A pilot project with a vision to explore ways of making arts and cultural organisations more welcoming and accessible for disabled and D/deaf audiences.
The project was funded primarily by Arts Council England North West and worked with four venues, The Bridgewater Hall, Cornerhouse, The Manchester Museum and the Royal Exchange Theatre, as well as range of disability organisations such as Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, Henshaws Society for Blind People, Drake Music, United Response and Manchester Deaf Centre.
The project was led by a steering group and worked with the four venues to explore access considerations and issues across each organisation, and the challenges they faced in addressing these.
As part of the project we developed an Accessible Events Calendar bringing together details of audio described, captioned and subtitled performances, films and events. This now covers the whole of the North West. To include your accessible events on the calendar please get in touch with Nicky Colclough.
We are currently developing an online In Touch Best Practice Resource to guide arts and cultural organisations through the process of becoming more accessible. This will combine learning and case studies from the In Touch project with links to a wide range of other resources and organisations. The best practice resource will be available to All About Audiences subscribers via The Knowledge Bank.
For more information about In Touch please contact Catherine Bradley, Deputy Head of Evidence and Engagement on 0161 234 2961.