For the last 20 years Julie Robinson has worked to promote and practice inclusion in the Yukon territory. A producer/director/filmmaker and promoter of Inclusive Art, she has strived to find artistic and cultural space for creation of art done by and with arguably the most marginalized of Canadians. Artists who live with intellectual disabilites – persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder – are often infantilized, trivialized or marginalized. She has worked to help these artists find their voice, reveal their worlds, and seek recognition and respect.
Just as important, she has worked to build connections. Connections with community, with the artists who practice in the Yukon. Building working relationships between artists has enriched their lives and the cultural fabric of the Yukon. Relationships with institutions, made up in the territory of caring and daring individuals, willing to push the boundaries of what constitutes art, who should belong and who doesn’t, and why that is.
There are a multitude of obstacles in the way when you are an artist with an intellectual disability. Poverty, lack mobility, lack of agency and prejudice are just a few things that prevent an artist from fully participating in art. Julie works at reducing these barriers and supporting the artist's journey to having artistic agency.
So singers, musicians, writers, dancers, sculptors and people who love them have reached out to work together, create and connect, and then touch the Yukon community and wider world. They explore themes of who belongs and who doesn’t and why that is. Who is allowed and who isn’t, and why that is. Who has citizenship and who doesn’t, and why that is. It’s not all easy to face, with people talking about rejection, loneliness, segregation, and separation. But those lives are also full of hope, finding joy, having fun and laughter. And sex and sexuality – saucy and funny and sad and as necessary as breathing to everyone.
The focus of Julie’s practice is to give people their own voice, to use their own words or their own hands to talk about their lives, about the need for diversity and connection.
Julie has over 40 years of social justice work, exploring these themes working in the community creating programming of all sorts. Her artistic practice emerged from a desire to find ways to fully include and engage people living with intellectual disabilities in community life.
She found an acceptance in the arts community, an opening that just never seemed to appear in other sectors of our culture. Always an advocate and activist for citizens’ rights, she has been involved in the women’s and disability movement since she was a youth. But it wasn’t until she began supporting artists to express their desires of inclusion and hopes for diversity that she found such a large audience.
The Yukon itself is a welcoming culture for difference. Some years more than 1,000 people will attend the performances and films created by the Ynklude or Teegatha’Oh Zheh groups. Some of our performances are years in the planning and execution and are just the tip of the iceberg of the work done to highlight what can be done through inclusion. It has been a powerful way to explore and promote diversity.
In my 20-year arts career I have primarily been the artistic director/producer/writer /editor for most of my productions. I have collaborated with the best artists in the Yukon and notable names from other parts of Canada
In my role as leader of Yukon’s only inclusive performing arts group I have had the opportunity to grow, adapt and perform many needed roles. Acting in the role of producer, director and many other roles as needed. Promoting individual events and inclusive programming in general, doing media and promotions. I have also been front and center in recruitment of artists and production staff. Hiring professional artists and technical staff to work on our productions and finding all the resources needed to produce our shows, films, and books.
We have averaged about $100,000 of revenue towards the development of inclusive art. Julie Robinson as principal artist was paid for all director/producer/writer/editor work.
Out of necessity she has developed technical skills in filmmaking and sound production. She has also developed a set of skills that are useful when supporting artists who live with intellectual disabilities. This population of artists have specific needs that arise because of their circumstances as it relates to living with a disability.
Some of the techniques Julie has developed have been done to address sensory issues such as with artists who are blind, artists who live with autism spectrum disorder or Down Syndrome.
Each has their own needs that must be taken into consideration. These considerations are now part of the artist process she adheres to. She also works to provide the artist with the most agency they are capable of. Because most of our troupe has disabilites this also means they likely have had trauma in their lives, so she also directs with a trauma lens -- keeping aware of trauma causing circumstances in the artistic process.
Many of the artists living with intellectual disabilities do not have full citizenship. They do not make any major decisions in their lives ie. Where they live, where they spend their day or where they spend their money. Through the process of creating inclusive art we are intentional about giving the artists choice.
The amount of time and the one-on-one support needed is always a consideration. Because of different processing speeds, physical, and social needs we have found that to fully include artists with intellectual disabilities in the creation and delivery of original art we need to have a different expectation of a timeline and also an increase in the number of people involved. Many artists who live with an intellectual disability need one on one support to participate fully.
Up until now, the goal has been to develop the capacity of Yukon artists with intellectual disabilities to create and perform. It is mostly the Yukon where Julie has done her art. She wants to show this art to the rest of Canada. We have lots to share. Our stories, our inclusive practices, and our talent. We want to reach a larger audience.
Photos courtesy of Mike Thomas