We speak to two of the ‘gamechangers’ who have been recognised for what they do for arts around Wales. Berwyn runs LGBTQ+ film festival Iris Prize and Marc runs his own disability dance studio. And they both say its an amazing opportunity being a part of such a unique art installation.
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00:00I would never have thought that I would be recognised as a game changer. You know, I
00:07do what I do. I love what I do. I work in dance. I acquired my disability, you know,
00:1126 years ago. And my passion was to continue dancing and to also create pathways for other
00:16people to dance. So it's through my art form of creating possibilities for disabled and
00:21non-disabled artists to be able to access dance and be professional dancers.
00:26And it's all part of celebrating the National Lottery's 30th birthday anniversary celebrations.
00:33So I'd be slightly caught on the hop, really, because all we do is we just do our job. And
00:41our job is sharing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus. I'm not quite sure
00:49what a plus is. I'm not sure if I've ever met a plus. But, you know, our job as the
00:54Iris Prize is to share these stories.
00:56The artwork commissioned as part of the Lottery's birthday celebrations is a groundbreaking
01:01piece which is being projected onto the site of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
01:06The added special element to the piece is that it uses the Game Changers' brainwaves.
01:11It's all a bit science fiction-y, but the Game Changers are excited to be part of such
01:16a unique piece of work.
01:18Well, the joy of being a Game Changer is that through the process, it was confirmed that
01:25I do actually have a functioning brain. So I was rather excited. And the machine was
01:30placed on my head. And the very nice artist who was with us commented that the level of
01:38activity recorded from my head was the most exciting he'd ever seen. I think he said that
01:45to most people.
01:47Yeah, at first I was like, oh, will they be able to recognise my brainwaves? Will they
01:50be there? You know, because it's something that I've never seen before. And yeah, it's
01:56amazing how each person's brainwaves are different. But I'm really looking forward to seeing how
02:01it culminates and he puts it all together to create this installation.
02:04I was told that Idris Elba, I was told that Oprah Winfrey, that they had also participated
02:14in this process of having their brainwaves recorded and processed and projected. So I
02:21thought to myself, well, if Idris Elba can do it, you know, why can't I do it?
02:26Berwyn and Mark both say it's great to be able to celebrate what they do as part of
02:31the National Lottery's birthday. Mark says it's an opportunity to spread what he does
02:35to a wider audience and hopefully get more people involved and knowledgeable about disability
02:40dance.
02:41Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's about exposure and representation, you know, and to have
02:46a positive impact and also to make change in the dance world and the arts world, to
02:51make space and create these platforms, opportunities for disabled artists to have their voice and
02:56their art being presented and seen in main stages.