Youth Arts Consultants

Keen to be more accessible to disabled people? The YACs can help

What are the YACs?

The Youth Arts Consultants (YACs) are a group of young disabled artists who have been trained by BOP to provide accessibility consultancy to the sector, to improve the accessibility for disabled people in engaging in arts activities. They do this by:

Access audits:
Make sure that your organisation is providing an accessible environment or materials to people with a range of impairments. The YACs can audit websites, designed print and physical spaces, and will produce a report with a range of necessary/recommended changes.

Alt-texting:
Digital images are only accessible to blind and visually impaired people if they have an alt-text description. The YACs can go through your website or digital publication and add this in for you.

The YACs are also available for bespoke Access Consultancy, and can be flexible and reactive to whatever the specifics of your enquiry may be.

A shot of people in a workshop. We see a young man on the left, he is wearing a checked red and black shirt. He is smiling at a woman next to him, she has brown hair and is holding a cup of tea. In the background we see a white wall covered in various pieces of paper with plans on them.
YACs Elliot and Hannah at a workshop on making spaces accessible with architecture students from Glasgow School of Art
Logo shows a cartoon of an orange animal with horns, with three rolls of plans tucked under one of its arms. It is standing on a large sign, which says "YACs" in large capital letters. The animals other arms holds a cable that descends from the top of the image and connects to the sign it stands on.


To engage the YACs in an access audit
or alt-texting job
please email Anna Richardson on anna@boptheatre.co.uk

The Youth Arts Consultants are a fantastic proactive approach to developing access and practice across Scotland’s cultural organisations and infrastructure.
Kenny McGlashan, Chief Executive Officer – Youth Theatre Arts Scotland

Past Clients

Creative Edinburgh
Cutting Edge Theatre
Edinburgh Performing Arts Development
Elena Pirras
Glasgow School of Art
Magnetic North
National Theatre of Scotland
Paragon
Platform
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – Widening Access to the Creative Industries
Scottish Youth Theatre
Take Me Somewhere
Tenterhooks
Youth Theatre Ireland
Youth Theatre Arts Scotland

Who are the YACs?

Anna Richardson

Sorcha Pringle

Georgia Holman

Cai Hanna

Andrew Gallagher

Georgia Dunn

Hannah Yahya Hassan

Amy McAinsh

Katie Anna McConnell

Bo Hogan

John Reader

Rebekah Watters

Myfanwy Morgan

YAC biographies:

Anna-Karolina Richardson

Anna-Karolina’s professional background is in box office and customer service with a passionate focus on equality and diversity. Her interests are informed by her lived experience of physical disability and mental illness, specifically access barriers for people with anxiety, depression and invisible illnesses. She is very excited to be working with Birds of Paradise to open up the joy of theatre to all!

Sorcha Pringle

I am a professional community musician, with a particular interest and expertise in the area  of inclusive music practice. I am passionate about accessibility, and a great believer in the value of nurturing every individual’s artistic potential. I have recently started working with artists from other art-forms, and I am keen to engage in conversations across the arts relating to representation and access.

Georgia Holman

Georgia Holman is an artist and creative facilitator based in Glasgow. She is a co-director of EMBASSY Gallery and has produced commissioned work for Birds of Paradise Theatre Company. Her work is informed through her own neurodivergence, queerness and changing capacity, and is explored further through the lens of queer theory, disability justice, collective working and anti-capitalist teachings. In her work and creative facilitation, she cares about embedding a politics of care and the intimacy of access needs being met. 

Andrew Gallagher

Andrew Gallagher is an Actor, Writer and Disability/Autism Advocate. Based in Inverness he travels around the country adding his oddball charm to a variety of projects. Credits include “Hacks for the future” with National Theatres Futureproof Festival and “Act of Repair” with Scottish Youth Theatre.

Georgia Dunn

Hello, I’m Georgia and I am really excited to be a YAC. I hope to make the entire experience of going to the theatre a more inclusive, welcoming and safer space. I am a member of the performance company Creative Electric where I have made autobiographical work about my own identity. BOP has been a massive inspiration to me and has helped continue my confidence in the theatre scene and my own practice as a performance maker and I hope that my experience can be helpful to others across the YAC programme.

Hannah Yahya

Hannah graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a BA in Drama & Theatre and English literature. Since then she has gone on to work with Graeae and Ramps on The Moon. She now works with an all autistic theatre company called The Stealth Aspies and is currently a member of Scottish Youth Theatre’s National Ensemble.

Cai Hanna

Cai Hanna is a disabled visual artist based in Perth. They are passionate about creative freedom and experiencing life in an authentic way. Cai has a strong commitment to the promotion of equal opportunities, accessibility and person-centred practices and experiences. Their enthusiasm for these topics are founded on their lived experience and they bring these aspects into all of their work.

Cai is also a freelance artist who works in multiple areas, with a deep routed interest in community work. Currently they are also working alongside Creative Catalyst Scotland CIC, based in Perth where they have multiple roles. Cai’s favourite part of working with Creative Catalyst is where they mentor young people and support them into getting a career within the creative industries.

Amy McAinsh

I am 25 and I have been involved with Birds of Paradise since 2013. In 2016 I participated in the Access to Barriers event. I then became a Youth Arts Consultant. I am very passionate about the work I do as I feel that accessibility is essential in all areas. As a blind person I have first hand experience of having access needs and facing barriers associated with them.

Katie Anna McConnell

Hiya, I’m Katie and I am a performer and facilitator aspiring to make the arts more accessible. I enjoy being YAC as it allows me to create positive change around representation, inclusivity, and accessibility within the industry!

Bo Hogan

Bo Hogan is a visually impaired, non binary, assistant facilitator and writer. Across all of their work they focus on inclusion and embedding access. They are a member of the second cohort of Bird’s of paradises Young Artists and have been involved with other inclusive companies such as Sanctuary Queer Arts, Scottish Youth Theatre and Take Notice Youth Arts. In taking on this role, they are looking forward to continuing to develop their knowledge and skills in breaking down barriers to accessibility and striving to forward disability equality and disabled rights.

John Reader

John Reader (He/Him) is a queer disabled artist currently based in Glasgow. Having graduated from Glasgow University with a joint honours in English Literature and Theatre Studies John has been a part of the Platform Young Company for Easterhouse’s Thursday Night Theatre: a local theatre group focused around crafting contemporary theatre for the community and by the community. As an individual creative John looks to blend together his creative writing practices and theatre experience to create works that provide a queer, neurodivergent perspective often missing from theatre spaces.

Rebekah Watters

Rebekah is a freelance drama facilitator, who works with a number of different youth arts organisations including Toonspeak Young People’s Theatre, Raenbow Productions, and Mainly Music Glasgow North West. She is currently in the final year of her MA Theatre Studies degree, while doing so she is exploring how schools can engage with children and young people with disabilities through the creative arts. As a neurological diverse practitioner, she is really excited by the work that the YACs do at BOP and cannot wait to be involved!

Myfanwy Morgan

I’m Myfanwy, 26 and I like short, manageable walks along the beach. I’m a Highlands based creative specialising in acting, singing/song writing, music production and workshop facilitation. I was diagnosed with heart failure at 22, my heart was quite literally too big. I just had so much love for the arts, but I love it an appropriate amount now and the medication doesn’t hurt. Excited and determined to keep advocating for disability rights in the arts and more!

Why did BOP form the YACs?

In 2015 BOP commissioned a report – Barriers to Access – researching barriers young disabled people experience accessing youth arts provision. You can read more about the findings of the report on our Barriers Page. In December 2015, we launched the report at an event for artists and industry professionals. Three priorities were identified by everyone at that event as being key in helping dismantle the barriers identified in the report:

  1. Establish young person led resource to advise sector
  2. Establish organisational level network
  3. Form resource to provide CPD and sector training

In addition, we know from the sector development work we have done that organisations and their staff would like more advice and support in working with young disabled people and including them in their work. The YACS have been set up to provide this advice and support to industry professionals.

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