Accentuate 
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So, what is Accentuate ? 

Accentuate is a ground-breaking, cross sector, multi agency project. It takes the milestones, values and achievements of the Paralympic Movement, with its origins in South East England, as its inspiration in order to drive real and lasting change and promote excellence. Accentuate is funded by the Legacy Trust which was established to support a wide range of innovative cultural and sporting activities for all, which celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.  The accountable body for Accentuate is Screen South, who are working with five agencies: English Heritage, Museums and Libraries Archives, Arts Council South East, Tourism SE and Sports England to deliver 15 projects.  There are five key themes that each of the projects fall within.  These themes are:

  1. That every young disabled person in the South East has an opportunity to create, compete and/or collaborate in a project with another young person in the region and one other competitor country.
  2. There is real joined up thinking about the welcome we give to both our overseas and domestic visitors with disabilities. It is also leading the way across the country for innovatory accessible exploration of historic environments and disabled people’s perspectives. 
  3. That we recognise and showcase the wealth of talent we already have in the South East, developing the skills of the disabled leaders of tomorrow.  Also we attract world class events to the South East and alongside this offering a wide range of educational and creative legacy events.
  4. We explore the impact of Paralympics and the South East’s role in this transformational moment.  Within this lies the potential to unearth new and innovatory ways of recording and interpreting stories that will have a long term impact on research methodologies and ways that our communities explore their heritage.
  5. We celebrate and commission, ensuring the world’s media recognises the South East whilst celebrating the local talent and the local creativity, specifically demonstrating the excellence of disabled artists and athletes throughout the region.   

Why is Accentuate important?

The South East has a unique heritage and place in the history of the Paralympics.  We want to build upon the inspiration of this to make the South East the most accessible, most welcoming region in the UK and we aim to be the UK’s leading region for disability arts and culture. 

Accentuate has the exciting potential to do something that no other programme has achieved to date.  That is to establish a foundation stone on which a real cultural shift in attitudes can take place.  This can be achieved if the skills and experience of disabled athletes and artists are not only celebrated, but taken seriously.  By the end of 2012, we want the world’s media to recognise the South East’s role in the development of the Paralympics, whilst celebrating local talent and local creativity. 

We also need the media to understand that there must be a substantial change in the way disabled people are seen; moving away from the tragic but brave portrayal, to one based on 'achievement, ingenuity and success'.   

For more information please visit www.accentuateuk.org or email info@accentuateuk.org






Please note that Accentuate is a managed programme and NOT a grant scheme.