Without Walls Accessible Practice Workshops Registration 2021

Accessible Practice Workshops

Without Walls is committed to exploring ways to ensure that everyone has access to the great outdoor work we support. With this in mind we have developed a number of resources and training opportunities to help Without Walls artist companies interrogate their projects and identify creative ways of embedding access into their shows, reducing or removing barriers to Deaf and Disabled audiences and performers.

We are hosting a series of free accessible practice workshops for artist companies led by Alex Covell (Access Producer, FESTIVAL.ORG, Without Walls Access Advisor) who will share examples and lead you through the processes to actively create your own access materials and upskill you for making more inclusive work going forwards.

Whilst these workshops are designed to offer valuable learning to all artist companies, workshops one and two may be more relevant for companies with either a new show already in development or existing touring show, whilst workshop three is focused on embedding inclusive practice from the outset of your creative process.

The workshops will be run twice, and each session will have a limited capacity of 12 participants to enable a shared working space. Because of this it may only be possible to accommodate one person from your creative team, however we hope that you will be able to take away the learning and resources created from these sessions and share this with your wider team of creatives and practitioners.

An overview of the workshop content is provided below, along with the short registration form to register your interest.

Please submit your registration by Wednesday 31 March. These workshops will take place on Zoom, further details on how to join will be sent to registered participants closer to the date.

 

Workshop One: Access Rider, Resource Kit and Media Information – Wednesday 7 April, 10.30am – 12.30pm or 2pm – 4pm.

We will explore how we can more effectively share our inclusion and access practice with our festivals and events organisers. Similar to a Tech Rider, we will make your Access Rider to share standardised information about your production so that festivals can share this information with ease to the audiences. We will look at what BSL Interpreters, Audio Describers, Access Managers and the Marketing Teams will need and how you can best share this information; how to use Alt Text to describe your images; and language around Content and Trigger Warnings.

You will need: Access to MS Excel and some company images.

 

Workshop Two: Easy Read, Visual Story and Relaxed Performance Pack – Wednesday 14 April, 10.30am – 12.30pm or 2pm – 4pm.

‘Easy Read’ refers to the presentation of text in an accessible, easy to understand format. It is often useful for people with learning disabilities, and neurodiverse people to support with processing information. Visual Stories, or Relaxed Packs are different names for ‘Easy Read’ Information. We will look at the principles of Plain Language and Easy Read. Through a tutorial, we will work together to make our own Easy Read information for our productions. We will also discuss what it means to be a ‘Relaxed Performance’ and how we communicate this with our cast and audiences.

You will need: A computer with MS Word (or equivalent) photos and images of your performance/ rehearsal, and a blurb about your show.

 

Workshop Three: Inclusive devising practice, with Stopgap Dance Company – Wednesday 21 April, 10.30am – 12.30pm or 2pm – 4pm.

This session will directly look at the devising process and the choices that we make to consider the aesthetics of accessibility within our practice.
The session will explore Stopgap’s inclusive practice sharing the value of diverse perspectives, and ‘blending’ narratives. We will look at how we ‘translate’ our practice and use open language to shift perspectives from a traditional dance rehearsal space. We will explore best practice when working outdoors, audio description in practice and the benefits of working with disabled artists. This session will use dance practice, but will be useful for all artists who want to develop their inclusive ways of working.

Wear clothes that you can move in and have some space for being creative.

 

Registration for the workshops has now closed.