Liberty Festival returns to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced plans for this year’s ground-breaking Liberty Festival, a free summer day out with the best of disability arts plus a range of sports on Saturday 15 July at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.


As London welcomes a summer of world athletics, enjoy a free summer day out for all the family at Liberty Festival. On Saturday 15 July at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, from 1.30- 6.30pm, check out the incredible line up of Deaf and disability arts.


You’ll also be able to have a go at a range of activities and sports. Come and try out wheelchair basketball, boccia, sitting volleyball and even new age kurling. With live music, dance, circus,street theatre, DJs and tasty food too, the day’s got something for everyone.


For an even bigger day out grab a ticket to the World Para Athletics Championships London 2017, in the London Stadium from 14-23 July, and have twice the fun! Liberty Festival is jointly presented by the Mayor of London and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.


Highlights of this year’s Liberty Festival programme include:

Liberty Parade – Portraits of Disabled People by David Hevey
This specially commissioned exhibition, by artist, photographer and film-maker David Hevey
and supported by Shape Arts, will feature high quality, vibrant and empowering large scale photographic portraits of disabled people welcoming visitors to Liberty Festival and the World ParaAthletics Championships London 2017.

Three Seater Syndrome and Work in Progress by Oliver McDonald
Oliver McDonald, recipient of the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary, presents two public
artworks for Liberty festival. “Three Seater Syndrome”, explores traditional willow weaving through a conceptual lens with three willow chairs inspired by the Goldilocks tale. There will also be opportunities to participate in willow weaving on site. “Work in Progress” is a large scale installation which inflates, but never quite fully, before repeating the cycle. The two pieces placedtogether are intended to provide a fascinating insight into this leading artist’s practice.

Corazón a Corazón by Deaf Men Dancing
Inspired by Manuel Puig’s ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’, and commemorating the 50th anniversary
of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, Corazón a Corazón, explores themes of sex, love, passion, betrayal, politics, oppression and power. Deaf Men Dancing’s uniqueperformance style – a fusion of dance and BSL sign-language – is further enhanced by a contemporised version of the Argentine Tango.

ILL-Abilities
Previously featured at Sadler’s Wells’ Breaking Convention, ILL-ABILITIES™ is an International Breakdance Crew comprised of four dancers (bboys). Founded as an “all-star” team ofdisabled dancers with the goal of showing the world that anything is possible, this international crew
now spreads positive thinking by sharing their theatrical dance performances worldwide.

Signmark
Finnish artist Signmark released the world’s first sign language hip-hop DVD in 2006. His second album made him the first Deaf artist to be signed by an international music label. Signmark’s performances in International Sign Language and spoken English bring a new voice to the signing community proving that music is more than what you can hear!