Lukas Hornby is a disabled sound artist and musician. He performs internationally as GRST and is based in Bradford. He has described his performance work as “personal acts of healing from bereavement”. 

Lukas is also director of UK-wide experimental music network and NPO Outlands, and managed performance space and gallery FUSE in Bradford until its closure in 2024. He was also a volunteer for Bradford Producing Hub’s Creativity Council since its foundation in 2019. 

Lukas took part in a roundtable discussion for established disabled musicians in autumn 2024. We caught up with him online whilst in an artist residency at CAMP – a project based in the Pyrenees – to talk about the work there, and his thoughts about the relationship between access and environmental sustainability.  This is what he said. 

What is CAMP?   

CAMP is a place for artistic residencies with a focus on music and sound. They run five-day arts, music, writing and arts-activist sessions and courses, led by internationally acclaimed practitioners.  The courses combine work in their beautiful facilities with projects carried out in the mountains. It’s in France, close to the Spanish border and miles from anywhere! 

Being at CAMP is effectively like being on tour. In considering access and environmental sustainability, we appreciate the resources needed to get here are at times significant and counter to environmental sustainability -be that flying or coming by train. We know some disabled artists will have to travel in their own vehicles, of course.   

Photo credit: Lukas Hornby

Cushioning arrivals 

For myself, my neurodivergence and my anxiety is not so much about whether I can deliver or perform when I’m touring, but whether I can get there in one piece. What is different here is that CAMP works to meet that anxiety. We know this will be something that other disabled musicians also struggle with, so cushioning people’s arrival with an offer to meet up in nearby Toulouse at a café can really soften landings. That way, artists on residency get to meet each other and then travel to the venue together. 

Offsetting through culture 

Knowing that some people’s travel is going to use resources, we create a natural offset culture whereby time spent here illustrates and actions a low-impact way of living. We live very much off the land and locally we cook together. While eating, we perform and play together for those on residency and also local people. We become a community in this way, and it feels generative and resourceful. We hope to move towards planting a tree for every person who joins us. 

Local community 

We see the local people as our guides, respecting their position, their link with the land and its history as a place of refuge where people have travelled to historically to escape persecution. In this way, we see ourselves as temporary custodians of the land alongside the local community, who in turn come to our sharings and showcases. Folks around here hitch rides to get around – it’s about trust and saving resources. 

It’s also important to say that recycling here in France is also so much more responsible than in the UK. We take our waste to a central point – it is not collected.  

Creative work that reflects and respects the environment 

Our residencies and opportunities focus on the land and nature. The beautiful setting means that we make work with, about, or influenced by the environment and whilst not always about environmental justice, it naturally goes that way in its shape and form and the work generated.  

We do want to encourage activism too. We’ve programmed a residency online with Guerilla Girls at the end of this year, and we’re planning a residency on climate activism next year.   

Accessibility for Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent music creatives 

We are aware that what we provide in the locale is not going to be accessible to those with high support needs, because of the restriction of the historic buildings as they are, and the lack of resources to make them fully accessible. Also, some of the opportunities – for example the recent Chris Watson workshop which meant listening to the Red Deer at night – required those taking part to sit still outside for three to four hours which isn’t possible for all. We have an online programme to offset and provide alternative provision too. 

We always work with individuals to see how we can adjust and adapt the experience and what we do so they can make decisions about what is possible for them and ensure that they have agency. Many artists will still come to work in this space despite difficulty with access because the values of CAMP and the residency focus chimes so well with their own values. 

Developing access and environmental responsibility 

I love the ideas of our offset culture and being more explicit about what we do in this respect. For example, we have a 3D printer in a nearby village that we aim to use to replace the music tech parts in a more responsible way. It’s the little things we do that we need to talk about more – as well as the access from soft landing, to adapting what we do, and being honest about this. We are also looking to add compostable toilet facilities. One step at a time!