“Ultra-Diversity”! What is this project that celebrates all kinds of individuality, including disabilities, gender, and nationality?

Haisai! I’m Takara from SUNNY SIDE UP, originally from Okinawa, now in my third year since joining the company!

Today, I’d like to introduce you to the “most diverse project” that SUNNY SIDE UP handles PR for: the “True Colors Festival – Ultra-Diversity Arts Festival.”

■What is “True Colors Festival – Ultra-Diversity Arts Festival”?

Suddenly, what do you think defines your own “individuality”? Facial and physical features, birthplace, the language you speak—everyone’s “individuality” varies greatly, doesn’t it?

Diversity refers to a state where people with various individualities and attributes come together. Recently, initiatives to promote diversity have become a topic of discussion among companies and local governments.

The “True Colors Festival – Ultra-Diversity Arts Festival,” hosted by The Nippon Foundation, is a project that celebrates and embraces such “individuality”!

Celebrities such as Ryuchell and Hirotada Ototake serve as ambassadors, and the festival welcomes advisors from various fields, including Fumino Sugiyama, who serves as co-representative director of Tokyo Rainbow Pride, as well as LGBTQ individuals and people with disabilities, providing guidance for various initiatives.

True Colors Festival is an arts festival where people with all kinds of “individuality”—including disabilities, gender, age, and nationality—can enjoy together.

SUNNY SIDE UP has been handling PR since the project’s launch in 2019, supporting the development of various events through performing arts such as dance, musicals, and theater.

※For details on PR activities, please see here
“True Colors Festival – Ultra-Diversity Arts Festival” PR Activity Resultshttp://www.ssu.co.jp/works/2019/09/20/2866/

The world-renowned dance group ILL-Abilities visited Japan for “True Colors DANCE” held in 2019

“True Colors BEATS,” featuring improvised music with artist KOM_I, was also held

The events planned for 2020 were canceled due to the impact of COVID-19, but they were revived in 2021, implementing various diversity-filled programs. Among them, these two programs generated particular excitement!

■Japan’s First Social Circus Company’s Debut Performance “True Colors CIRCUS”

Social circus is where various people, regardless of disability, perform together on the same stage.
Originally scheduled for 2020, this event was unavoidably canceled due to the impact of COVID-19.

This year, the long-awaited performance was set to take place, but with the declaration of a state of emergency, it became difficult to hold it with an audience…

However, the media preview was held as scheduled, and it was decided to stream the performance online at a later date.
It was successfully released on the official YouTube channel on June 1 (https://youtu.be/34BaFaG4nZg)

The performance held two years later. At the end, everyone stood on stage and performed a dance (Photo: Ryohei Tomita, Provided by: The Nippon Foundation DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS)

The key point of this circus is that not only the performers who participate regardless of disability, but also various roles such as “accompanists” who provide music for the performances and “access coordinators” who support the performers are involved in creating the work.

SUNNY SIDE UP leveraged all the strengths surrounding this work as assets and approached media promotion from various angles.

As a result, the initiative was featured in numerous media outlets, including Nippon Television’s “news zero” and TV Asahi’s “Tokyo Ouen Sengen.”

Performers with disabilities and accompanists perform together (Photo: Ryohei Tomita, Provided by: The Nippon Foundation DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS)

■Diversity Fashion Show Directed by Yoichi Ochiai “True Colors FASHION”

On May 30, “True Colors FASHION: Diversity Fashion Show Projecting Physical Diversity into the Future” (https://youtu.be/sUbd9PLzfRI) was streamed online.

This is a diverse online fashion show with media artist Yoichi Ochiai as general director.

Diverse individuals—including people without arms or legs, wheelchair users, people without disabilities, children, and the elderly—served as models, partnering with renowned brands such as ANREALAGE and KANSAI YAMAMOTO, as well as manufacturers like Xiborg and WHILL that support diverse bodies through technology.

True Colors Ambassador Hirotada Ototake walked the runway in traditional Japanese attire with prosthetic legs

Hard-of-hearing dancer GenGen wore a jacket that allows him to experience music through vibrations and visually amplifies his dance movements

Fashion is something familiar to everyone. However, while some people freely enjoy fashion without any inconvenience, others cannot fully enjoy fashion that suits them due to factors such as disabilities, gender, or other physical characteristics.

This fashion show proposes fashion that allows everyone to express their individuality and fashion that “extends” each person’s body using the power of technology.

■Not Inspirational Success Stories, but Authentic Representation!

Personally, I have been involved with this arts festival since its launch in 2019. The biggest lesson I learned from working on this project is how to bridge the gap between the stories and portrayals that media wants to create and the authentic representation of the individuals involved.

Don’t you often see success stories in the media you usually consume? For example, stories like: [There’s a protagonist, they fail at first, they struggle, and then they succeed at something they couldn’t do before].

Of course, I don’t intend to deny success stories themselves. When I didn’t have much knowledge, I also thought success stories were the most wonderful and moving for people.

However, by engaging with this arts festival, I came to realize that there are people with various individualities in the world, that we shouldn’t assume people can’t do things, and in fact, “if there’s something you can’t do, that’s also part of your individuality!”

(Photo: Ryohei Tomita, Provided by: The Nippon Foundation DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS)

And beyond that is transforming one’s thoughts and emotions into one’s own words and conveying them to the media.

I truly enjoyed the process of conveying the messages the arts festival wants to communicate and the feelings of those involved in my own words to the media, and learning together with media professionals.

■True Colors Festival for Everyone to Enjoy!

“True Colors Festival” is enjoyed together with people of diverse individuality, including disabilities, gender, generation, language, and nationality.

Each event can be enjoyed on the official YouTube channel with viewing support such as audio guides and Japanese and English subtitles.

Please enjoy it during your time at home♩

Official Website: https://truecolorsfestival.com/jp/
Official YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TrueColorsFestival