"Extraordinary things happen when we see the art, not the disability"
Welcome to formidAbility, the world's first opera company putting accessibility at the foundation of the creative process. Here you will find details of our work, the people supporting our mission, and resources for individuals and arts organisations.
Our Mission:
"opera that places accessibility at the foundation
of the creative process"
formidAbility is breaking new ground in accessibility and inclusion in opera for those with disabilities, both onstage and off. We produce and support opera that places accessibility at the foundation of the creative process, rather than adding it as an afterthought.
We believe accessibility and inclusion are tremendously powerful and under-utilised creative tools that can inspire all performers, and that more diverse creative teams benefit the creation and performance processes.
We collaborate with the world’s foremost artists working for or with disability, because we believe that audiences miss out on a world of great art when artists, creators and performers with disabilities are missing from professional performance spaces.
Our Artistic Director:
JOANNE ROUGHTON-ARNOLD
Co-founder Joanne Roughton-Arnold is a singer and educator, already known to London audiences from her work with Opera Holland Park, and her one-woman performances at Grimeborn in 2016 and 2019.
Originally from NZ and with a background as a professional violinist, to label Roughton-Arnold as exciting is an understatement. She single-handedly commissions, produces, fundraises and sings projects of astonishing emotion and vision. With a mass of wild copper curls and an arresting belly laugh, her energy is positively atomic.
Her own visual impairment has never curbed her own ambitions and vision as an opera singer and producer, and formidAbility formalises her work into an incorporated non-profit company.
Artistic Director
Our Board:
JOANNE ROUGHTON-ARNOLD
HOLLY MATHIESON
Our Supporters:
Paul Arnold
Mary Ensor
Patricia Goodson
Jennifer Moates
Rachel Robinson