stay tuned for more details! 

https://welcometowandsworth.com/liberty-festival/  

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