Finding a way to navigate the choppy waters of social media as a force for good is a quest for our age – one that Poole-based artist Dave Young is meeting head on.
It’s a subject dear to his heart. As a disabled poet, musician and filmmaker, Dave has performed as The Shouting Mute for some years, using specially adapted technology to create poems, songs and theatre, relying on social media to maintain connections with a wider creative community.
Having constituted The Shouting Mute as a community interest company (CIC) this year, he is now working with disabled-led charity Diverse City on a new work, Social Media Meltdown, that highlights the positive power and potential dangers of social media based on real-life experiences.
“I formed The Shouting Mute as a CIC to help disabled people gain access to the cultural sector,” says Dave, who is working with director Eilis Davis from Diverse City, as well as Bournemouth-based musician Harry Bassett and a team of local actors and producers.
“We believe that everyone should have a voice and be represented on stage and on screen. Working with young people on Social Media Meltdown during the research and development, allows me as a writer to listen and learn what young people are saying on the topic and deeply embed that into the creative process.”
Over the last three months Dave has been running workshops for young people – both disabled and non-disabled – to gather their views and experiences of social media.
“From that he has created a series of poems based on what he was told and from that has come up with characters that explore their lives online,” says Eilis.
“One is sharing stories of their real life, another has got hold of their brother’s account and is gambling, another is exploring their identity online.”
Dave adds: “It’s about people having adventures in that space and how technology can drive equality.”
Combining newly available sound beam technology with innovative use of music apps like GarageBand, ThumbJam and Logic Pro, Dave is able to pace his words and add instrumentation and effects and even perform some of his work live. This specially adapted Augmentative and Assistive Communication (AAC) technology, such as his Tobii Dynavox iPad which he can operate using his eyes, enables Dave’s creative process, but much of its development is driven by the non-disabled world.
Eilis explains: “Dave works from an iPad, but that technology wasn’t created for disabled users, it has been adapted for that use. The fact that mainstream technology can be used by disabled people means it is less expensive – it removes the disability tax.”
Dave hopes to see Social Media Meltdown tour schools and theatres towards the end of next year, but for now it is very much a development project with The Shouting Mute and Diverse City hosting an invite-only performance at Lighthouse at the end of a week’s R&D in the Sherling Studio as part of this summer’s Sanctuary artist residency. The sharing is also planned to be livestreamed to audience members who are unable to attend in person.
“This studio space is crucial to our production,” says Eilis.
“There is nothing else like it – a space that is accessible, with technical support and available at no cost. It would be at least an hour’s drive to find anything that’s comparable, or we’d be trying to manage in venues that are not fully accessible.
“The studio is not a big space, but if it wasn’t there it would leave a massive hole.”
:: The Shouting Mute’s work on Social Media Meltdown has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Social Media Meltdown Research & Development has been co-produced with Diverse City and supported by Lighthouse, Arts University Bournemouth and CRIPtic Arts.
(NC)