Amazon is launching Dialogue Boost, a new function that aims to create “a more comfortable and accessible viewing experience”. Using the latest in AI technology, the feature will enable users to effectively sound engineer their shows to raise dialogue volume, creating an effect that will lower the background music and audio effects for clarity. About […]
GalaPro is a theatre accessibility app that provides real time translation and captioning for theatregoers. Owned by The Shubert Organization, the GalaPro app offers a variety of services on demand for audiences on their phones. About GalaPro GalaPro. short for GalaPrompter, was setup in 2015 after the founders Hagai Pipko and Dr. Elena Litsyn saw […]
An innovative and inclusive run of A Christmas Carol is taking place in Hull this Christmas season. Featuring BSL, Audio Description, Captioning, and Relaxed Performances, the Hull Truck Theatre is presenting accessible performances adapted by Deborah McAndrew. About A Christmas Carol in Hull On a cold Christmas Eve, four spirits conspire to show Ebenezer Scrooge […]
Disney have released an ASL version of the Encanto song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” in celebration of the International Day of Sign Languages earlier this month. The song, with lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, has been a hit since the release of the animated film, and has been created to boost inclusion amongst the Deaf […]
Usually, the Paralympic games were presented by regular presenters. This year, Channel 4 has taken an important step towards inclusion and has instead assembled an entire all-star disabled presenting team for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. This is not just a first for Channel 4 itself, but a global first for a broadcaster at a world-class sporting event in general.
Opera Australia has partnered with The Bourne Foundation to offer year 11 and 12 students $20 tickets to see Puccini’s Turandot and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro during its summer season at the Sydney Opera House. School students with an interest in music, drama, fashion, art and design are invited to experience the joy of live opera, with subsidised tickets […]
In 2020/2021, TheatreArtLife embarked on a series on Accessible Theatre. We reached out to people and companies across multiple continents, wrote articles, held webinars and a whole lotta zoom sessions. In doing so, we have learned so much and yet not nearly enough. We now know this “series” is not something we can just feature and move on to the next topic. Accessibility needs to be woven into the fabric of our arts community, just like diversity. There is much to be done.
The RSC is launching its new musical ‘The Magician’s Elephant’ at Stratford-Upon-Avon after a year-long delay following the pandemic closures. Adapted from Kate DiCamillo’s prize-winning novel, the show takes the audience on a journey to another world, via an immersive experience with innovative production and puppetry that brings this fantasy novel to life.
In part three of our series with The Smith Center, we looked at the process for putting shows together and how this works on the day. In part four, we are reflecting on the impact of sensory friendly shows and looking to the future of accessibility with Melanie Jupp.
Laura Kamis Wrang is a Danish Audio Description and Voiceover Artist with over 30 years experience in the industry. She has worked across theatre, film and TV, as well as being the voice of many well-known companies and products in Denmark. Laura has been an Audio Describer at DR Danish National Television since 2017. She joins us to talk about her fascinating career, and why creating accessibility is so important in the work that she does.
Matt Maxey is the founder of DEAFinitely Dope, an organisation that brings music to the deaf community through sign language. DEAFinitely Dope was created in 2014 as a way to provide support to those that felt marginalised and ignored by mainstream America. Starting as a brand, DEAFinitely Dope blossomed into a movement when it reached nationwide educational institutions and a number of high profile media and TV platforms. With both hearing and deaf partnerships in play, Matt strives to continue to break barriers and defy the norms with a fresh perspective on interaction, inclusion and equality, as awareness continues to grow.
In part one we introduced what accessibility and sensory friendly shows broadly entail and discussed some of the financial elements involved with putting on performances at The Smith Center. In part two, we are joined by Melanie Jupp once again, and taking a look at the topic of engaging with sensory friendly companies.
Lisa Carling is the Director of Accessibility Programs at TDF, and helps design and implement services that make theatre performances more accessible to people with disabilities on Broadway, Off Broadway and nationwide. She runs a department that provides autism-friendly, open captioned, audio described and sign language interpreted performances, as well as seating for theatregoers with mobility disabilities. The department assists regional theatres across the country in starting their own captioning and sensory-friendly programming, and provides grants through a partnership with New York State Council on the Arts to state cultural organisation for captioning events that are open to the public.
Between April 2018 and March 2020, The Smith Center presented two sensory friendly performances of touring Broadway productions, as well as four sensory friendly performances from national and international touring companies and artists. To find out more about Accessibility at The Smith Center, we spoke with Melanie Jupp, who gave us an insight and introduction to sensory friendly shows and the financial elements involved with putting on a performance.
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