Kris Halpin
Kris is a highly respected disabled artist working in the Midlands supporting the local disabled community through education, nurturing new music talent with disability, as well as performing for audiences who are often experiencing a show from a disabled artist for the first time.
We started working with Kris in 2015 after being introduced by Attitude is Everything, when we’d suggested to them a good way to raise the profile of disabled artists would be to share experiences of being on a tour from a disabled artists perspective during IVW.
As soon as we met Kris, we knew it was the start of a long and brilliant partnership, not least because we all shared the same values as well as a mischievous sense of humour.
We spent the next few months planning the tour which we finally routed around the UK for the 3rd IVW, taking in The Boileroom in Guildford, The Tin, Coventry, The Louisiana, Bristol and Half Moon, Putney. Kris took his good friend and documentary maker, Lee Cogswell, who recorded Kris’s experiences being on the road.
The tour was a big success, resulting in learnings for the venues taking part. It also led to Kris heading out to Japan with The British Council and across the pond to the USA. Kris then spent a few years growing his advocacy work, writing more music and navigating his way through the pandemic.
On 27th May 2022, Kris returned to deliver a live show at Drapers Hall in Coventry (where Radio 1 had their Big Weekend), and at Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham with Attitude is Everything ambassador Elle Chante on 14th September 2022.