Interview with Maka Chkaidze: How cultural initiatives can change public attitudes and increase opportunities for greater acceptance and inclusion.

Maka Chkhaidze is a participant in the Our Common Language project, a cultural manager and the founder of InForm – Platform for Inclusive Minds. In this interview, Maka provides an insightful overview of the current state of inclusion in the Georgian art scene, exploring both the challenges faced by artists with disabilities and the potential of art to promote a more inclusive society, as well as how cultural initiatives can change public attitudes and increase opportunities for greater acceptance and inclusion.

 

Can you give us an overview of the current situation of inclusion in the Georgian art scene? How significant is the participation of people with disabilities?

Inclusive arts scene in Georgia is challenging and complex. Unfortunately so far there is not an institutionalized approach established which would ensure the participation of people with disabilities into the cultural life of the country, it all relies on the individual or on civil society initiatives. People with disabilities still do not have access to the formal professional education in arts, they are not employed at the arts sector. However, in the past years quite a few initiatives emerged which give an opportunity to disabled people to participate in the inclusive arts projects, performances, etc. It has a wonderful effect on the life quality of disabled people but on the other hand, it places them into the particular, very narrow niche and not as parts of the general cultural processes.

Each person should have a right to express themselves in the discipline they are passionate about. Art, especially performing art is a wonderful language and communication tool for disabled people to talk directly to public and make their voices sound. At the same time, the uniqueness that disabled artists bring into the art world based on their experience, perspectives, visions, is extremely valuable for enriching the art and bring a new understanding of what is and how diverse the art can be. 

What specific challenges do people with disabilities face in the Georgian art scene? Are there structural or cultural barriers that are particularly difficult to overcome?

People with disabilities face difficulties on every level of the life. Starting from the inaccessible infrastructure, ending to exclusion from the general artistic discourse. I would say, that public awareness is increasing quite rapidly, there are more supporters to the idea of inclusion then opponents in the arts scene. However, one of the challenges remains lack of expertise and experience among artist to work with people with disabilities.

I founded my organization InForm – Platform for Inclusive Minds exactly with this idea in mind, to narrow down the gap between disability and arts communities, to create a bridge, safe and comfortable space for both parts to engage into the artistic experiments, get to know each other and develop ideas on how this collaboration could become a part of the artistic life.

How has the perception and acceptance of people with disabilities in the Georgian art scene changed in recent years? Do you see progress in public perception and support?

I can tell from the experience we have, that people in arts scene are more eager to work and collaborate with disabled artists and I can definitely see the progress in public perception. The reaction of the Georgian audience is one of the most valuable outcomes of the projects I work on. Unfortunately, we still have quite poor awareness of the performing art skills and talents of people with disabilities. We are rather more sceptical about the quality and artistic value of disabled art; therefore, the audience mostly visits inclusive performances with a charity purpose instead of expecting a high quality art piece. I could tell from the reactions of the audience after our shows this perception is a little bit reframed.

The audience becomes a part of the performance, where the barrier between disabled and non-disabled participants vanishes, everyone on the stage is part of a united harmonic flow, each one of them are able to express their skills, talents, huge range of possibilities, and each one of them have their unique role in the creation of the whole performance. The majority of spectators share with me that the performances have unforgettable impact on them, and they started thinking and analysing topics which go far beyond the issues of integration and inclusion and touches very precious sides of our lives. This is exactly my wish – that the audience not only sees the issues of inclusion, but more profound layers of the interrelationship between society and individual.

 

Foto: Noy Stepanyan