Project overview

In 2023, Trifle Studio approached Tilting the Lens to help them set and achieve their growth and accessibility strategy over a three-year period.

Trifle Studio was founded in 2022 by visual arts charity Intoart as a multidisciplinary design studio in the UK whose work is created by artists and designers with learning disabilities.

The challenge

The goal of the collaboration was to work with Trifle Studio to grow and expand their reach, while continuing to strengthen their core values. Tilting the Lens would help draw up and support plans for strategic growth and increased industry visibility through media and client outreach, exploring their financial model, and leadership development. 

Importantly, phase 3 of the collaboration included a full accessibility audit for Intoart and Trifle Studio, ensuring that their external and internal communication followed accessibility best practices.

Artist Christian Ovonlen is a Black man wearing a unique garment—a jacket—created in collaboration with RÆBURN. Christian stands in their Hackney studio in East London, surrounded by sewing machines, materials, and a large window in the background. He stands proudly, donning an orange jacket with red, black, and mint lettering bearing the words "CHANGE YOUR MIND." The textile, designed by Andre Williams and hand screen printed on RÆBURN’s signature parachute fabric, makes a bold statement. This phrase has become an emblematic call to action as the artist encourages audiences, creatives, commissioners, and brands to think differently about how they can foster greater inclusivity and access within their fields.
CHANGE YOUR MIND, Design by Andre Williams, Modelled by Christian Ovonlen for Raeburn Studios, image provided by Intoart

The approach

The project with Trifle Studio was split into 3 phases across 3 years: 

  1. Strategic planning and foundations
  2. Organisational growth
  3. Accessibility and capacity building

Phase 1: Planning priorities for the year

Phase 1 kicked off in February 2023 with a one-day in-person session between Trifle Studio leadership, the artists and designers, and Tilting the Lens, to align across the strategy for 2023-2024.

In this session, we covered upcoming projects and Trifle’s 2023 commissions, PR and communications planning, and leadership and recruitment. In March, Tilting the Lens delivered an action plan with recommendations for client engagement, artist development, and increasing industry visibility.

Phase 2: Affirming core mission while expanding

In the second phase of the project, Trifle Studio’s focus shifted towards strategic growth and expanding their reach and reputation, while also developing leadership. This meant that Tilting the Lens was supporting Trifle Studio across four core pillars: 

  • Mission Reaffirmation: strengthening the studio’s values and expanding engagement.
  • Partnerships: identifying collaborators, clients, and media opportunities.
  • Sustainable Funding: exploring diversified, equitable income streams.
  • Future Planning: equipping the team to adapt to shifting trends and needs.

Phase 3: Building capacity and focusing on accessibility

Phase 3 continued to build on the studio’s capacity and capabilities, and included an accessibility audit of materials, followed up by recommended improvements.

Accessibility audit

  • Tilting the Lens carried out an accessibility audit across Trifle Studio’s social media, website, and communications, including recruitment materials, budgets, and contracts. We offered guidance on public-facing exhibition materials, access rider templates, and inclusive practices across the board.
  • In November 2024, Tilting the Lens and a guest graphic designer led a workshop that focused on accessibility for neurodivergent and disabled audiences, with a toolkit for practical use. 

Easy Read integration

  • As part of the accessibility action plan, Tilting the Lens recommended Easy Read integrations into documents including policies, timetables, welcome packs, and consent forms. 
  • A charity organisation that specialises in creating Easy Reads joined (virtually) Trifle Studio and Tilting the Lens for an in-person feedback session to discuss next steps. 

Expanding the network

The final focus of Phase 3 was creating a directory of disabled creatives for future commissions, as well as recruiting trustees with a focus on lived experience. As part of this, Tilting the Lens helped improve the accessibility of the recruitment and outreach process, and made network recommendations.

Throughout the project, members of the Tilting the Lens team led in-person sessions at their studio in Peckham, London, to meet the artists and to make the meetings more accessible for the team as a whole.

Reports, feedback documentation, and all deliverables were always offered with a follow-up call to discuss and receive feedback. The documentation was provided in an accessible format.

Top row, from the left: three artists, Andre Williams, a black man with glasses, is wearing a white top and black trousers. Stanley Galton, a white man with brown hair, is dressed in a striped black and white top. Nancy Clayton, a white woman with long brown hair, is wearing a white shirt and black trousers. Bottom row, from left: Three artists, including Lisa Trim, a white woman with glasses and blonde hair, sit on the floor in black shirts and trousers. Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye, a black woman with short black hair and pink-rimmed glasses, is sitting on a white block wearing a grey and white shirt, black trousers, and white trainers. Lastly, Christian Ovonlen, a black man with black hair, is sitting on the floor wearing a black shirt, a white T-shirt, black trousers, and Adidas trainers. They are all positioned against a grey backdrop.
Trifle Studio artists for British Vogue, May 2023. Image Credit: Adama Jalloh

Outcome and impact

This long-term project has been highly fruitful, with Tilting the Lens and the charity behind Trifle Studio, Intoart, establishing a collaborative and supportive relationship. 

  • Within the studio, structured systems and processes were implemented, and communications were made more inclusive. Specific examples include increasing the accessibility of budgeting and finances for all stakeholders and creating templates for artists’ access riders to send to clients ahead of projects. 
  • Trifle Studio now has roadmaps in place for learning disabled people to be increasingly involved in the strategic planning and future of the organisation.   
  • Externally, Trifle Studio has broadened its network of collaborators and clients, garnering wide publicity when six artists with learning disabilities were featured in the May 2023 issue of British Vogue, showcasing their work at Trifle Studio to a global audience. 
  • While the project concluded in May 2025, Tilting the Lens’ Senior Consultant, Emma Shaw, is joining Intoart’s board of trustees to help advance the organisation’s exceptional work and future strategic objectives. 

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