CONSULTANCY + PARTNERSHIPS
Creative access, public engagement and neurodivergent inclusion.
Elizabeth works with museums, galleries, cultural organisations, universities, artists and creative teams to develop more accessible, participatory and creatively ambitious experiences.
Drawing together artistic practice, embodied research and experience across accessibility, learning, participation and interdisciplinary programme development, her consultancy is particularly concerned with how people experience, understand and participate in culture.
Approved consultant
Museums & Galleries of NSW
WHAT WE CAN WORK ON
Access + Inclusion
Neurodivergent access, sensory experience and inclusive creative practice.
Elizabeth can support organisations to consider how spaces, programmes, communications and experiences are encountered by people who process information, environments and participation differently.
This can include:
Access reviews · neuroinclusive communication · sensory considerations · alternative ways of participating · accessible programme development · staff conversations and training.
SELECTED EXPERIENCE
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Participatory programmes that invite audiences into the work rather than simply asking them to observe it.
Elizabeth develops workshops, public programmes and creative engagement strategies rooted in movement, sensory experience, conversation and co-creation.
This can include:
Public programmes · community engagement · participatory experiences · workshops · artist laboratories · audience journeys · interdisciplinary events
PODCAST Join Elizabeth Arifien & Charlotte Edmonds as they amplify the voices of neurodivergent creatives from various artistic backgrounds. As two neurodivergent creatives, we want to learn how to navigate living with being ND in the arts through interviews with inspiring creatives.
BOUNDLESS BODY An ongoing interdisciplinary research and artistic project exploring neurodivergence, sensory experience, embodied communication and the relationship between movement and technology. The work brings together dance, film, sound, responsive technology and lived experience, and continues to inform Elizabeth's thinking around access, participation and alternative forms of communication.
THE DYSLEXIA ICON Move Beyond Words + The Space Development of a visual accessibility tool designed to help audiences understand whether online cultural content and webinars had been considered through a dyslexia-access lens.
![UN[BOX]ED – a short dance film about the stigma of dyslexia
UN[BOX]ED explores one person's journey as they deal with the stigmas connected to Dyslexia through dance. In society, those with dyslexia are often boxed into what people perceive our abil](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fac1639a44bf5639a5898ac/7848d9a6-3fb4-4c0e-94c4-88b585d2509a/Screenshot+2026-09-17+at+16.23.40.png)
UN[BOX]ED – a short dance film about the stigma of dyslexia UN[BOX]ED explores one person's journey as they deal with the stigmas connected to Dyslexia through dance. In society, those with dyslexia are often boxed into what people perceive our abilities to be. When we peel back the layers - who decides who we really are and who creates the box we so often are told we fit within?
MOVE BEYOND WORDS CIC A neurodivergent-led creative organisation founded by Elizabeth & Charlotte to explore dyslexia through movement, film, conversation and research. Its work included accessibility thinking, organisational workshops, public programmes, films, podcasts and collaborations with organisations including the British Dyslexia Association, Royal Opera House, Rambert School, One Dance UK, City Lit and The Space.
NEURODIVERSITY IN THE STUDIO Rambert School + One Dance UK Research and resource development exploring neurodivergence, dance training, communication and more inclusive approaches to teaching and creative practice.
Supporting Neurodivergent Children in Dance Spaces A practical resource supporting dance teachers to build more inclusive, sensory-aware and emotionally supportive spaces for neurodivergent children and young people. Combining lived experience with professional practice across dance, education and immersive arts, the guide offers practical tools that can be applied immediately within studio settings.
Dyslexia In The Studio Research Report Move Beyond Words commissioned research to support dyslexic dance and theatre practitioners to help: ● Understand how best to support dyslexic performers, especially in the audition and job application process. ● Develop guidelines to help choreographers, casting directors, agents and teachers to appreciate and include neurodivergent performers.
A film by Tom Sloan & Elizabeth Arifien
‘Taken by the Hand’ is a collection of five worlds colliding for one unifying dance. Our movement represents time, its passage and its impact, our emotive performance is combined with messages of community.
As an antidote to the zeitgeist of youth, our film directly faces the topic of age. Its narrative celebrates our elders whilst hearing honest accounts of their place within today’s society and how their experiences with dance have re-informed their perceptions around aging.
It is an unapologetic account of life, set to the backdrop of Tottenham
HOW I WORK
Elizabeth's approach begins with curiosity rather than a predetermined solution.
She combines lived experience, artistic research and practical organisational thinking to understand who an experience is designed for, who may be excluded from it, and what might become possible if different bodies, senses and ways of communicating are considered from the beginning.
Consultancy can take the form of a single conversation or review, a workshop with a team, research and development across a project, or an ongoing creative partnership.
GOOD QUESTIONS TO BRING ME
How could this exhibition be experienced differently?
Who might our current programme unintentionally exclude?
How do we meaningfully involve neurodivergent audiences rather than simply making adjustments afterwards?
How can movement, sensory experience or participation change the way people encounter this work?
How might accessibility become part of the creative idea itself?
LET'S WORK TOGETHER
Bringing a project, question or unfinished idea?
Elizabeth works with organisations at different stages, from early research and strategic conversations through to programme development, workshops and creative delivery.
You don't need to arrive with a finished brief.