About Us
Birds of Paradise Theatre Company (BOP) is Scotland’s preeminent pioneering disability-led theatre company and a force for change.
BOP has 30 years of experience and knowledge, offering trailblazing career opportunities for disabled people in the arts, making game-changing theatre and undertaking strategic work that has left Scotland more diverse and accessible than it was three decades ago. We continue to be a challenge to the status quo – confronting the absence and exclusion of disabled people from theatre, culture and many areas of society by placing their stories on our stages.
BOP has altered how the Scottish theatre industry views disability and how it thinks about access in Scotland – and now exports its knowledge around the world to affect positive change for disabled artists and audiences.
“The consistent thing they have always been known for is being agents for change. They are about changing the status quo.”
If you have any further questions about BOP, visit our FAQs.
What is BOP?
BOP is a small-scale organisation that has an immense impact. BOP makes theatre that is about disabled people, by disabled people and for everyone. We are a pioneer of Creatively Embedded Access
BOP creates theatre that entertains, inspires, shocks, represents and connects, offers development opportunities for disabled artists that empowers, enables progression and generates role-models and instigates strategic activity that leaves everyone we work with more aware, fired up and ready to realise the disability equality justice that we have ignited.
If you would like more information about our focus and outcomes for the coming years, you can read about them in our Business Plan 2025 – 2028.
BOP Theatre
World class theatre – new stories about disability; disabled creatives centre-stage; innovative creative access
- New productions and co-productions with key partners
- Touring productions in UK and beyond
- Pioneering Creative Access
- Exploring new forms including digital
- Audience development and wraparound activity
- New opportunities for disabled creative professionals
OUTCOME More representative and accessible stories on Scottish stages
BOP Development
Bespoke, accessible development opportunities, research and sharing
- BOP Artist development for disabled actors, directors, writers and others
- BOP Young Artists – providing development opportunities for young disabled people
- Partnerships with researchers and academics
- New approaches to making and sharing work such as Locked World
OUTCOME A more skilled and diverse workforce
BOP Strategic
Excellent training, consultation and initiatives to impact on disability equality in the arts
- DET training, access audits and organisational consultation
- Research into accessibility in the arts such as House Lights Up!
- Proactive events and training offered to the sector where we or partners identify need
- Partnerships – across the arts sector
- Access Scottish Theatre guide
OUTCOME A reduction in the barriers for disabled people in the arts
Our Vision
Our Mission
BOP’s Values
ACCESS, CARE and FAIRNESS intersect across our activity and are about how we see ourselves and how we work. They also inform our approach to EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion), Fair Work and Environment planning, policies and practice.
AUDACIOUS, AGILE and HONEST are values about how other people see and experience us from our creative choices and the work we put into the world, our ability to respond to opportunities that arise and our approach to relationships with everyone we work with.
Partner Initiatives
BOP is a PiPA (Parents and Carers in Performing Arts) Charter Partner, striving towards creating a more family friendly working environment.
PiPA campaigns to enable and empower parents, carers and employers to achieve sustainable change in attitudes and practices in order to attract, support and retain a more diverse and flexible workforce. We are always happy to discuss solutions that allow people to balance their caring responsibilities with their working lives, for example through job shares or flexible working arrangements as appropriate.Find out more about PiPA and read the Pledge: pipacampaign.org/the-pledge/
BOP is a member of the Green Arts Initiative
The Green Arts Initiative is a proactive network which aims to build and maintain a Scottish green arts community. Run by Creative Carbon Scotland, with oversight and support from a steering group of Green Arts members.
BOP takes an active part in working with the initiative to reduce it’s own carbon footprint, and that of the sector as a whole.
BOP has signed up to a pledge that committs us to the following:
Our Board will take steps to measure the diversity of the Board, senior leadership, staff, volunteers and service users by all relevant protected characteristics.
Our Board will identify what it can do to achieve fair representation from underrepresented groups at Board, senior leadership, staff, and volunteer levels. We will set targets and take action for improvement.
Our organisation will tackle barriers which might prevent some groups of people from accessing our services.
