Balancing Acts: Calgary’s Annual Disability Arts Festival celebrates its ninth year with the work of 100 artists this week.

The festival is a celebration of creative self-expression by emerging and professional artists with developmental, physical or sensory disability, mental illness, brain injury and/or chronic illness.

Examining themes of gender, sexuality, race and disability, over 100 disabled artists from Alberta, B.C., Ontario and California will showcase their work through five visual art exhibitions and 25 spoken word, theatre, film and creative writing performances.

Balancing Acts promotes the professional advancement of disabled artists and fosters an appreciative, educated audience for disability art through the presentation of thought-provoking performances, visual arts, professional development workshops, networking opportunities, community outreach and panel discussions.

The festival’s intention is to advance a creative vision of social equality that embraces the difference of disability rather than normalizing it or rendering it invisible within mainstream society.

"Disabled people have a unique way of being in this world as a result of our impairments. That's the very point of disability art, and Balancing Acts is proud to showcase it," says Michele Decottignies, Artistic Director of the festival.

Balancing Acts is the only professional multidisciplinary arts festival in Canada that is dedicated to advancing the concerns of the global disability art and culture movement.