Talks and workshops


Somerset House, 2024

Upgrade Yourself Festival connects emerging creatives ages 16 to 30 with trailblazing creatives and industry experts. Main stage panel discussion on June 8th 2024:

Forging Accessible Creative Careers with Shape Arts

Join Shape Arts and their supported artists for a panel discussion on accessibility for artists and artworkers trying to kick start creative careers, with Elinor Hayes, Kaiya Waerea, zack mennell and April Lin 林森.

Image: artwork by Sophie Hoyle, Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary Shortlist Exhibition, Project Space at BALTIC 39, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2019. Photo by Colin Davison.

Ugly Duck, 2023

Pretty Doomed: An alternative art fair questioning the sustainability of underground artworlds - Conversation:  (Lack of) Accessibility & Sustainability with Anita Kaslow Care-fuffle working group & Elinor Hayes, Shape Arts (hub, ground floor + BSL interpreted)


Art School Plus (2022, 2023)

Operating as both an alternative art school and a convener of unique art projects, Art School Plus is the bridge which connects artists with real-world public realm commissions to realise and imagine new ways in which art can exist in the world. Art School Plus uniquely develops ambitious projects, in partnership, which move away from the gallery space but instead engage with public spaces, collections and places, and in essence, very directly with the world in which we inhabit.

Empowering Arts, 2022

Shape Arts' Creative Producer Elinor Hayes delivered this online talk in early 2021 for Sophie Taylor's Empowering Arts programme - an online project exploring accessibility and inclusion in the creative industries. Watch to find out about Shape's programme and how our work is underpinned by the Social Model of Disability.






arebyte Open Screen, 2021


Open Screen is arebyte’s yearly programme for artists working online that self identify as disabled. Developed in partnership with Shape Arts,the open call welcomes artists who use digital tools to their advantage, overcome barriers, criticise matters of inclusivity within technology, or everything in between. Elinor was a selection panellist in 2021 and contributed to the programme’s discussion: Technology, Disability Arts + The online space.


Leeds Beckett University, 2021

Cross-cultural Management and Diversity Guest Lecture, Business School








SuperGlue collective, 2021


SuperGlue is a digital art platform created by a collective of art historians based in Seoul, London and Geneva. Co-founders Henry Dowson (UK), Jaeho Shim (KOR), and Cloé West (CH) met during their Master’s degree in contemporary art history at SOAS, University of London. Their drive to launch SuperGlue was born out of a passion for transnational contemporary art alongside their desire to feature up and coming artists. SuperGlue21 Gallery Talk.






King’s College London Students’ Union, 2021

Disability History Month Talk 






The Stove Network, 2021

Accessibility in the Arts conversation









Heong Gallery, 2020

In response to the current exhibition ‘Quentin Blake: Forty Women for Downing’ which celebrates the fortieth anniversary of women’s admission to Downing College, Gloria is holding a panel on pathways to creativity at Cambridge, inviting back alumni to reflect on their own creative careers, and the role of art within the university.





©2023 - Elinor Hayes - elinorhayes@gmail.com