‘Is it working?’: A research project to investigate integrated theatre access provision
Extant is seeking an experienced researcher to help us with an inquiry into the current state of integrated access provision in theatre and how we, and other peer theatres, can improve our practice in this field.
We are seeking candidates who have carried out research in similar areas or who have had significant work experience in access and the performing arts.
This will be a six month contract commencing in November 2017 and completing in June 2018, which will be concluded by a seminar to present the report/recommendations.
Our budget for the project is £4,000 and we expect this to equate to 18 days at £200 per day plus travel.
Background and further details:
Over the last 20 years, Extant has developed a style of theatre which puts visually impaired people at the centre of both the creative process, in terms of its choice of production and the personnel it employs, and the audience experience, through its approach to integrated access. During this time, an increasing number of other companies and venues have also worked to provide access to visually impaired audiences and audiences with other impairments by offering integrated audio description access or ancillary audio descriptive services, but the question remains of how satisfying this is for visually impaired audiences and whether their needs are really being met by these wide-ranging ‘accessible’ theatrical offers?
As Extant looks to the future and imagines how its work will develop over the next 20 years we would like to address this question honestly through commissioning a piece of research into the effectiveness of the various access offers currently available, including our own, to explore whether a better path might be forged in the future.
The research will consider:
-What are the traditional models of access provision within theatre? How do these work and not work for the audience?
-What are the impairment specific and pan-impairment examples of integrated access and what has the audience experience of these been?
-Is it possible to provide integrated access that meets everyone’s needs - audiences, artists, companies and venues?
-How can artists and companies best be supported to provide integrated access services for visually impaired people and how should they be checking that what they are providing meets the needs of the audience?
Structure:
-We will appoint a researcher over summer/autumn 2017 who will spend 6 months on this project
-The Inquiry will be launched at Extant’s 20th Anniversary event in November 2017
-A steering committee will be convened that comprises representatives from performing arts companies, both those that provide access and those that don’t, and visually impaired audience members ( Expressions of interest have been raised so far from Graeae, Vital Exposure, Ramps on the Moon, Oily Cart, Corali, Nathan Geering)
-The research will be presented at a seminar hosted by Extant in June 2018 which will give attendees a chance to debate the issues it raises
-The outcomes will be published as a how-to guide hosted on Extant’s and partner companies’ website/s as they choose.
To apply:
If you are interested in the role, please send a CV to , including two references, with a covering letter which outlines your suitability for the project by 5pm on Friday 1 September.
Tel: 020 7820 3737 Email:
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