What is a good practice to us?
In our Handbook you’ll find the descriptions of twelve “best” practices we want to share with you.
There are several reasons why we, as project partners, decided to collect them in this Handbook. One is that we believe they can help creating more inclusive theatre productions and events that are accessible to a wider range of people.
Another reason is that they can help to raise awareness of the issues that D/deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired people face in accessing and enjoying theatre, to other organisations like ours.
Being a partnership formed by different organisations with different scale, different levels of expertise in accessibility and inclusion services, and different Country situations, each of us has been able to improve by learning from the others, in very different ways. The most important thing, for all of us, has been this exchange of knowledge and experience, that enriched all of us and allowed us to achieve more than we would have by ourselves.
Most experienced organisation have been able to mainstream their services, increasing the number of blind or D/deaf spectators, but also to move forward towards an inclusive programming of Theatrical seasons, selecting Companies and performances that represent the point of view of persons with disabilities, and/or include in the cast disabled actors and directors.
Some of us have been able, thanks to the project, to experiment services they never did before, like including the D/deaf audience in a dance or music show.
Others learned, and then tried for the very first time, to audiodescribe a performance… and it went great!
All of us feel thankful and have learned a lot from the stakeholders involved at local level, that shared with us their points of view and allowed us to understand a lot more about how the very concept of disability is perceived and addressed in different Countries, and how much work all of us still have to do to build inclusive societies.
So we invite you to take (literally) a page from hour book, have a look at what we learned during this project and try to apply it, if it fits, to your organisation.
So what is a “good practice” to us? You may still wonder.
Very simple put: it’s something we didn’t know, and now know. Thanks to this project.
It’s something we didn’t know how to do… and now we do. Thanks to this project.
Most of all, it’s something we tried during the course of this project, and found out to be highly beneficial to our target groups: spectators, actors, directors, with and without disabilities.
We hope they’ll be useful to you too.
Download our Guide on Best Practices and Policies for Inclusive Theatres!
You can also download our Guide in large print version, in word format, which will work better with tools such as “Screen Readers”.
What is it?
The Creative Case for Diversity is a funding policy implemented by the British Arts Council.
Organisations funded by the Arts Council are expected to show their contribution to the Creative Case for Diversity through the work they produce, present and distribute, through their programming or collections, and by demonstrating how their work is accessible and relevant to their local communities (where applicable). The monitoring prompts for include a section on ‘Evidence for rating contribution to the Creative Case for Diversity’, assessed by the funding body thoughout the grant duration.
The policy concept behind this practice is very simple: more inclusion, more money, and vice-versa: more money (the National portfolio), more inclusion. To give you an idea, the British Arts National Portfolio for 2018-2022 is made up of 828 organisations that hold 842 funding agreements. The National Portfolio is funded by about 71,300,000 £ of National Lottery money each year.
Applying for this fund is a very competitve procedure, and having diversity between its main goals has been a great way to promote diversity and equality, releasing the true potential of British artistic and cultural talent – from every background.
Its implementation, however, requires proper and effective monitoring, and competent reviews by the Arts Council assigned Relationship manager.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- inclusive policy design
- innovative way of producting a theatre performance
It fully involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- Visually impaired spectators;
- D/deaf and hard of hearing spectators;
- Physically challenged spectators;
- Mentally challenged spectators.
Have a look at some case studies here: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/diversity/creative-case-diversity
What is it?
Ramps on the Moon is a group of six British theatres and one theatre company (Graeae), which received Arts Council England investment to produce a show every year for six years (e.g. Theatre 1 produces the show in Year 1 and it tours to Theatres 2-6).
The idea was to be as diverse and accessible as possible e.g. diverse casts, British Sign Language integrated from inception, and to produce a popular show on a big scale to show what can be achieved.
The performances have been fully integrated. Productions have been experimental and there have been some problems, but also many successes. The performances are then advertised as any mainstream performance, rather than promoting the integrated aspect. Examples included having a character who is a spy, reporting on the other characters’ movements, which is both audiodescribed, and a part of the show.
As a result, theatres involved in the project have increased their accessibility services in other performances now, e.g. the Birmingham Rep’s Christmas show is now captioned and audiodescribed every night.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services
- innovative way of producting a theatre performance
It fully involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- Visually impaired spectators;
- D/deaf and hard of hearing spectators;
- Physically challenged spectators;
- Mentally challenged spectators.
Have a look here: https://www.rampsonthemoon.co.uk/
What is it?
Red Earth Theatre Company is a British theatre company producing accessible performances for D/deaf and hearing audiences nationally, using creative captioning. Red Earth Theatre already had a pioneering track record in making integrated and accessible theatre using sign language and projected captioning as part of the action.
But they took one more step: in cooperation with University of Nottingham, which developed a new projection mapping software, they experimented with captions in traditional theatre projection systems to make captioning part of the artistic design of the show using any part of the set, props and even actors themselves.
The first production to showcase this creative way to display the words and sounds of a show has been “Soonchild“, by Russell Hoban. The book has been adapted for the stage by Red Earth Theatre toured the United Kingdom with great success.
As a result, a new and easy to use immersive captioning technology has been made freely available to all UK theatre companies to boost their provision for the D/deaf and hard of hearing audience. The package of training and software has been developed by experts in drama and performance at the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with Red Earth Theatre.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services
- innovative way of producting a theatre performance
- using digital transformation
It fully involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- D/deaf and hard of hearing spectators;
Have a look here: https://immersivetheatrecaptions.wordpress.com/
You can also watch some example of creative captions here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjEo3UL_Zl4
What is it? 
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- rewarding and encouraging inclusive practices.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- Visually impaired spectators;
- D/deaf and hard of hearing spectators;
- Physically challenged spectators;
- Mentally challenged spectators.
Read all about it here: https://accessculture-portugal.org/awards/access-culture-award/
What is it? 
Vibrating backpacks (mochilas vibradoras) are a wearable device that record sound frequencies and reproduce them in the form of vibrations and, thus, the person wearing the backpack feels the music through vibration.
The system is based on the patented “SUBPAC” technology, a tactile bass system that brings a new physical dimension and enhances the feel of any listening experience through a suite of advanced technologies such as haptics, bone conduction, RF audio transmission, and a unified system that meets with the standards of places that receive the public.
What happens is that the audible signal is captured from the room or from any source and is transmitted to the Vibrating Backpacks through radio frequency transmission technology (UHF).
These backpacks can be very useful for D/deaf audience, especially for music and dance shows and festivals. This device can adapted to all audiences and offers total autonomy and freedom of movement, in addition it does not require aspecific location in the stands, so users who request it can buy the type of ticket that most interests them.
They are an experimental services by our project partner Audiosigno, supported by the Extremeña Federation of Hearing Disabled Parents and Friends of the Deaf (FEDAPAS).
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- use of technology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- D/deaf and hard of hearing spectators.
Read all about it here: http://audisigno.com
What is it?
A magnetic loop (in Spanish: bucle magnetico) is an induction loop system that transmits an audio signal directly to a hearing aid, reducing background noise, as well as reverberation and other acoustic distortions that reduce sound quality.
It can be beneficial in many environments as inclusion services for hard of hearing audiences, from large venues like theaters and conference facilities, to one-to-one communications such as ticket windows and meeting rooms.
Starting from any existing audio source, such as a microphone input, the signal goas to an induction loop amplifier. The amplifier produces a current to loop, or to a series of ties. While the current flowing through the cable creates a magnetic field in the area needed – careful design of the loop and amplifier ensures that the vertical component of the field is uniform and does not suffer from level drops and dead zones where the user might be positioned.
Inside most hearing aids , a small coil known as a Telecoil takes the signal from the magnetic field, which is amplified as a high-quality audio signal, and delivered directly to the hearing aid user’s ear.
The magnetic loop is an experimental service offered by our project partner Audiosigno, supported by the Extremeña Federation of Hearing Disabled Parents and Friends of the Deaf (FEDAPAS).
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- use of technology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- hard of hearing spectators.
Read all about it here: http://audisigno.com
What is it?
Access to culture is everyone’s right. “TEATRO NO LIMITS” is a program created to guarantee this right and increase the use of cultural heritage by spectators with sensory disabilities. Theater is a unique and wonderful art: since 2010 making it accessible to all is the commitment of the Diego Fabbri Center.
Each year, a series of theatre performance in Emilia Romagna region is made more inclusive trhough:
- A tactile tour Led by actors and technicians of the company, spectators have the opportunity to go to the stage and touch the sets, props and costumes.
- An audio-introduction The introduction contains brief descriptions, choices of direction and historical-cultural and critical-literary information to prepare the listener for the “vision” of the show. The service is carried out by equipping the blind and partially sighted public with wireless headphones, connected to the control room.
- An audio-description. The audio description text integrates with the theatrical script, without ever overlapping the dialogues and the soundtrack. This is possible thanks to the reading in real time, which creates a perfect synergy with the show. The long writing work that precedes the performance thus comes to life to restore the magic and emotion of the theater.
“Teatro No Limits” is a programma carried out by Diego Fabbri Center in cooperation with ATER Fondazione.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- Visually impaired spectators.
Have a look here: http://www.centrodiegofabbri.it/teatro-no-limits/appuntamenti-teatro-no-limits
What is it? 
CASTLE was a European project, financed by the ERASMUS+ Programme, linked to the implementation of audio description and surtitling actions of theatrical performances, with particular attention to technical operators.
Inside the project, a training course aimed at creating a real profession / business in the reference field was developed and implemented with great results.
In addition, a “user manual” and a dedicated website were delivered.
The profession of Audiodescriber / Subtitler is not yet widespread at EU level. In many countries, it is not even recognized as a profession. CASTLE therefore focused on this target group to increase their entrepreneurial skills to foster the creation of new and professional service providers, sustainable over time.
The project started in November 2017 (meeting in Wolverhampton), and ended in December 2019.
European partners of the project were:
Diego Fabbri Center (Italy)
University of Wolverhampton (Great Britain)
Sasa Inkubator (Velenje, Slovenia)
Centrum Kultury Wroclaw – Zachod (Wroclaw, Poland)
Audiosigno (Merida, Spain)
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- Visually impaired spectators.
Learn all about it here: https://accessibleculture.eu
What is it? 
WE ALL COME FROM SOMEWHERE is a filmed performance, a story based on testimonies and interviews from refugees.
The film tells us how migration is an instinct in Nature for the survival of all species, including the humble human.
disabled actors, Nazareno from Italy, KCAT from Ireland, Studio Citadela
from the Czech Republic and THEAMA from Greece remotely worked
together and coordinated the production of the film that premiered last
Sunday (21/11/2021), after almost one year of preparation, rehearsals,
and shooting sessions.
It is probably one of the few films produced that is inclusive in its entirety, and during the COVID 19 pandemic with no physical contact among the four partners. All four languages are used in the scenario but you can find subtitles and closed captions in English, Italian, Greek and Czech languages. Soon AD in English will be added for optimum accessibility.
The film is produced inside the POWER project, lead by Coop. NAZARENO from Italy, and with the involvement of 3 partner organizations: THE.AM.A based in Athens, Greece – Citadela Studio based in Prague, Czech Republic and – KCAT (Kilkenny Collective for Arts Talent) based in Kilkenny, Ireland.
The project has been approved and co-financed, within the framework of Creative Europe 2018 for 199.389,00 EUR for the duration of 24 months, commencing 01/09/2018.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- D/deaf and hard of hearing spectators.
- blind and visually impaired spectators.
Read all about it here: https://power-creative.eu/
What is it?
Developed in the 1970s, the “social model of disability” was “the big idea” of the British disability movement (Hasler, 1993). It demonstrates that the problems disabled people face are the result of social oppression and exclusion, not their individual deficits.
There is no binary distinction between able and disabled. A person from one group may quickly become a member of the other through accident or illness. There is no absolute disability, there is only lack of access.
In the framework of this model, impairment is distinguished from disability
In fact, as impairment is individual and private, disability is structural and public.
While doctors and professions allied to medicine seek to remedy impairment (cure the person), the real priority is to accept impairment and to remove disability (cure society).
To sum up, the social model of disability argues that people are disabled by society, not by their bodies.
This approach is called “rights-based”: it implies that all people are active subjects with legal claims, thus persons with disabilities need to participate in all spheres of society on an equal basis with their non-disabled peers.
Based on this model, it is necessary, in the field of theatre, not only to provide “services for accessibility”, but to rethink in itself the way we produce, stage and promote theatrical performances
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- bottom-up approach based both on research and on first-hand experience of problems faced by disabled artists and audience.
More info:
Theama – Inclusive Theater has given, in the framework of the project, a Training Course composed by a series of 4 Webinars: “LET’S RAISE THE CURTAIN ON INCLUSION”.
Two of the webinars were conducted by the Director Vassilis Oikonomou, and the other two by Emmanouela Patiniotaki, PhD.
The webinars were dedicated not only to this approach, but to accessibility and inclusion in theatre, with particular attention to surtitling and sign language translation.
You can find training materials here.
What is it? 
During 2018. Plavo theatre – theatre laboratory was doing continuous theatrical educational work with the members of Cultural-Artistic Association of the Deaf of Belgrade ‘Radivoj Popovic’, which resulted in a performance called ‘Triptych – three personal stories’. The work on the performance was an attempt to put sign language in the function of contemporary theatre expression. The intention was that sign language gets its adequate contemporary dimension which is different and it could be said in a way creative compared to its conventional expression. Through a certain creative process, sign language could also come to its alternative form, compared to everyday common way of presenting, in the same way it happens in the process of creation and research in language of the hearing people.
The work was continued with a new goal – fight against social discrimination of the Deaf community in Serbia by translating of Shakespeare’s Hamlet into Sign language, enabling it for the deaf actors for the first time in Serbia and integrating it into the work on a performance Triptych 2 – My Hamlet, which was premiered in October 2022, during study visit of this project.
Cultural-Artistic Association of the deaf of Belgrade ’Radivoj Popovic’ also organized theatrical workshops and rehearsals with young deaf and hard of hearing young people. Starting from March 2021 they worked on a theatre performance in sign language, and premiere it in September 2021. This performance will also be presented in October 2021 on the international Festival of Youth Theatre in Belgrade.
The workshops were financed by the Erasmus+ project Initiative-Inclusion-Interaction/ Contemporary Theatre for Active Youth.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- innovative way of producting a theatre performance
It fully involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- D/deaf and hard of hearing spectators and artists.
Have a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCBIng3YKR
What is it?
PLAVO theatre, in autumn of 2021 and first half of 2022 conducted educational and creative theatrical process for youth with and without disabilities, which resulted in a performance-presentation To Flourish through Life, which was presented in PLAVO theatre as well as in several cities in Serbia through spring and summer of 2022.
The project happened as a natural continuation of the cooperation with Association of Students with Disabilities, which started in 2019 with projects Contemporary Theatre – Playing to Inclusion and Ritual of Inclusion, the latter finished in a short documentary about the project.
The goals of these projects were to contribute to the inclusion and improvement of the quality of life of young people with disabilities, to their active participation, artistic engagement and greater visibility in the cultural and public life of the community, as well as sensitization of the general public for the life of these young people.
The performance-presentation To Flourish through Life is dealing with the question of inclusion, and the actors are young persons with and without disabilities, who were introduced to basic principles of work in contemporary anthropological theatre in theoretical and practical sense, during several months of educational work conducted by PLAVO theatre. At the beginning of the work on the performance, each participant chose a famous person with disability that gave important contribution in the history of humanity and whose life and work served as an inspiration for the creative process.
We found the poetic paradigm of the need for the feeling of appreciation and inclusion in the sentence of the famous Afro American activist, Maya Angelou: “My mission is not only to crawl, but to flourish through life”. The aim to flourish through life, as a leitmotif, which is continuously being repeated by one of the participants of the performance, calls for the essence, while other participants, using quotations of their chosen famous persons and contemporary theatrical language, speak of their own personal experiences of diversity and discrimination.
The project was held within the program Implementation of anti discriminatory politics in the Republic of Serbia in 2021, supported by Serbian Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and for Social Dialogue, Ministry of Culture and Information and Belgrade City Council.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a
good example of:
• innovative way of education of
young people with and without disabilities and producing a theatre performance
It fully
involves spectators with different needs, such as:
• Blind and visually impaired
spectators and actors,
• Actors and spectators with mental
and motoric disabilities.
More info:
As a part
of the project, a short documentary film about the workshop was made.
Have a look
here: https://youtu.be/gUGU7WOFD18
What is it? 
ADLAB was a three-year (2011-2014) project on audiodescription (AD) financed by the European Union under the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) with the aim of funding High Education Institutions’ courses to train AD specialists and to design reliable and consistent guidelines for the practice of AD.
Thanks to the joint contribution of eight partners from six European countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland and Germany) the project identified and addressed inconsistencies in AD crafting methods and provision policies at European level.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- Visually impaired spectators.
Read all about it here: http://www.adlabproject.eu
What is it?
T4ALL – THEATRES FOR ALL was an European Project, co-financed by the Creative Europe Programme, aimed at increasing accessibility of theatres to blind and partially sighted people.
Project partners were:
- Province of Forli Cesena (Italy)
- Junta de Extremadura (Spain)
- University of Wolverhampton (United Kingdom)
- Acess Culture Foundation (France).
The project was implemented between 2015 and 2017, and had as a follow-up our large scale project INCLUSIVE THEATER(S).
During the project, partners carried out:
- Needs assessment and elaboration of Local Action Plans;
- Exchange of best practices at transnational level;
- Transnational workshops for audio describers and audio
translators; - Study visits to improve competences of cultural
operators; - Pilot actions: creation of websites for audio description performances’ management and promotion and audio
description of 8 performances.
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- Visually impaired spectators.
Read all about it here: http://theatresforall.eu
What is it?
Project partners of ADLAB, after the end of the Project, felt like despite the incessant advocacy of an inclusive society and the growing need for accessible audiovisual products, the professional figures working in the field of audio description (AD) were still few, often untrained and not well defined. Furthermore, the provision of audiodescriptions was (and is) still uneven across Europe.
ADLAP PRO, financed by ERASMUS+ between 2016 and 2019, aimed to fill this gap and it defined a curriculum for ensuring professional Europe-wide AD implementation in all cultural and media sectors through the creation of training materials to implement the new professional profile.
The project revolved around a series of open for consultation Intellectual Outputs (IOs):
- A comprehensive snapshot of the current AD training practices in Europe.
- An outline of the AD professional profile, required skills and competences.
- Concrete training proposals based on different types of AD (TV, cinema, museums, live performance).
- Training materials (OERs, webinars, e-documents, recorded showcases, online tutorials, etc.) were made available as open deliverables.
- Evaluation and accreditation of the educational components for both academic and vocational levels.
These activities were out through the synergy of educational and non-educational partners:
- University of Trieste (Italy)
- University of Antwerp (Belgium)
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain)
- Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Poland)
- Utopian Voices (United Kingdom)
- Soundfocus (Netherlands)
- RTV Slovenija (Slovenia)
- Royal National Institute for the Blind (United Kingdom)
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- Visually impaired spectators.
Read all about it here: https://www.adlabpro.eu
What is it?
What makes it a good practice?
It is a good example of:
- effictive involvement of different target groups
- methodology for providing inclusive services.
It involves spectators with different needs, such as:
- D/deaf and hard of hearing spectators.
Read all about it here: http://ka2-ilsa.webs.uvigo.es/
