Test project:
Fireworks created in a collaborative workshop between renowned pyrotechnicians and persons with disabilities

• Test project overview
• Workshop report
• Selected fireworks designs

Fireworks created by renowned pyrotechnicians and persons with disabilities

This past June, Japan’s most renowned fireworks experts teamed up with a group of persons with disabilities who typically do flower arrangements for a special collaborative workshop.

Thirteen people participated in the workshop. Normally, they work at an activity space called Applause Minami-Aoyama, which is operated by the Applause Association as a way to support persons with disabilities in joining the workforce through flower arranging. Some of the members have trouble with crowds and crowded places, so they find it difficult to attend fireworks festivals. Some have never even seen professional fireworks up close. There were some questions about how a fireworks workshop involving people who hadn’t had a lot of firsthand experience with fireworks would actually play out, but everyone listened eagerly to the talks given by the pyrotechnicians and asked a lot of questions. The workshop was held over four sessions and ended up being quite powerful—to the point that it sometimes ran overtime.

Using the knowledge they gained from the sessions, each of the thirteen participants came up with their own personal fireworks design, inspired by the Olympic victory bouquet. Just as you’d expect from a group used to flower arranging, the designs were heavily flower-based and tapped into a profound knowledge of flowers. Among them were ideas that were so wonderful that even the fireworks experts were genuinely impressed. Six designs were ultimately chosen from the thirteen after repeated discussions between the designers and the pyrotechnicians. The fireworks experts from the workshop were then charged with crafting them into real fireworks.
We hope you’ll make it out to one of the festivals so that you can see for yourself how these special fireworks turned out!

At the Japan HANABI Association, it is our fervent hope that this fireworks project, inspired by the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic games, takes us one step further in becoming a society that is both physically and mentally barrier-free.

Creating a barrier-free world through fireworks

Setting off fireworks designed by people with disabilities and preparing a location that allows those designers (as well as others who typically find it difficult to go to events like these) to actually attend the festival showcases to the many people who gather at the event the possibilities that barrier-free strategies open up—not only for the world of fireworks, but for unlocking the potential that people with disabilities have as well. The Japan HANABI Association wants to share with as many people as possible the way a fireworks festival can look from the perspectives of people with disabilities, who are too often overlooked.

We also want to use this traditional Japanese art form to allow these designers with physical challenges to express themselves. In the process, we hope to add even more beauty to Japan’s traditional cultural practices while fostering the creation of a society that truly understands diversity and promotes harmonious coexistence for all.

Fireworks festival overview

At "2017 NARITA Fireworks festival in Inbanuma", we will launch "Fireworks created in a collaborative workshop between renowned pyrotechnicians and persons with disabilities"

2017 NARITA Fireworks festival in Inbanuma

Organized by	NARITA Fireworks festival Executive Committee
Administrative office	NARITA Fireworks festival Executive Committee
Date and times	Saturday, Octover 14, 2017 Opening at 7:00 PM
Launch location	New town Sports Square (Route bus from JR Narita Station)

For more information, visit the official event website at
http://narita-hanabi.com/2017/

This project is commissioned by the Cabinet Secretariat’s Office for the Promotion of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games and is being implemented as part of a 2017 survey on basic policy promotion for the event.