Across Crete, accessible opportunities for cultural creation, mentoring and public presentation are spread unevenly, and young people with disabilities, especially those outside the island's main urban centres, face real geographical, accessibility and attitudinal barriers to taking part in cultural life at all.
People with disabilities remain underrepresented as creators and cultural voices. Too often, their experiences are told through someone else's lens, while inaccessible opportunities, limited mentoring and few real platforms for public presentation keep many in the role of audience rather than producer. What's needed is equal access to creation, authorship and visibility.
The project
The project creates a genuinely accessible pathway for young people with disabilities in Crete to develop ideas, produce work and present it publicly, expanding participation and supporting new creators while embedding accessibility into the creative process itself, and connecting their work with the wider community around them.
Built on autonomy, equal cultural participation and the recognition of young disabled people as authors of their own work, the project safeguards freedom of expression without forcing disability itself to become the subject of what they create. Accessible support sits alongside professional mentoring, and the work continues beyond the project through a lasting community and digital archive.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries are up to 20 young people with disabilities from across Crete.
Its impact reaches further, to around 300 people, including participants' families, professionals, educators, cultural organisations, attendees of the public presentation, and audiences who engage with the work through akako.gr's website and digital channels.
Project name: Culture in the First Person: Create & Participate
Proposing organisation: akako.gr
Area of intervention: Environment & Sustainable Communities
Country: Greece