DaDa

This week is International Week of Deaf People and today is the International Day of Sign Languages! 👋🏻

Our friends, Tessa CollectiveEncounters are thrilled to be launching a new Deaf Theatre Group tonight at Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres on Hope Street, supported by Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres, unity theatre , and Merseyside Deaf Centre , where British Sign Language (BSL) will be the primary language used.

🎭 Deaf Theatre Group with BSL interpreter.
📍: Liverpool Everyman Playhouse, 5-11 Hope Street, L1 9BH
💴 : FREE

📅
•⁠ ⁠Wed 23rd Sept, 7 - 8.30pm
•⁠ ⁠Wed 30th Sept, 7 - 8.30pm
•⁠ ⁠Wed 7th Oct, 6.30 - 8.30pm
•⁠ ⁠Wed 14th & 21st Oct, 5 - 7pm
•⁠ ⁠Wed 4th Nov, 6.30 - 8.30pm
•⁠ ⁠Wed 11th Nov, 7 - 8.30pm

Part of our 2026 Creative Health programme, sessions will use Deaf-led creativity to look at how to improve women’s health access.

For more information, contact Joanne:
Email: [email protected]

Whatsapp: 07547 333 574

With profound sadness, we share the passing of Persis Jadzé Maravala, Artistic Director of ZU-UK, co-founder and friend. Jadzé died in Rio de Janeiro following a catastrophic brain haemorrhage caused by a ruptured cerebral aneurysm.

Jadzé was an artist of extraordinary imagination, courage and generosity whose work transformed the possibilities of participatory and immersive performance. For more than two decades, she created encounters that brought strangers closer — inviting us to meet, listen, play, care for one another and sometimes simply be together.

Her work was never concerned with immersion for its own sake. At its centre was a persistent question about human connection. She believed in performance as an encounter and placed the ethics of caring for audiences alongside artistic experimentation. For her, empathy was radical — not just nice or kind, but difficult: uncomfortable, challenging and ultimately transformational.

Before co-founding ZU-UK, Jadzé co-led Para Active with artist and long-term collaborator Jonathan Grieve, developing the collaborative and participatory approaches that remained central to her artistic practice.

Jadzé leaves behind her husband and long-term artistic collaborator Jorge Lopes Ramos, with whom she co-founded ZU-UK, and their daughter, as well as an extraordinary extended family of friends, artists, collaborators and communities across the world. We ask that their privacy be respected at this time.
Her work brought people closer.

That work continues through all of us who experienced it, made it with her and were changed by it. We will share information about a public celebration of Jadzé's life and work in due course.

In loving memory of our friend, Jadzé. 🤍

We're proud to have been shortlisted as a finalist for Arts Organisation of the Year at the Liverpool City Region Culture & Creativity Awards.

While we didn't take home the award this year, we're honoured to have been recognised alongside so many outstanding organisations making a difference through culture and creativity across our region.

Congratulations to Royal Liverpool Philharmonic on their well-deserved success.

Being shortlisted during our 40th anniversary year is a wonderful acknowledgement of the artists, activists, audiences, partners, staff and supporters who have shaped DaDa over the past four decades.

Thank you for being part of our journey. We'll continue championing disabled artists, working to improve access within the arts and creating opportunities for change.

📚Book Launch Announcement!

Writer and artist in residence at The Bluecoat, Jennifer Lee Tsai, launches here new poetry collection 'Melete' at Bluecoat Wed 3 Jun, 6-7.30pm.

In this first full-length collection, Jennifer Lee Tsai explores family history, intergenerational trauma, love, loss, and belonging through the lens of a second-generation British Chinese identity. Melete weaves together dual cultures and heritages through narratives of memory, migration, and mysticism, spanning Liverpool, China, and Hong Kong. This expansive collection establishes a powerfully distinctive lyric voice in contemporary British poetry.

DaDa enjoyed a live preview of some of Jennifer's poems in the spring, so we know this event is one not to be missed.

More information on the launch and how to book tickets here:
https://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/whatson/jlt-melete-launch

Jennifer will be joined by fellow Bloodaxe poet and Costa Book of the Year Poetry Award winner Hannah Lowe.

We were thrilled to watch Tomas Edgar perform at Outer Waves Festival this bank holiday weekend!

Tomas Edgar is a multi-instrument musician based in northwest Liverpool who plays Drums, Guitar, Bass Guitar, And keyboards.

Tomas joined DaDa through our young ensemble project being mentored as a young music leader where he guided young disabled musicians to perform one of his original pieces at Liverpool Philharmonic last summer. He likes to explore lots of different genres / types of music such as Rock, Blues, Classic Country, Reggae, Jazz and blend these ideas together.

Tomas was joined on stage by Multi-instrumentalist of Ex Easter Island Head, Jon Hering along with drummer and member of Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company, Finley Holt.

We can’t wait to see where Tomas performs next!

Get your tickets quick…

https://royalcourtliverpool.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873657757/events/128615123?fbclid=IwZnRzaAR70shleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeP1sXZjkGYSKulO5gpvk9Z2yoaGzinDBaIPZNPwrRmQITskJst-cDAwB1XRc_aem_NLA9jyFufSOghpm745PjdA

Opportunity 👇

| The Inclusive Sport & Culture Festival (ISCF) Liverpool 2027 is seeking expressions of interest from disabled people to join our Cultural Advisory Group.

We strongly encourage applications from people who also bring diverse perspectives, including, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ people, Applicants must be 18 years of age or older

You do not need prior advisory group experience to be considered.

Find out more & how to apply ➡️ https://cultureliverpool.co.uk/news/opportunities-to-join-the-inclusive-sports-culture-festivals-cultural-advisory-group/

There are accessible versions of this information available at the bottom of the linked page. If you have access requirements or questions, please contact [email protected] or call 0151 233 0180

'Cured' by Laurence Clark is coming to Liverpool's Royal Court.

For some, a holy pilgrimage to Lourdes is all prayers, candles and proper holy contemplation. For this mad bunch of disabled Scousers, it’s bevvys, mucking about and getting off with each other… and definitely no bleeding miracle cures!

Join four young pilgrims as they take on nonsense rules, embarrassing exes, new fancies, hidden fancies, and the big question nobody ever asks: do disabled people actually want to be fixed, or are we sound as we are, ta?

Access Information
All performances have integrated captions, audio description and BSL interpretation.
To book wheelchair access tickets at Liverpool's Royal Court, please contact the Box Office on 0151-7094321 or email [email protected].

Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk_jYHdrewc

22 May-6 June: Liverpool's Royal Court https://royalcourtliverpool.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873657757/events/128615123

11-13 June: Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
https://www.belgrade.co.uk/events/cured/

24-27 June: Hull Truck
https://www.hulltruck.co.uk/whats-on/drama/cured/

CURED - a new play touring May/June 2026 For some, a holy pilgrimage to Lourdes is all prayers, candles and proper holy contemplation. For this mad bunch of disabled Scouse kids, it’s bevvys, muckin...

We are pleased to announce The Garden Room at The Bluecoat as the venue for our BSL Level 1 course this September.

DaDa has booked 'BSL Teacher of the Year' John Mancini (Home | Sign Jam BSL) to deliver an intensive, 5-day course for a Signature British Sign Language (BSL) Level 1 qualification this September, and we are able to open the opportunity to anyone who would like to join us.

The course will be run intensively across the course of a week, so by Friday afternoon you will have completed the Level 1 training.

Places are filling up fast, so here are the details so you can act fast if you are interested:
· Course: BSL Level 1 (Signature Qualification)
· Course Delivered by: John Mancini
· Accessible City Centre Venue: The Bluecoat
· Date/Time: 7 – 11 September, 9.30am - 4.30pm each day
· Course Fee: £475.00 (which includes assessment fees)
· Light refreshments will be provided (drinks/snacks)

Integrating access into arts and enterprise is our passion, and we would love other organisations to join us in making a commitment to building access by training more of their workforce in BSL (British Sign Language).

If you are interested in joining, please contact [email protected] for more information, access requirements and bookings.