We ended Forward Together with a top tips access panel hosted by Keisha Thompson and with guests Fereshteh Mozaffari from Sheba Arts, Natalie Amber from Triple C Creative, Performer Katie Erich, Sarah Emmott from Art with Heart and Ada Eravarma.
Our panel of access experts shared their top tips for navigating the arts, culture, and care, all informed by their lived experience.
Led by Keisha, the panel explored access and inclusion for various communities that are often systematically excluded, and we wanted to share each panellist’s top tips.
Natalie’s top tips
- Remember the 5 A’s of access: anticipate, ask, assess, adjust and advocate.
- No one expects you to understand access needs first time, so make sure that you’re open minded to other people’s experiences.
Natalie Amber is an actor and dancer who has worked across TV and Theatre for over 15yrs. Recent credits include Coronation Street (ITV), Fool me once (Netflix) and Casualty (BBC). Natalie is the access lead at TripleC/DANC, a BAFTA winning key gateway organisation for deaf, disabled and neurodivergent (DDN) to access mainstream arts and screen.
Fereshteh’s access tips
- Promote self-agency; people are their own experts and know plenty about their access.
- Invite different types of people into spaces so they can be heard.
- Being a migrant is an experience, not an identity.
- Do not expect marginalised communities to bow for the opportunity to work with you.
Fereshteh Mozaffari is a writer and the founder and Artistic Director of Sheba Arts. With a background in political journalism in her home country, Fereshteh started a new life in the UK as an artist. She has produced festivals and arts projects with different migrant and refugee communities across Greater Manchester.
Katie Top Tips
- Every deaf person communicates and accesses information differently.
- Just because a person can speak “well” doesn’t mean they don’t need BSL.
- Don’t be afraid to communicate with a deaf person if there isn’t an interpreter present – you will find a way to communicate.
- Deaf people need extra breaks as they’re often having to focus hard to lip read or on a BSL interpreter.
Katie is a Deaf actor who uses both spoken English and British Sign Language. Katie works as a captioning and access consultant, and is currently part of an ongoing Artist Panel with Vital Xposure. Credits include Richard III (Shakespeare’s Globe), Wind in the Willows (Shakespeare North Playhouse), Julius Caesar (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Gruffalo (Tall Stories), The Solid Life of Sugar Water (The Orange Tree Theatre), Doctors (BBC), The Book Eaters (Audiobook).
Ada Top Tips
- Radio drama is a great source of inspiration for audio descriptions – just don’t get caught up in foli sound effects. Remember that you can get plenty on stage with organic sound.
- Working with an audio description consultant with lived experience can really enhance the quality of your work.
Ada is a Black British woman of West African descent. A theatre maker for over 10 years and visually impaired for longer. She specialises in creative audio description and access consultation. Ada is passionate that culture and theatrical experiences are accessible to visually impaired and disabled audiences and artist. Ada has worked with CRIPtic Arts, Alice Christina Corrigan, The National Youth Theatre and Rope Ladder Fiction
Sarah Top Tips
- Accommodate cheap provisions: someone to talk to when struggling, short and clear emails with easy headings, booking and paying for travel, telling people when they’re going to get paid.
- Create a crib sheet to cover all the questions a funder might ask about your company and project.
- Neutralise access riders by creating a comfort document that finds the sweet spot between different people’s needs and provisions.
- Look to businesses to fund access – it’s an easy way for them to look good. This might be something as easy as providing tea bags.
- Have enough contingency that if someone can’t perform, that’s ok. Don’t have that level of pressure on anyone.
- Always look after your team, especially those with lived experience.
Sarah Emmott is the Co-Creative Director of Art with Heart with nearly 20 years of experience as a producer, writer, performer and facilitator. She is the lead fundraiser for Art with Heart and has gained funding from from public, private and crowd sourced funding sources. As a neurodivergent, working class, queer woman, Sarah brings her own lived experience to the work she does and is passionate about the grant funding process being more accessible.
Keisha Top Tips
- We need to dismantle the culture of micro-aggressions, and offer a brief reception so people feel more welcome.
- Think through the barriers people face when they leave the house to and from a space. How can they be supported?
Keisha Thompson FRSA is a Manchester based writer, performance artist and producer. She is Co-Chair of the Independent Theatre Council, a trustee of Olympias Music Foundation and recipient of the DARE Art Prize 2024 from Opera North and the University of Leeds in association with National Science and Media Museum and The Tetley.
Forward Together
An afternoon of access, inclusion and action, led by Art with Heart, The Lowry and leading access experts and creatives.