Intoart's Progressive Art Studio Programme

Our vision at Intoart is for learning disabled and autistic people as visible, equal, and established artists, designers, and makers. We are a visual arts organisation led by the creative ambitions of learning disabled people.

Our Project

We are requesting £25,000 toward Intoart’s full-time progressive art studio programme for learning disabled and autistic people. Central to our work, the Intoart Studio runs Monday to Friday all year round in the creative hub of Peckham Levels. It is fully-resourced and fully-accessible. Learning disabled people learn from and collaborate with professional artists and specialists across disciplines spanning art, design, and craft. Original artwork produced in the studio is publicly exhibited in major galleries and museums, on street billboards and in shop windows, in national newspapers and global reach magazines, on book covers and film titles, in public buildings and on catwalks. The Intoart studio provides the space, support, and resources to address absence of ambition, education, employment, and friendship networks that can exacerbate the mental health challenges faced by learning disabled people.

Our Community

The Intoart studio reflects the diverse intersectional make-up of Southwark. Intoart artists are 100% learning disabled, 75% low socio-economic background, 70% global majority, and all have complex needs ranging across physical and sensory disabilities; health complications; autism; and enduring mental health challenges.

Learning disabled people face multiple discrimination, often belonging to more than one marginalised group and forced to navigate barriers far more complex than disability alone. Intoart takes a person-centred approach ensuring that learning disabled people can foreground their lived experience, histories, and ambitions in producing original and exceptional artwork. We provide long-term support structures for all learning disabled artists working in the studio, ensuring consistent care and tailored progression routes into the creative and cultural sector.

Our Impact

“The creativity and self-belief of this group of individuals with disabilities is a demonstration to society of what is possible with the right level of support.” Parent of beneficiary

Intoart is committed to increasing the visibility and profile of learning disabled artists within contemporary culture. Our progressive studio programme is delivered in tandem with our campaign to build a more equitable creative sector.

We work with a core collective of 26 learning disabled artists year-round, and a further 72 young learning disabled people through our outreach programme. All members of the Intoart collective are empowered to become socially and creatively active, developing independence, confidence and positive wellbeing, as well as a long-term career that elevates their visibility and profile as artists.

In our 25-year history, Intoart has 

• nurtured award-winning artists (Paul Hamlyn Artist Award, Brookfield Properties Craft Award, Hublot Design Prize finalists)
• secured career-defining exhibitions (V&A, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Whitechapel Gallery)
• achieved acquisitions into national art collections (V&A, Arts Council, Government Art)
• featured in national press campaigns (British Vogue, Financial Times, The Guardian)

“I know about stigma; it’s having a different criteria for people with a disability. Anyone can be an artist, no matter what background you’ve got.” Intoart artist