A series of online events exploring different ways to improve accessibility
ABOUT MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE
Make it Accessible was a series of online presentations born out of the sudden reduction in creative activity, that came as a result of March 2020 national lockdown.
During this time, there were a lot of conversations about what the future of the theatre industry could look like and many people spoke about a desire of not wanting to return to “normal”. This was, in part, because many people still experience multiple barriers when engaing with theatre – either as an audience member, or as a performer or other kind of theatre professional.
The idea behind Make it Accessible, was to create a platform where we could share our knowledge around making things more accessible (on and off stage) for people, but also creating a space where we could invite other professionals to share their own learning too.
Make it Accessible was aimed at anybody who had an interest in creating accessible work, whether they were an artist, actor, dancer, director, producer, writer, choreographer or designer. All levels of experience were welcome and all events were free to attend. All events also had live captions and BSL translations.
After the first session, we used feedback forms to dictate the themes for the subsequent events. The titles of each event were:
- Make it Accesible 1
- Make it Accesible 2: Case Studies
- Make it Accesible 3: What is a Relaxed event
- Make it Accesible 4: Finding your audience
- Make it Accesible 5: Beyond Scotland
You can find our more about each event further down this page.
Make is Accessible was facillitated by BOP and Andy Edwards, Andy is a theatre-maker, playwright and dramaturg whose work includes “In Burrows” – an improvised duet with Sign Language Interpreter Amy Cheskin.
Andy Edwards bio
Andy Edwards is a playwright whose recent plays include Gorbals (BBC Radio 4), Happy Ark Day 🙂 (National Theatre of Scotland & BBC Scotland) and Swan Song (Chatting Tanum). As dramaturg, Andy’s work includes mentoring for Lung Ha Theatre Company, co-coordinating Make It Accessible with Birds of Paradise and script surgeries for Tron Theatre. Andy leads the research project Talking Dramaturgy and is a reviewer for both Exeunt Magazine and Neon Books.
Website: www.andynedwards.com
What people said:
“Thank you so much for organising today’s event. The presentation’s were great! I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer. Please pass on my thanks to the contributors.”
“Just wanted to say I think the work you’re doing here is really vital and that it’s very much appreciated. We’re finding it really tricky to have lost so much contact from pals and the sector at large, so the opportunity to hear from people on a key subject at a critical time feels really important.”
WHAT DID WE LEARN
Once the series of workshops had been completed, we asked Andy to review the content from each session and create a filmed presentation that evaluates what we learned from the process.
Rather than provide a summary of each of the events, this presentation is a compilation of short clips from our invited speakers. Brought together, these clips draw connections across the entirety of Make It Accessible, highlighting the main ideas and questions that were explored.
This presentation is split into four themed subsections:
- The first explores the role of d/Deaf and disabled-led innovation in making accessible work.
- The second considers what allyship means within the role of d/Deaf and disabled-led innovation in making accessible work.
- The third highlights an unresolved tension between artists needing both guidelines towards making accessible work as well as opportunities to experiment, make mistakes and learn through practice.
- The fourth focuses upon how making accessible work challenges and shifts attitudes of both disabled and non-disabled audiences and artists.
If you would like to watch these specific sections, the timestamps to skip to for each section are as follows:
| Section Heading | Time Code | |
| Introduction | 00:00 | |
| Theme 1: Innovation from d/Deaf & Disabled Artists | 02:30 | |
| Theme 2: Allyship and Access | 11:40 | |
| Theme 3: Exploration verus Instruction | 21:52 | |
| Theme 4: Changing Attitudes | 29:10 | |
| Some Tips for Making Accessible Work | 37:17 |
ABOUT THE EVENTS
In this section you can use the drop down menus to learn more about each event.
Within each section you will find an agenda for the event, which outlines who was speaking and what they were speaking about.
For most of the events there is a recording and a transcript available, however due to technical issues, they are are not available for every event. For this we apologise. Each video includes the BSL translaters who were working at the event.
Make it Accessible 1: April 24th
This conversation was hosted by Birds of Paradise and facilitated by Andy Edwards.
AGENDA
2.00 PM : Introductions (10 mins)
- Welcome to session + introduce house rules. *Everyone Together*
- Introduction from Birds of Paradise, explaining their intention in hosting this conversation and their motivation for inviting Andy to facilitate it.
2.10 PM : Part One: How do you make accessible work? (40 mins)
- Question 1: Who are you? What work do you make?
- Question 2: What does making “accessible theatre” mean to you, and to your practice?
*Breakout to discuss Q1 + Q2*
*Come back together to feed back from both groups + introduce Q3*
- Question 3: How would – or does – a more inclusive approach change the way you work? (in logistical, financial, creative, production terms)
*Breakout to discuss Q3*
2.50 PM : Tea Break (10 mins)
3.00 PM : Part Two: How can we support your practice? (40 mins) *Everyone Together; briefly summarise and introduce Q1*
- Question 1: What barriers do you encounter when making accessible work? Are they practical, financial, creative, societal? *Breakout to discuss Q1*
- Question 2: What support do you need to overcome these barriers? How can Birds of Paradise help? *Feedback both groups together and discuss Q2 as one (it might make sense to set Future Actions before rounding up with Q3?)*
- Question 3: What’s missing from this conversation? If we were to meet again, what needs to be discussed? *This could be directed into the post-conversation questionnaire, if there are a number of outstanding Questions in the chat?*
3.40 PM : Set Future Actions (10 mins) *Everyone Together*
- Based on the discussion, BOP / Andy will write a list of potential future actions to support artists making accessible work. This will be shared with the group following the end-of-session.
3.50 PM : Wrap-up (10 mins) *Everyone Together*
- Thank people for taking part.
- Direct people to Google Questionnaire Feedback Form, which contains further opportunity to offer thoughts and opinions.
- Supplementary information on accessible theatre-making will be made available.
Read a summary of the key points from the meeting:
Read a transcript of the whole meeting:
