Carousel champions the rights of artists with a learning disability to flourish and be celebrated. In film, music, performance and digital arts, in our partnerships and training, Carousel is dedicated to making learning disabled creativity a valued part of the cultural landscape. 

A key player in the Brighton arts and cultural scene since 1982 and now internationally renowned, we work in partnership with learning disabled artists providing training, production and leadership initiatives that enable those who are often overlooked by mainstream arts to develop and showcase their creative skills. Our main areas of work are within film and digital arts, radio, music, training and advocacy.

We are proud to be an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, with our BAFTA qualifying film festival nationally funded by the BFI.

In the last five years our artists have achieved the following: 

Commissioned by Outside In, William Hanekom designed an award-winning map for The National Trust

Matthew Hellett and Becky Bruzas were the first two learning disabled artists accepted on Guiding Lights, the film industry’s leading mentoring programme 

The Daniel Wakeford Experience toured internationally with 84k streams on Spotify

Louis Walkden won the Drake Music Emergent Artist award

Jason Eade won a bursary from New Writing South 

Mattie Kennedy had a film commissioned by Arts Council England

Eleana Re and Toby Loxton made pieces commissioned by the BBC

Awards

Oska Bright Film Festival wins Best Event in the City at Brighton and Hove Business Awards

Curing Perfect wins Gold at Sussex Digital Awards

Carousel wins Everyday Impact Award from the Directory of Social Change 

Carousel Radio wins a British Podcast Award and a Lovie Award

Young Oska Bright Team wins Creative Learning Guild Award

Matthew Hellett is named on Dimensions Leaders List 

Lizzie Banks wins BAFTA For The Love of Film competition

Carousel is made an Arts Award Trinity Champion Centre