Be part of London’s longest-running inclusive club night. On 24 April 2020 from 7-11pm award-winning creative arts company Heart n Soul invite you to The Beautiful Octopus Club at Wellcome Collection opening the Season On Happiness.
Free and open to everyone, the immersive experience features live performances from Heart n Soul artists and DJs, film screenings, talks, live radio and creative activities.
This special late-night event will be fully accessible, with BSL interpreted performances. There will be rest spaces and free massages, as well as a pop-up choir.
The Beautiful Octopus Club is a celebration of learning disability culture, with arts and culture at its core. Held annually, it’s a space where everyone is welcome: visitors are invited to come with an open mind and a desire to explore. This will be the first time the club is held at Wellcome Collection in its 25-year history.
Heart n Soul are current residents of The Hub at Wellcome Collection, a transdisciplinary research centre that brings together different voices and expertise to explore a health-related question in a new way.
Pino Frumiento MBE, co-founder of Heart n Soul, said:
“I am so proud of what we are doing at The Hub, and now Heart n Soul get to take over the whole building for a night! We originally started up The Beautiful Octopus Club to make a club night where anyone could come and have fun – a place where everyone is allowed in, disabled or non-disabled. After all, everyone is different, but we are all human. Our research is all about making connections between different people and having conversations. The club is going to be a great, happy place to do that.”
Led by people with learning disabilities and autistic people, Heart n Soul’s Hub residency is shedding new light on public attitudes towards learning disability and exploring the value in our differences. The research aims to create positive change in society for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
The Beautiful Octopus Club marks the beginning of Wellcome Collection’s Season on Happiness, which will explore the complex, often subjective, nature of happiness and its impact on our mental and physical health.
Ana Botella, Acting Head of Public Programmes at Wellcome Collection, said:
“We are delighted to be hosting The Beautiful Octopus Club, an event that has a long-standing reputation for inclusivity and openness. It will be the perfect opening to our Season on Happiness. As residents of The Hub at Wellcome Collection, Heart n Soul have spent the past two years exploring issues that are of utmost importance to the workplace and wider society. We look forward to seeing people from all walks of life coming together and celebrating what makes us happy.”
The Beautiful Octopus Club is part of the Season On Happiness running at Wellcome Collection from 24 April until 4 October 2020.
Please note that everyone is welcome to attend this event, but children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. A bar will run all night. The building might be busy and space is limited, so entry is not guaranteed.