Practical and aesthetic considerations for artists and creatives who want to make their work more accessible.
What are the key challenges facing artists trying to integrate accessibility within their creative practice?
I would say that attitude is by far the biggest barrier to accessibility in the performing arts. Even the obvious established and accepted types of access provision are not particularly widespread, and you still come up against the issue of venues and companies thinking that they don’t need to provide something because they won’t have the audience for it. It really is a chicken and egg problem, this idea that you don’t need something because nobody’s asked for it. Or because nobody came when you last tried to provide it…it’s a cyclical, very short-sighted view. As an access provider, I’ve had multiple occasions where I’ve prepared audio description (AD) and nobody’s turned up to use it, and on some of those occasions I know it’s because there hasn’t been recognition of the need to make audiences aware. Yes, access is a right and people creating and producing work have an obligation to provide it, but they also need to signpost and market it and get people through the door.
It’s important that artists and creators understand their own motivations for doing something. If it’s truly about providing access to your creative work, who are you asking to find out if it’s working? You have to recognise the limitations of your resources too. If you are giving actors who are characters some kind of responsibility for providing access there can be a struggle; if you’re doing it, it needs to be done well, and the impact on artistic elements considered.
The ‘access clash’ is something that I think is a big risk, and by this I mean trying to integrate too many forms of access. One person’s access need can be incompatible with somebody else’s. I once worked on a project where I was putting AD on a piece of dance theatre. The work was choreographed by a non-verbal artist, and he had made a piece that was completely non-verbal. The company wanted to explore the possibility of having AD that was audible for the whole audience. But what we found when we tried it was that it felt incongruent with the whole piece. Yes, it was providing a level of access, but in the end artistically it felt too imposing to add language.
Or right for some, but not the whole audience?
What is accessible cannot always be separated from individual preferences and experiences. We certainly find that for example with AD that different people prefer different approaches. You need to gain sufficient audience feedback to work out what really works. You are always going to have a wide range of different needs, and as an artist or a producer you feel this great pressure to do ‘the right thing’ but you’ll never please everybody.
In your view, in what ways could performing arts be made more accessible for performers and audiences?
I think the principles of accessibility and the social model of disability really need to be embedded better throughout the whole industry and every member of a company. For example, when I was working with you on Witchfinder, we were talking about the immersive elements of that show, and what kind of needs somebody might show up with. You said that you would want your cast (as well as front of house) to feel comfortable welcoming people, and to feel confident in being able to deal with the unexpected. And this was being discussed with the cast in the devising process. As a freelancer you are not going to get any kind of disability or equality training, but it is such a powerful thing when you do learn it.
Where else could this be embedded?
I think drama schools are starting to address things like this, but usually just as part of a module on inclusive practice. So I think there’s still such a long way to go with that. And I think in terms of tangible things, like BSL and AD, we maybe need better regulation in the creative industries. In TV, there is regulation; for example, minimum quotas for the amount of accessible TV output that has to be provided, and it’s working. There’s not enough, but it’s a decent amount. If we could even get to the point where a third of theatre productions were able to say that they are accessible to certain audiences, that would be real progress, because to me it doesn’t feel like that’s the case at the moment.
What part does technology have to play in making performing arts more accessible?
I think it has a lot of potential, but some of it depends on individuals being tech savvy, so for example The Difference Engine is a technology that allows you to get captions or AD transmitted to your mobile device, but this assumes that the person has a device and wants to engage in that way. I think technology can be more congruent with some shows than with others; there are some shows that use VR or even AR to provide different accessible versions. For purely live work it’s sometimes more in keeping to avoid overly technical forms of access. But then again there are some people for whom tech is literally giving them a voice. For example, eye gaze speech machines have a huge role to play in allowing people to participate and create artistically.
The internet is really opening up opportunities for people to engage in the arts, but can also exclude; the ‘digital divide’ is one of the biggest access challenges that we have at the moment. It impacts people’s ability to even find out about what is happening; as a lot of marketing takes place entirely over the internet. I think just as much as I am grateful for so much stuff being online now, and for being able to access it, ultimately, I am still longing for that group of actors to turn up on my doorstep, or to go somewhere.
Finally, are there any principles that underline your practice in this area?
I think the more you learn, and the more you do this stuff the more difficult it becomes to define blanket principles, because you just feel like you are learning about the complexity of it all. But I’ve tried, so here goes…
1. Be transparent about what is or isn’t possible, because you can’t achieve everything
2. Try not to get paralysed by the fear of doing it wrong, because doing something is better than doing nothing
3. Always consult with people who need access, but don’t assume that they will all feel the same
4. Don’t pour money into accessibility without budgeting for marketing as well