DAIL piece written in March of 1995

The Shaping of Dam: A Review

This video and booklet, largely funded by the Arts Council's 'Disability Arts Video Project', is a very good exploration and examination of the trials and tribulations faced when a disability arts magazine is set up whilst being dependent upon an arts subsidy (the good ol' Arts Council again). Produced and directed by DAM's ex-editor, the video also being his first attempt at such things, is well structured and complimented - without being repetitive - by an equally well produced and written booklet. And all for £30; a little expensive perhaps but understandable considering the limited market for such an enterprise.

The video is greatly enhanced by the selective use of Ian Stanton's disability anthem Rolling Thunder and the inclusion of many of the art works of some of our greatest disability artists (especially the late Jo Spence).

The section of the video and the booklet 'The Images Editor', narrated by that sub-editor herself (Claire Collison), is by far the best and the most enlightening of all the sections due to its reliance upon DAM's many excellent images. Though the section on the DAM board does not work as well it is still constructive in the way in which it reveals many of the problems faced by both the board as individuals and as a group (their meeting is done entirely over the telephone).

The inclusion of shots of the demos against Telethon and the Arts Council's closure of its disability unit at the beginning and end of the video respectively (to Rolling Thunder) place the entire existence of DAM within both its social and cultural context; giving it a piquancy that makes its relevance as valid as ever. The final shot of Roland handing over the editorship of DAM to DAIL's ex, Kit Wells, brings the video to a nice conclusion: not an end but a new opening for DAM itself.

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