AbaF Arts Access Award
Winner
AbaF Arts Access Award
Winner
Adelaide Festival
National and South Australia
St Martins Youth Arts Centre
Victoria
This partnership illustrates the capacity and responsibility of arts organisations nationally to lead and implement access initiatives, cultivating inclusive approaches to programming and setting aspirational benchmarks for theatre-makers, presenters and producers.
St Martins is a friendly place to be because everyone there is very friendly. The Access Officer has helped me in a lot of ways to be included in the company. Thomas Banks, Catapult participant
Kate Gould, 2012 Chief Executive and Associate Artistic Director, Adelaide Festival
Outcomes for access
Outcomes for access
• Significant improvement in physical access to venues
• Inclusive projects and programs that lead to performances
• Wheelchairs for loan
• Promotion of a better understanding and the benefits of including young people of all abilities
• Auslan volunteers on site The Adelaide Festival’s Accessibility Initiative focuses on improving access for people with specific access requirements to performances, events, venues and services. In 2012, the organisation implemented a range of initiatives to ensure its events were inclusive of the broadest possible audience and in the process established an Australian benchmark for best practice.
Some of Adelaide Festival’s initiatives included regular access updates, large text programs, Auslan consultants, the inclusion of Auslan volunteers and wheelchairs. All Adelaide Writers’ Week sessions were broadcast on ABC Radio National so they could be enjoyed online by blind and vision impaired patrons or patrons with limited mobility.
Partnered by the Disability and Arts Transition Team (DATT), Adelaide Festival committed significant financial and human resources to deliver a comprehensive suite of access initiatives. A longer-term commitment to accessibility was developed and implemented by the Festival after a successful pilot program in 2010. In 2011 an Accessibility Coordinator was appointed to identify connections between presented works and patrons’ specific access needs.
The website, app and Auslan video content were all created in consultation with people with disabilities, carers and interpreters. The 2012 Festival program was available in multiple formats, including hard copy, interactive PDF, large print text only and audio formats.
Adelaide Festival worked extensively with access expert Gaelle Mellis from DATT to ensure ongoing consultation throughout planning and delivery. The Festival also invited other key people within leading access groups to act as advocates. Together they worked to improve access to programs, services and venues.
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AbaF Gold Book 2012
• Large print and audio format programs
All of the improved access services have generated enthusiastic feedback from new and otherwise excluded audiences. Adelaide Festival is committed to further developing its leadership position as an arts organisation in identifying and facilitating the delivery of access and inclusion practices.
Image credit: Auslan interpreter at Writers Week. Photo: Shane Reid.
St Martins Youth Arts Theatre has built a creative environment that genuinely promotes the inclusion of children and young people with disabilities. The addition of an Access Officer has led to a comprehensive Disability Action Plan and a shift in core thinking behind new access initiatives. The initiatives the Access Officer has helped develop include offering one or two Auslan shows per season, consulting with the vision-impaired community and purchasing audio description equipment. Through its targeted programs and projects, St Martins is also building relationships with children with disabilities and their carers by creating meaningful and relevant performances.
There is a focus throughout St Martins on mentorship to help build the capacity of young adults with disabilities through consultation and ongoing support. St Martins employs people with disabilities in many ways, including advertising on websites used by people with disability and developing an access intern role. The Access Officer headhunts individuals with disabilities when vacancies come up and also sits on the interview panel.
• Staff training • St Martins funded and supported two young people with a disability to attend the Australia Council forum on engaging young audiences to speak about their experiences
Over the last two years, the vision of St Martins has undergone a dramatic shift. With the engagement of an Access Officer, the concept of an inclusive environment has been embraced and firmly embedded into the guiding philosophy, staff action, programs and projects of St Martins Youth Arts Centre.
The popular Catapult 18+ program has attracted young theatre makers, including a small group with a range of disabilities who are continually consulted in order to best support them. Another inclusive project has been Accidentally Ugly for which children aged 5 to 12 who are deaf or hearing impaired work alongside hearing children.
Image credit: Production of Lost Girl. Performer Samuel Rockman. Photo: Sarah Walker.
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