Educators are innovators.

Our story began back in 2005. We explored how artists could learn to be entrepreneurial, which led to founder Abbie Cooke, establishing Gig-Arts, and in doing so winning the Association of Business Schools Business School Student of the Year Award for CSR.

Our first Gig-Arts Event was held in Surrey, England. Gig-Arts then toured London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Leeds. By 2008 we started holding exhibitions for established disabled artists in corporate offices in London working with BT, BSkyB and NYK Shipping. We worked with the Association for Mouth and Foot Artists, and by 2010 we held an exhibition for artists with mental health challenges at Tate Modern in London.

By 2012 we exhibited disabled art in association with the London 2012 Olympics and the Team GB Paralympians.

In 2013, Gig-Arts went to the USA to hold an event at the famous Juilliard School in New York, followed by Trinity College, Dublin for an event sponsored by the Royal Sun Alliance that helped more than twenty local schools.

Our arts organisation then became a registered charity and made an impact in the Cotswolds and Thames Valley in schools and colleges around Oxford, Banbury and Reading.

In 2017, Gig-Arts held a six month disabled arts enterprise project in Banbury supported by the European Social Fund.

We have held weekly workshops and Gig-Arts events in Witney in Oxfordshire extending our community outreach to help artists in care homes as well as having impact on hundreds of Oxfordshire-based young people and vulnerable adults who love art music and drama

By 2018, there was a need to adopt a more eco-driven sustainable approach through educational support from Oxford Brookes University Business School (OBUBS)

In September 2019 Gig-Arts showcased their work at the OBUBS MBA Summer School and expanded the Board of Trustees.

In March 2020 the Covid-19 global pandemic hit the UK and in lockdown Gig-Arts switched to offering online services to continue to help aspiring artists with disabilities to shine.