Letters – Building audiences
From Judy Dixey,
Executive Director, VocalEyes
While it is hard to increase audiences from some sectors of the community (AP issue 147, 4 June) , there is surely ample opportunity to do so in the sector in which VocalEyes and STAGETEXT work. In the UK, there are two million blind and partially-sighted people and nine million deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people, among whom there will be many who have not experienced the arts or whose earlier attendance is curtailed in later life, not because of cultural barriers, but because of other, more readily surmountable barriers.
Good audio description, captioning and BSL interpretation can transform their experience of performances and make it worth the obstacle course of getting there!
If these services were provided in every cultural venue, there would be an immediate and significant increase in the proportion of deaf and disabled people attending the arts. Much of this is down to funded and non-funded venues buying into and offering this provision, finding and committing the funds and identifying ways to record attendances accurately and consistently.
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