Founder's statement

​

Hi! I'm Elle and I am the founder and managing director of Nirvanas Arts Collective CIC. My passion is to support people and I also have a passion in the  creative arts as well, so I endeavoured to find a way I could merge my passions together, thus Nirvanas Arts Collective  was born. Throughout the last year I have continued to develop and refine the direction I want the organisation to take, it has been a journey of trial and error, listening to what the disabled community needs and developing my own business skills.

​

I often say NAC's journey started on the 8th of October 2024, when the company was officially incorporated, however my own story, which started in 2015, was really the beginning as without my story NAC would not exist. I rapidly became unwell in 2015, being diagnosed with multiple long-term conditions as a teenager. I turned to creativity to navigate a new world that, at the time, was quite small. Any energy I had was spent on creating, but it was my dream to create a business from my art. As my health improved, I did have the ability to achieve this. I exhibited at my first exhibition in 2018, I  left education after my GCSEs to pursue my creative passions, I sold artwork and kits through Etsy, took many commissions and sold originals.

​

My health improved to allow me to reach my goals however, it is my belief that health should not limit the ability to achieve these goals.  With beneficial, person-centred support in place creative disabled and neurodivergent individuals should be given the opportunity to achieve their own creative goals, even if it takes a little longer for them to get there.  NAC has been founded on the principle of equity and accessibility. Initial ideas of the services have been drawn from my own lived experience but they have been refined to best support the wider neurodivergent and disabled community. 

​

With my improved health I have studied at Derby university, moved cities, I can work part-time and created a non-profit. I grew-up in the Northeast of England, and now live in Sheffield, which is such a vibrant place full of creativity and social change; it is the perfect place to set-up a non-profit. Being back in the North has connected me back to my community and it is where I feel most at home, although it has taken some time to get used to the northern winters again!

​

My illnesses do not define me but has defined the ways I navigate life and the direction my personal and professional life has taken. I am proudly disabled and autistic, finding empowerment in my lived experience which I feel supports my ability to be compassionate and supportive of those I work with. I am also loudly disabled, autistic and queer which I hope supports the radical change that is needed to better support those who are marginalised and most vulnerable within society. 

​

I am extremely excited that NAC is now the next stage in my life, I look forward to what comes next and the amazing people I will meet along the journey, and I hope that you are one of them...