At the end, there is always music
For Hannah, a trainee and DJane of the Firefly Club, the most important things in life are to enjoy life and to do what makes her happy, which is making music.
“It is like therapy to me: when I’m sad, music makes me happy, I sing the sadness away. (…) When I was nine years old, my mother passed away. Music helped me to overcome my grief–it still does!”
People with cognitive and physical disabilities face a lot of exclusion and prejudices and are one of the most marginalised groups in society. This also applies to the music business and creative industry. Christoph Sackl and Sebastian Gruber decided to take action and in 2012 they founded the Firefly Club.
The non-profit association trains people with cognitive disabilities to become DJs and then acts as their agent for bookings. Their aim is to break down prejudices against disabilities in the creative industry. By supporting the exchange between people with and without disabilities, they want to contribute to a more inclusive world.
Firefly Club’s journey wasn’t and isn’t always easy. The main challenge has been finding funding for their project, often seen as „nice but not necessary“. Also, prospective clients for bookings frequently have prejudices and shy away from booking a DJ with a disability, or they hire them only for image and marketing reasons. Despite that, the DJs of the Firefly Club have already played at major clubs in Vienna, as well as a big Austrian music festival. For Sebastian, also a founder of the association, these were among the greatest experiences in his career.
A strong increase in self-esteem can be noticed among the participants, especially when they are on stage. For some, there is also a social aspect–they get out more. The project has a great effect on the audience: barriers fall, new contacts are made between people with and without disabilities. Some trainees also develop a lasting interest in music. Within the groups there is a close cohesion and a strong awareness of (different) disabilities. Language does not play a role as such–there are also a few almost non-verbal participants who communicate with gestures or sounds. Multilingualism manifests itself through other forms of communication. At their workshops and trainings, there is no performance pressure, as Christoph states:
“Different levels of difficulty are possible, everyone can go as far as they can–at the end, there is always music”.
URB_ART spoke to Christoph Sackl, co-founder and chairman of Firefly Club (www.fireflyclub.at). The non-profit association trains people with cognitive disabilities to become DJs and then acts as an agent for bookings.
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