Always the Audience Report

ALWAYS THE AUDIENCE NEVER THE STAR THE EXPERIENCES OF PERFORMERS WITH HIGH PHYSICAL ACCESS REQUIREMENTS IN LONDON THEATRES DR JESSI PARROTT AND JAMIE HALE Researchers Dr Jessi Parrott - Lead Researcher Dr Jessi Parrott is a disabled and neurodivergent researcher specialising in disability as an employment issue in UK theatre and television. They received their PhD (on disability casting conventions) from the School of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Warwick, with cosupervision from Warwick Business School. They are also a creative and performer – of both their own and other people’s work – and a playwright, poet, consultant, trainer and facilitator. When making their own work, they are particularly interested in multidisciplinary and co-creative explorations around the ways disabled, queer and trans identities intersect. In both their practice and their research, they are incredibly passionate about holding space for, and platforming, other artists and creatives, and advocating for the arts industries to become more equitable, inclusive and accessible. Due to their specialism in the area, as well as their experience of requiring full-time care, they were commissioned by CRIPtic Arts to conduct the research for Always the Audience, Never the Star in a freelance capacity. Jamie Hale - Researcher & Project Lead Jamie Hale is the founder and Artistic Director of CRIPtic Arts. Their research background spans from art and accessibility to policy and coproduction, and they designed and secured funding from Arts Council England to carry out this research. They were a co-lead researcher on Access to Literature, exploring the barriers faced by disabled writers in the literature sector, led If Not Now, Then When, one of the UK’s deepest research projects into the experiences of disabled people in a single area. Elsewhere, they are CEO at Pathfinders Neuromuscular Alliance, and have an active creative career as a writer across multiple forms, performer, and director. Jamie is passionate about accessibility as a creative force across the arts. With thanks to everyone who participated in the survey, focus groups, and interviews, as well as JodiAlissa Bickerton from Graeae, and Rebecca Manson Jones from Spare Tyre Theatre Company for their insightful contributions A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Always the Audience Never the Star Welcome to the CRIPtic Arts Always the Audience (Never the Star) research project. It researches the experiences of specific groups of disabled people who are trying to work in theatres in London. We called it Always the Audience because we feel like we are expected to only ever be the audience at a show, and we feel like we are never given what we need to be the performer or technical crew for the show. In this research, we had conversations with disabled people who face particularly high barriers to physically accessing performance careers in London - focussing on people who need more support than simple wheelchair access. We did this because we felt like we couldn’t find organisations that were able to support us in our careers. Our research team is made up of people who face these barriers, giving us deep personal understanding of these problems. However, we had conversations with a wide range of other people and organisations as well. Jamie Hale Jamie Hale Artistic Director; CRIPtic Arts A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Background and Context Language and definitions Having introduced the project, we will now explore some of the background for why we did this research. This section considers research people have already done – from academic work to reports by arts organisations and arts funders such as Arts Council England (ACE). This is to show that nobody else had already done the research we were going to do. Always the Audience, Never the Star builds on CRIPtic Arts’ work with, and support of, disabled performers who experience what CRIPtic have called some of the “highest access barriers”. This language is in line with CRIPtic’s use of the Social Model of Disability. More information on CRIPtic’s approach to the Social Model can be found here. For the focus of this research, “highest access barriers'' referred to people from one or more of the following four “priority categories”: People who require constant (1:1 or greater) care and support People who rely on Changing Places toilets (or hoist-adapted facilities) People who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) People who use switch, eyegaze, or other similar adaptive technology to access a computer During the research we thought a lot about these categories. Some of the things we noticed included: Many people who have these needs fit into multiple categories – as a result, most participants in the research shared experiences related to more than one of these types of accessibility barriers A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S In the first category, “constant (1:1 or greater) care and support” means people who need this level of support around the clock to manage impairment-related needs. It refers to people who could not work, or attend development opportunities in the arts, without this support. We did not put an exact number on this, but felt it could reference people who have been assessed as needing approximately 84 or more hours of care funded across Social Services, NHS, and/or Access to Work per week. However, we left a wide range in this category because not everyone receives the support they are assessed as needing. This is often due to funding - an issue that was also raised frequently by participants in the study Partly as a response to the things learned during this research, CRIPtic are continuing to work with communities to refine the definition of “highest access barriers”. This also includes considering how the category definitions used can support the full range of people with these access requirements more effectively. The research is specifically on people who are currently working in London, or who want to work in London. We chose London for a number of reasons: London has many theatres, including a whole district of the city called Theatreland (in the West End). These theatres range from big commercial venues to large and medium-sized subsidised (partially government-funded) venues and smaller “fringe” venues. The range of theatres means that many performers work in, or want to work in, London, because it is where there are opportunities presented for a range of different jobs at different stages of careers. We wanted to explore if these opportunities are presented, and available to, disabled performers facing the highest access barriers in the same way as they are to other performers. Many disabled-led arts organisations are based in London. This meant we knew there was a community of performers who have the experiences, and face the barriers, this research is about. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Existing research Now that we have explored the groups of disabled people that were the focus of our study, and the choices of language to describe the different groups, this section examines the literature that was already available before our research happened. The research needed to happen because there was not much research about these groups of disabled performers. We found existing research about the experiences of disabled people in the arts more generally, and the Lead Researcher on our project has studied employment opportunities for disabled performers (including with a specific focus on productions in London at different size venues [Parrott, 2019]). However, no academic studies have focussed specifically on performance work alongside needing personal care support or Changing Places toilets, or using AAC and other assistive technology. Similarly, in terms of reports, previous key research from the arts industry includes: Making A Shift (Arts Council England, 2018), Time to Act (British Council, 2021) and Barriers to Access (Birds of Paradise and Creative Scotland, 2016). Barriers to Access mentions once that a toilet would need changing space – but, again, no other research has meaningfully engaged with higher support needs and their related access barriers. This project aimed to respond to this gap, expanding on both CRIPtic’s ongoing work with these particular groups of performers, and the Lead Researcher’s previous study on the practicalities of performance as work for disabled people (Parrott, 2019). Parrott’s study expanded on Dean’s focus on performance as work for women and people who experience racism (2005, 2007, 2008) by extending Dean’s theories to include disabled performers. The purpose of Always the Audience was to explore and understand the experiences of disabled performers with these specific needs (which the research team share), working towards expanding accessible opportunities for them to raise their profile inside and outside the arts. The focus on researching performers in line with Dean’s suggestion that performance work: is an important and useful site for the study of social inequalities and employment. Performers’ work represents us to ourselves through a variety of media and therefore their working realities (how, why and when they get jobs) represent more than their own experiences as workers. (2008, 8) A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Our research The previous section discussed why the research needed to happen. This section discusses the ways it happened. These involve the methods used to collect the data (how we got the information) and the sources for the data (where we got the information). Methods Our research was designed and led by people who belong to the groups it was about (disabled performers with specific access needs). It was then adapted throughout a process of collaboration with others from those groups. This meant the project was based in what is called participatory research – where the research is designed by people who may also take part in the study. The fact that it was designed to make a change with, and for, the people it was about makes it participatory action research. (Read more about this type of research in Humphries, 1997; about how it connects scholarship and activism in Holmes IV, 2019; and in relation to disability and impairment, as well as employment, read Danieli and Woodhams, 2004.) For accessibility reasons, the research also involved support from non-disabled people (such as with notetaking and transcription). This meant that elements of the research process reflected the experiences and contributions shared by participants during the study about needing certain kinds of assistance. (To read more on the collaboration between disabled and non-disabled people around the practicalities of research, read Tregaskis and Goodley, 2005.) Additionally, the combination of what and who the research was about suggested the approach to the project should be based in grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Charmaz, 2014). This is where the research carried out is grounded in the data that is collected. This means that we use the information we find through reading, and the experiences and opinions shared by participants in their contributions to adapt the way in which we carry out the research in response to the things learnt and discovered along the way. This research method has also long been used specifically in relation to subjects around disability, impairment and chronic illness (Charmaz, 1983). A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S As a result of these aspects, as well as the fact that it was important for a project about accessibility to be accessible in its own right, we chose to use a mix of methods and sources in our approach to the research. We collected both quantitative (number-based) and qualitative (word-based) data. This was done through: an online survey (which had Easy Read and British Sign Language [BSL] versions) paid invitations for performers to interviews (1:1 conversations) and focus groups (conversations with multiple people) interviews with disabled-led arts organisations We managed to have interview conversations with three London-based organisations within the field of disability arts: CRIPtic Arts, the small but mighty participatory arts company Spare Tyre, based at The Albany in Deptford, and the larger-scale Graeae Theatre Company, based at Bradbury Studios near Hoxton. Graeae and Spare Tyre have been working for similar amounts of time (around forty years) and have disabled performers at the centre of their work - but their size, capacity and reach are different, which was useful and interesting for this research. We also tried to get the perspectives of organisations and venues outside of disability arts, but this proved difficult, as did engaging with performers for the survey. We were eventually unable to interview any arts organisations working outside the disability arts field. This highlighted how necessary and relevant our research is, and implies that this group of performers may be a low priority for those organisations. Indeed, when explicitly contacted to ask about access provisions for both performers and audiences, many of these organisations and venues only responded regarding audience access - or told us that they had access for audiences but not performers. This linked both to the experiences of performers in our study, and to the choice of title for the project. Additionally, many of the performers (our research team included) referenced experiencing isolation, and the difficulties we had engaging people highlight how easily people in these groups become isolated. When people were able to engage, we got wonderful contributions - across the survey, interviews, and focus groups. This shows that people have a lot to share, but that many people are so isolated from the performance world that they were impossible for us to reach. The difficulty we had engaging with organisations that are not disabled-led shows that this specific group of disabled people are not a priority for those organisations. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S What we learnt This section presents what we found out during the research. It does so by discussing the information participants shared with us. It is split into seven themes. These themes were selected because they came up again and again in what the individual participants and the participants representing organisations told us. This meant it made sense to present all of these participants’ contributions – their thoughts, opinions and experiences – together, instead of having a part of the report for the performers and a part for the organisations. This helps us to show where their perspectives are similar or different. It is also in part a response to the fact that, as shown in the Methods and Sources section, we had some struggles getting people involved in the research. Mostly, however, it responds to the access needs of the performer participants who were involved. Many performers chose to answer in ways that collected qualitative data (responses in words) instead of quantitative data (responses in numbers). Some people chose to attend a focus group (3) or give an individual interview (also 3) rather than doing the online survey. Other people (13) did do the survey, but most of these skipped the quantitative questions or responded only to a few of them. This meant that the only statistics from the survey we could use in this report were from the question, “Which of the priority categories for this project do you fit into?”, as all but 1 survey participant answered, giving us 12 responses. This question also shows that many participants fit into multiple categories. 11 92% 7 58% 6 50% 1 8% I am in need of constant I am reliant on hoist adapted I use switch, eyegaze, or other I use augmentative and care and/or support toilets / Changing Places facilities similar adaptive technology to alternative communication access a computer (AAC) Image Description: A bar chart showing the percentages of the survey respondents’ answers about the categories they fit into. The bars are blue and read - ‘I am in need of constant care and/or support’, 11 (91%), ‘I am reliant on hoist-adapted toilets / Changing Places facilities’, 7 (58%), ‘I use switch, eyegaze, or other similar adaptive technology to access a computer’, 6 (50%), ‘I use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)’, 1 (8%) A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S We followed the principles of grounded theory. This tells us that researchers need to respond to the data received. We also wanted to be able to compare the perspectives of performers as well as organisers. As a result, the rest of the findings about performers presented in this section come from their qualitative (wordbased) responses, either to the survey or in interview and focus group conversations. The things people told us fitted into themes. We have used the themes to structure this section of the report, by going through the themes one by one. KEY THEMES 01 Accessibility 02 Processes & Time 03 Funding 04 Attitudes & Expectations 05 Internal Ethos vs External Barriers 06 Online Work 07 Communities A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Accessibility In terms of accessibility, many of the participants focussed on physical accessibility issues. Some of the things they raised were things that affect a wider community of disabled people, not just people with higher physical access needs. ‘Please please make sure as an organisation you keep your accessibility information on your website up to date’ ‘Do they have the facilities, and do they have the attitude of flexibility I need?’ ‘Poor accessibility, lack of support, frustration at multiple needs, ableism’ ‘Some of the more obvious, obvious and tangible access needs are the really basic – does the stage have wheelchair access’ ‘More general access issues, such as the reliance on/prominence of work for early-mid career performers taking place in, or being available through, smaller companies at smaller venues, including fringe. These venues frequently have no step-free access, never mind a Changing Places toilet – or they have access for audiences but not performers’ However, as the brief mention of a Changing Places toilet in the above contribution suggests, other issues people raised were connected to their need for higher levels of support. This was particularly the case in personal care. Personal care was raised in more than one theme, but some of what people told us was connected to their need for accessibility. ‘Is there an accessible toilet big enough to get my wheelchair into, and ideally is there a Changing Places toilet, otherwise I'm going to be quite uncomfortable. But sometimes I'll push that to workplaces and hope I don't need the toilet during the day’ ‘Even the larger venues are not always actually accessible to someone with my needs, since they frequently don't have toilets or changing/dressing rooms that are big enough to fit a) my chair and b) the two people I need to support me with personal care tasks. The same has sometimes been true of lifts, which are too small for my chair, and thereby render a venue or an area of a venue a no-go zone for me.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S This participant’s contribution shows how even the larger venues often do not meet the needs of performers in these groups. It also relates to the previous contribution because they both detail some of the practicalities around personal care support, and the ways these link to physical accessibility through the range of reasons a Changing Places toilet may be required. Indeed, this focus on what another participant above called “our basic needs as a human being” was so frequent throughout contributions that it provides our first example of positive practice. The same participant who referenced “push[ing] that [physical accessibility] to workplaces” also shared the possibility found in conveniently-timed building works: ‘As [the venue I worked with] were remodelling, they put in an accessible toilet and shower, created a dressing room with a bench/bed thing you could be hoisted onto, and a portable hoist so I could use the space.’ However, although this contribution was framed with gratitude (since the participant specifically commented, ‘I thought it was important to shout out places that are already doing it well’), there is also a sense of depending on the support of individual venues. This was something shared not only by performer participants but organisations too, such as in this observation from Graeae Theatre Company’s Creative Learning Director, Jodi-Alissa Bickerton: ‘Finding Changing Places is always an issue. We've done lots of work with theatres across the country – over 41 years – trying to make them accessible from a building perspective to also support our visits as we tour work. But we're always going to new venues and we – we're encountering these issues again. It’s about ensuring the dignity in what you're doing. We have a “no compromise” policy of visiting venues that are not accessible for our actors, creative teams, and young people, “If you don't have the facilities provided in a dignified way then we can't come to you”, I'd say 60% of the time from drama schools to venues, when we or other consultants flag up the issues, they do want to change. They might say, “Okay, tell us how to make this better. We don't want this to happen again. We feel ashamed by it.”’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S As [the venue I worked with] were remodelling, they put in an accessible toilet and shower, created a dressing room with a bench/bed thing you could be hoisted onto, and a portable hoist so I could use the space A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S The attitude Jodi shares having experienced from theatres Graeae wants to work with shows both an apparently genuine desire to improve and a lack of knowledge of how to do so in a meaningful manner. It also illustrates the (sometimes subtle) difference between considering accessibility as a problem or as a possibility. This was in one of the questions we asked organisations and venues, and Graeae’s response emphasises the possibility without shying away from some of the complexities – by offering the example of work with an AAC user. Jodi’s words in this case are quoted in full: ‘Well, creativity. With an exclamation mark [laughs] Finding new ways to develop, shape and present plays. You know, an inclusive cast informing the process for an inclusive audience. So often outside of disability arts or the consciousness of access, there is a kind of, “let's make it accessible for the audience” – and it makes it so much harder when the cast themselves haven't actually, they're not an inclusive cast. So our process is, you know, have a really beautiful, inclusive, diverse cast and that does half the job of, like, making it accessible for the audience. And there might inevitably be things that need to be added for audiences specifically, but that's the best way of, of working always. There's also been, I guess they're, they're perceived opportunities that like creativity and finding new ways to do things, we’re a learning company. So that is like, you know, such – it's like cake to us. And also with sometimes, you know, rehearsal schedules or training schedules might need to change based on the cohort, so we are very bespoke. When a, a cohort comes together, we're very bespoke, making sure that it's not getting them to try and fit into a traditional rehearsal or training schedule, but we are making it work for everyone. And the possibilities that we've encountered are, I was just thinking back to when we did our ensemble showcase as well, and an artist who is an AAC user was developing and delivering the creative audio description for the piece. And putting them really at the heart of the creative inclusive process. And they were also a character in the show as well, like you would expect from a Graeae production. And that wasn't a, that didn't happen because – let's find someone, something for this person to do the audio description. That came from a place of creativity and wanting to put it at the heart of it, and this particular person was also a writer. So it just, it, it was like playing to their strengths as well, as well as them being a performer. I think unless we’re in the room – so to speak – together, you can't even imagine what is truly possible.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S So our process is, you know, have a really beautiful, inclusive, diverse cast and that does half the job of, like, making it accessible for the audience. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S What Jodi told us shows that, rather than prioritising disabled audiences, if you prioritise disabled performers and creatives this facilitates access for audiences. This is at the heart of this study as well as Graeae’s ethos. This refers to the “aesthetics of access” that Graeae uses. However, Jodi also talked about what she felt Graeae could improve: ‘So I think one thing that we are – could, could do more, but are certainly set up to do, but we could do more of, if we did more productions would be, you know, working with more AAC users and, and looking at ways we develop creative access around that. It's always a discussion that we are having at Graeae. It's always on the agenda. So there's never any fear around it. There's never any, “Oh, but how would that work?”, or any negativity around it, it's more the case of, you know, when it comes to casting or finding those creative roles, you know, who's applying and, and maybe there's some work we can do just thinking about this right now to make sure that people who are AAC users know that this is for them.’ The reference to “casting or finding those creative roles [and] who’s applying” raises the importance of accessible processes within creative work, to make sure that everyone is being reached out to successfully. Please please make sure as an organisation you keep your accessibility information on your website up to date A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Processes and Time The way processes and time affect disabled people came up repeatedly in this research. Processes are structured around time - they show lists of things that need to be completed in a certain timeframe or order. These parameters around them mean that they are not always as flexible as needed. This lack of flexibility creates barriers for disabled performers. Continuing with the perspectives of people who use AAC, one participant said: ‘I think for me one of the key barriers I have is to do with the time and space I need when performing or directing for an event or show. It also depends on how long the show or event is lasting (one day or one week or one tour for example). It is also sometimes difficult for some people to understand that the writing process of a communication aid user is a bit longer and the fiddly parts like copying and transcribing from one app to another can take longer when I am commissioned to write something for a job which asks for my hourly rate’ What this participant said about time, and how people with different access requirements have different understandings of time, was also raised by other participants. In relation to care and support, one participant said: ‘Issues where rehearsal schedules don't include breaks – either at all, or with long enough for me to complete my required personal care. Related to this are spontaneous changes to rehearsal schedules, where they either extend or shorten unexpectedly, as I have to plan everything very carefully with my support team, and it is not always possible for them to adjust immediately.’ Similarly, on the note of plans and adjustments, another participant reported consciously factoring this in to their creative work: ‘I definitely try and build into all of my scheduling processes the fact that it's all going to take longer […] recognising that if a show needs 4 weeks of rehearsals, and what they mean by that, 20 working days, what if we need 40 working days instead’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S In their contributions, the organisations proactively recognised and addressed these concerns. Sometimes this was practical, as for Jodi at Graeae: ‘So we might make tweaks to the environment, to the schedule. If someone's travelling a long distance, it might be about putting accommodation in place, for example. So the, the journey into the first day of rehearsal, isn't such a long one. So always thinking about people's stamina and, and fatigue levels. And I guess it's also just checking in through the process. What's working. What's not. What happens a lot is that people don't request access support, but what we do at Graeae is always have someone there because a hundred percent of the people and projects are starting to go, “Oh, I realise now why this is so useful to have in the space”. And it's, it's a really nice learning opportunity for people. To go, “Oh, this is how I might work with an access worker. This is really cool.” Like, “This means I have energy to do the job – to focus on being a creative actor and not have to worry.”’ However, as Jodi’s final point above illustrates, there is also an emotional and wellbeing aspect to this kind of structured support. It facilitates people “to focus on being a creative actor and not have to worry”. This was also a perspective shared by another organisational participant, Rebecca Manson Jones, Artistic Director of Spare Tyre. She explained: ‘One of the things that I have been attempting to get into the centre of what we're doing, is a programme that I'm calling Tyre Pressure. So it acknowledges that people need to work across their intersections and there are different identities and the labels that they assume themselves and people impose on them so that we can work together. In order to do that, we have to work from this [principle of] who's the most complex person first? Or whose needs are the most, you know, and often actually, it's a bit further down the line that you discover that it's actually somebody else who needs the help. That kind of thing or things become apparent. So that's what we're trying to do.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Rebecca then went on to offer an example of this programme in practice: ‘We had a residency, a very small residency with the Liberty Festival in Deptford as part of the London Borough of Culture. And that was kind of like our first laboratory of this. But I was quite frustrated. It was a great weekend. What happened was really, really strong, but the people who applied to be part of it did not include the people [this study is] talking about. And so for me it's that we have to go much deeper. We have to start much sooner to be able to, to make sure those people know they're invited. […] Because it's because people won't come to us if they don't trust it. And if they're not hearing about it and all of that. So it was a very eclectic, inclusive group, which is what we wanted to do, but there were some people who still didn't feel that they could put themselves forward for it or didn't know how to or all of that. So there's still quite a lot of work we need to do. But I would say now we have all the things, like we invite everyone to do that. So statements, ask them what they will need to do their best work with us. You bring it in at the beginning of the process. Having done that, those conversations on a one-to-one basis, when we bring everyone together, we then spend the first morning talking about, “How is that gonna work? Then, you know, what do we need to do that?” And encouraging people to talk about what makes for a healthy process for them.’ This contribution is particularly useful for this study. It talks about ideas, but also about the process of making these ideas happen. It shows that this can be facilitated through open discussions about what is needed. It also connects with the perspective of Jamie Hale, Artistic Director at CRIPtic Arts: ‘When we're providing access support at CRIPtic, our goal is to take away as much of the extra burden of disabling barriers as possible - whether it's the logistics of managing our support, the tasks that we need assistance with, or anything else, we want to put artists in a place where they can just do their best work.’ Both these organisational perspectives link to a contribution from a performer participant about positive practices around accessibility: A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S ‘I have had a few incredibly positive experiences – all of which have been after I was asked about my access requirements in advance, and able to have discussions (both before and during the jobs) about how I can best be supported to do my job. So that is my peak idea of positive practice – a clear willingness, and commitment, to communicate consistently and constructively. It feels important to note here that my positive experiences have not only been with disabled-led companies, or in disabled-led environments. But, for the most part, they have been.’ The reference to “disabled-led” companies and environments points to a later theme – Communities – and the role that shared experience can play in shaping certain practices, or even an ethos. This includes practices we’ve discussed already, such as Graeae’s aesthetics of access or Spare Tyre’s Tyre Pressure programme. The above contribution is interesting because it also references other kinds of companies and environments, not just disabled-led ones. With Always the Audience (Never the Star), we wanted to research a range of employment opportunities (and the lack of opportunities), as well as providing recommendations on working with the performers this project is about. It is interesting that several performer-participants talked about specific organisations by name, but also that both Graeae and Spare Tyre talked about their processes in detail. Jodi put time and effort into explaining how these dynamics work at Graeae: ‘The kind of contractual period as well, where we're making sure that the actors, if we're talking about productions, for example, making sure that actors in their contract also get our code of conduct and in that it talks about the Social Model of Disability and that's to both reassure deaf and disabled and neurodivergent artists in the space but also, because we work inclusively, non-disabled people too, who might be working with us for the first time or just disabled people working with us for the first time who have come from a – who aren't within disability arts and have come from a very different setting. And so devising this code of conduct, which talks about language, what's appropriate, what's not, and also about just how Graeae approaches access so that people know from the get go, “All right. Okay. This is an inclusive environment and I can ask for things.”’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Jodi then illustrated this “inclusive environment” in practice, at each stage of the recruitment and contractual processes: ‘So the next port of call would be connecting everyone to an access audit, so that's usually sent out with their contract, and then it's followed up by our access manager or whoever is the access contact for that particular project. And that remains the constant contact so that confidential conversations can take place if they need to. And the chats are really to just go over the access audit, but also to explain the environment which those actors might be going into. So talking through the schedule, what it's currently laid out as, I mean, and some of those discussions could have happened even before contracting, to be honest. About hours when we start rehearsals, when we finish. You know, locality, how do people have support to get to where they need to be? All of that. Sometimes people need that assurance that there is that support in place before they sign a contract. But they, it's also about finding out if there are any changes that need to be made, once you've explained what the environment might feel like and look like and be. Then it's a chance for people to go, “Oh, okay. Well this is maybe some support I would need in that – those circumstances.” So it's helping people figure out that, like we know that your access requirements aren't the same wherever you go. They can, they can change depending on the environment. And, and expertise that is needed too. So needing an access support worker. Needing a very specific one for a very specific project. So, yeah, all of that is a discussion. And a kind of a process that is gone through with the actor.’ She also referenced the Government scheme providing funding for support and equipment related to employment, Access to Work, observing: ‘Sometimes Access to Work is also included. So we ask if, if it's a paid job, so if it's not training. We would ask if people are comfortable making an Access to Work claim, and that we would take all the admin out of that. So we need the permission of the actor to apply for Access to Work. And we need a confidential conversation about whatever needs are required for the space and for the project, but also – so we have, we put funding aside as well for that.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S ‘When we're providing access support at CRIPtic, our goal is to take away as much of the extra burden of disabling barriers as possible - whether it's the logistics of managing our support, the tasks that we need assistance with, or anything else, we want to put artists in a place where they can just do their best work.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S What Jodi said about Access to Work and funding more generally connects to other themes, but her use of words like “assurance” – and her acknowledgement that “access requirements are not the same wherever you go” – demonstrates that Graeae understands access needs as something that “can change depending on the environment”. This also shows her connection of access requirements being related to emotional wellbeing, as well as physical. This links to the importance of safeguarding, which Rebecca shared as a fundamental and necessary factor in the work of Spare Tyre: ‘We take the approach that safeguarding is embedded through all of the organisation, all of our activities, everything we do, everyone is expected to play a role and have a practice in safeguarding, I don't think of it as merely a thing you have to do about disclosure and a process that you follow when that happens. It's actually about promoting, it's an active, proactive practice, which is about promoting the welfare of people who work and participate with us, and ensuring that we don't do anything to cause them abuse, neglect, or harm either deliberately or inadvertently – and inadvertently can easily happen, especially when you're dealing with the multiple fragilities and vulnerabilities and disabilities that the world imposes on many of the people that we work with. And there is another side too, which is that quite a few of the people that we work with, myself included, are Vulnerable Adults under the definition, or could be perceived to be, that applies to safeguarding – and they're in our employ. So they're not, it's not just about safeguarding participants. So it's quite a complex thing, our safeguarding process and culture – but we don't let it become a depressing or bogging down issue. It's just with us all the time. And then of course there are other moments when something real happens, as it were, where we have a safeguarding issue that we have to deal with. And of course, when that is the case, everything has to stop because that trumps everything. Or at least for those of us who are dealing with it, it's the thing that we have to turn our attention to right here, right now. And I also have a few people who contact me when they're facing dilemmas because they know that I know something about it.’ The investment needed by safeguarding is understandably significant. It requires a combination of physical, emotional, mental, temporal, and financial effort to address. Without enough resources, it is hard for organisations to address it thoroughly, which is why it connects to our next theme funding. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Funding Rebecca’s point moved from safeguarding to funding. They are both related themes, but funding is also a wider issue - as every single participant talked about funding in some way. Rebecca talked about the relationship between funding and the perceived problems around including our target demographic in the work of Spare Tyre: ‘Ones of people saying, “It's too expensive, there isn't the time”. And we are trying to say, we're trying to do the normalising of “Disabled people exist, arts, human rights”. So it's not more expensive, it's just that you haven't put enough budget in [laugh]. It's kind of, this is what it costs to do, and all your budget should always allow for this. We’re still at a point where everything has to be separated out and costed, but eventually, it's just going to be, “This is what it costs to put a show on”. And there will always be somebody who at the moment we have to do special inclusion for, but it should become a normal thing. So we're trying to think of it in our terms as a normal situation, that everyone has their needs. So the perception that we feel and I guess it's also a reality that is encountered is we think like that, but not everybody else does.’ Rebecca’s point about “trying to do the normalising” of including disabled people with higher physical access needs in programmes connects also to still being “at a point where everything has to be separated out and costed”, something she hoped would “eventually just be”, as the normalising was achieved. She observed that others perceive this kind of work as “too expensive”, which highlights both the importance of budgets and the difficulties of navigating them. The nuances of navigating project budgets were also raised by Jamie at CRIPtic: ‘One of the major challenges we have is that when we do our funding bids for running CRIPtic for a year, we don't know who we're going to be working with, what needs they'll have, or what it will cost to meet those. We try and plan assuming that we'll be engaging with a lot of people with high support needs, but it's very difficult to project expenses. We don't have organisational funds so we never want to be put in a place of having to say "We have no funding to do this," to people, but we also just don't know who will come through our doors.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Ones of people saying, “It's too expensive, there isn't the time”. And we are trying to say, we're trying to do the normalising of “Disabled people exist, arts, human rights”. So it's not more expensive, it's just that you haven't put enough budget in [laugh]. It's kind of, this is what it costs to do, and all your budget should always allow for this. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S This is because it is difficult to justify a job for let’s say £250 plus travel when I would actually need quadruple that for my carers’ time or if I need another creative enabler or PA on board for this type of work. And it becomes complex in my reason for doing the job and it has to be justifiable on a personal level of worth and enjoyment’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Concerns around how to cover these sorts of additional costs impacted performers as well. As a performer participant observed, ‘most of the bursaries or support funds in the performing arts you must have qualifications in dance to be able to access them, however a lot of disabled performers don’t have these as it’s inaccessible to us’ The conundrum of qualifications may be particularly relevant in the case of Spare Tyre’s participatory arts focus. Not all the members of our target demographic the company engages with are seeking to perform professionally. However, qualifications were also raised throughout performers’ contributions – in both the sense of the word meaning “certificates” or similar documents, and the more general concept of “justification” and needing to justify the value of their work as a performer or creative. Another participant expressed the pressure they felt to provide repeated reasoning for their work and career, such as: ‘the reason why I am doing the work I have been hired to do and justifying it all based on their budget. This is because it is difficult to justify a job for let’s say £250 plus travel when I would actually need quadruple that for my carers’ time or if I need another creative enabler or PA on board for this type of work. And it becomes complex in my reason for doing the job and it has to be justifiable on a personal level of worth and enjoyment’ The connection the above participant makes between the additional costs of care and support and “a personal level of worth and enjoyment” illustrates how much members of the target demographic found their senses of self and value to be impacted by the perceived and actual costs of their care needs. This link to emotional and mental wellbeing was touched on briefly by Jodi at Graeae – when she mentioned facilitating performers “to focus on being a creative actor and not have to worry”. It also comes up within future themes. Where the additional support they needed was funded, performer-participants repeatedly referenced their gratitude for this support. This suggests that there has been a real impact on their self-worth through the support not being provided previously. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Discussing access to support, another participant shared that: ‘I need to share a room with support workers. This has limited my opportunities for work outside of London due to travel and additional accommodation costs as well as accessibility, although I recognise how privileged I am to be based here already.’ This understanding of the relative privilege of living in London serves also to highlight the centrality of the capital city in crafting a career in performance, especially for disabled people. Many people are accessing healthcare they can only get in London, or are based here because they feel it has more theatres that offer the resources and support they might need to perform. Aside from being one of the reasons this study took London as its focus, there were issues with how centralised London is. These were not just financial, but also about whether travel and accommodation were physically feasible due to health and mobility considerations. For some performers, this raised the subject of an alternative: online and virtual work. ‘I need to share a room with support workers. This has limited my opportunities for work outside of London due to travel and additional accommodation costs as well as accessibility, although I recognise how privileged I am to be based here already.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Online and virtual work All organisational participants, and almost every performer participant, referenced online and virtual work in some form during their contributions. For some of the performer participants, it had a general value linked to avoiding the issues of travel that came up in the previous theme – but also to facilitating more meaningful engagement: ‘I have NOT left the arts, but if there were more online streams for events, because I cannot drive myself due to lifelong disabilities, I could see, and submit more artistic/creative work if more online streaming or online platforms were made available. I wouldn't need as many adjustments if engaging/making from home. But, more people could see my work’ Rebecca at Spare Tyre shared this sense of the creative potential of what she called “digital space and online work”, explaining with passionate humour: ‘I'm sort of militant about it. Don't say it's nice to see me in real life because everything is my real life [laugh]. But I think that, you know, there are real possibilities because of the pandemic, because people can't pretend, “We dunno,” now 'cause everyone's had a go. The online space can be a creative space and you can have, I believe, and I have that genuine contact, and make stories and make art with people in their homes. So we're, we're continuing to do that and I think it's showing us a world that we wouldn't encounter any other way. It always does. And that's really exciting because the nature of inclusivity means that you are doing, you are having to learn new things, and that always makes creativity more interesting. It might make it take longer because you dunno what you're doing yet [laugh], but it changes how you approach things.’ I’m sort of militant about it. Don’t say it’s nice to see me in real life because everything is my real life A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Rebecca’s mention of “the pandemic” raises a further aspect of accessibility in the context of COVID-19 continuing to pose a risk for some disabled people. We did not focus on this specifically in the research because the employment issues we wanted to look at existed before the pandemic. However, the overlap between the target demographic of this study and the groups of disabled people who are additionally vulnerable to COVID-19 – whether or not they have been officially designated as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable – meant that many participants mentioned or discussed it. It was also mentioned in relation to in-person work as well as online and virtual work, as in the following contribution: ‘I guess there's also stuff around the way that places are willing to work with me – are they going to respect what I know about how I can and can't breathe and project effectively? Are they going to understand the degree of COVID security?’ The above perspective is particularly interesting in the context of this theme because the same participant also offered an example of positive practice where a venue was happy to adapt to inperson or remote work depending on their health needs in a time prior to COVID-19. They shared that the venue: ‘accepted that if I'm alive and hospital will let me out, I will perform in person – if not, I will send a video, which is a great relief’ This performer’s contribution connects back to Rebecca at Spare Tyre’s combined points about online and virtual engagement being “real life” for many disabled people – performers among them. Believing this means that embracing a life that involves the online and the virtual is therefore both imperative and filled with possibility. Jodi at Graeae was equally enthusiastic about the “opportunity” of virtual and online work: ‘We aren't not casting people because they might not be able to work in person. We are seeing that as a possibility too, of how, if someone can’t be in the physical space we would see that as a creative opportunity. If we want that actor, we will have that actor with whatever access requirements they bring. And if that is that they might be shielding or that they are, you know, for whatever reason unable to be in space then that for us is something that we are quite, yeah, excited by for what it might bring creatively. People come first.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S But I think that, you know, there are real possibilities because of the pandemic, because people can't pretend, “We dunno,” now 'cause everyone's had a go. The online space can be a creative space and you can have, I believe, and I have that genuine contact, and make stories and make art with people in their homes. So we're, we're continuing to do that and I think it's showing us a world that we wouldn't encounter any other way. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S In a report on accessibility, it is important to note that online and virtual engagement isn’t a perfect solution for disabled people in these communities. Far from it, in fact. Participants were as quick to point to its problems as its possibilities, with observations like: ‘there didn't seem to be ways of making online working for everyone’ ‘We've [CRIPtic Arts] always tried to deliver as much of our work online as possible. This is because we're aware that as a national organisation we don't want to be basing work in a single physical location, and want to really be there for everyone, wherever they are. However, increasingly we're finding out from people on our projects that they want that face to face work, so it's really tough figuring out the best way forward.’ ‘I think Zoom should be one of the recipients of this research paper.’ The mention of Zoom allows us to consider some of the difficulties experienced by participants during online work more deeply. Aspects of the way the platform worked gave the impression that they might facilitate accessibility, but they actually did not – as illustrated in this contribution from Jodi at Graeae: ‘There is a function in Zoom. I found it at one point. Don't know where it is now. It's a little bit bizarre, but you can basically take control of someone else's computer. So I thought, “Oh wow. What a brilliant access tool actually.” Because if you're a host, you could take over someone's computer and support them with setting up certain things. So if they didn't have an access worker with them [… but] there was some other thing that meant that you couldn't, as the person receiving that support, you couldn't relinquish – like, you had to relinquish control and then you had to wait until what was given back to you. So it was a bit of a, like a consent issue, so we didn't end up using it in the end. It felt really weird to be getting into, like, you basically get into people's computers. But there is some scope in that […] when working with an access support worker online. And when, you know, during COVID, when people couldn't be in the same room, that would've been a great opportunity for like Zoom, for example, to just go, “Okay. Let's think about this. The feature’s there, how do we make it better so that actually people can be getting that access support that they need technically, as another option to relying on phones and headphones in about three way communication?”’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S ‘We did it very slowly because we were informed by our community and our artists. And they were – everyone was still saying, “it'd be nice to be together, but we're a bit, it'd be still nice to have the option of online.” And we knew that. So we were one of the last to offer in-person courses. […] And then there were lots of people asking us, “Oh, it'd be really nice to be together. We feel like Graeae’s our safe space. We've got COVID testing. We've got a really strong COVID policy. Noone's getting in with COVID.” A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S The practicalities emphasised by this example of Zoom, especially around communication, touches on the barriers specific to people who use AAC. One AAC user participant reminded us in a focus group, ‘when working with communication aid users, you need to ask their “yes and no”; that “lowtech” is a basis for communication’. Yet it is also important to remember that – if someone cannot or does not have independent access to “high-tech” forms of communication, any more complex conversation may be impeded or interrupted. Indeed, Jodi raised exactly this issue when she commented on ‘The huge inequity that happens when you haven't got a specific access worker that can be in the space with someone. And if someone's then needing to rely on their PA support from home, or a parent, it's not always the right support in the creative space for that artist. So that can bring up issues as well, and we never got, we never managed to, and still haven't managed to figure out beyond getting people, people on the phone behind the scenes with an access worker and we haven't figured out a way to do online in a way that could support, for example, an AAC user – you know, if they required a support worker, you know, that [individualised support with communication] happening online just doesn't work.’ This then led Jodi to address how Graeae grappled with these barriers when figuring out how to shift their already ongoing training activities online, with reference to their Ensemble programme training deaf, disabled and neurodivergent performers and creatives: ‘That became so difficult for so many people on the Ensemble course when it had to go online. Because it just wasn't accessible – even though online is so accessible for so many reasons, for so many people. That particular course wasn't designed to be run online. So we have since designed courses that are designed to be online, and we talk very openly about what the support is in place, and we can have conversations around that because we know what it is now. So that people can go, whether or not that is for them or that's not, or we can have some more lead in time to go, “You know, if someone could come to your home, would that, would you be okay with that with someone, you know, one of our access support workers – or going to another public space, whether it be another theatre or office space, for example.” A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S So yeah, I think that can still be a really inequitable experience working online, if you require such in-person support and you are relying on personal care support that is just not the same, but I think it always also gets people who are delivering those courses or delivering that work online to really step up and think about how they're being inclusive in their delivery.’ The ideas of “lead in time” and “conversations” are familiar from previous themes, particularly Processes and Time – but they are also significant here through providing a connection between Graeae’s approach to online work and their decisions around when to restart in-person (and hybrid) engagement. In the context of training again, Jodi shared: ‘We did it very slowly because we were informed by our community and our artists. And they were – everyone was still saying, “it'd be nice to be together, but we're a bit, it'd be still nice to have the option of online.” And we knew that. So we were one of the last to offer inperson courses. […] And then there were lots of people asking us, “Oh, it'd be really nice to be together. We feel like Graeae’s our safe space. We've got COVID testing. We've got a really strong COVID policy. No-one's getting in with COVID.” But that's obviously the commute as well, so how could we pay for taxis and things? So people could come here safely and be in a safe space and be together, but we still gave an option for people to join online. So we explored the hybrid approach, which can work really well. And I think it is really dependent on how the course is designed. It's really dependent on what's working for people and what's not. So one of the ways we did our hybrid approach was to have invest in a big interactive screen, [and] we also tried a version where we had a laptop, and we had one person signed into each laptop and we put them on a trolley and we would move them around the space, without them getting dizzy, so that they could be a person in the circle. So they were taking up physical space in the room as well.’ Through its connections to previous themes, this example of Graeae’s approach to hybrid working can be an illustration of their wider ethos; an ethos which is shared by Spare Tyre and CRIPtic Arts, and other disabled-led arts organisations. This also offers a link to the next theme – Internal Ethos vs. External Barriers. This theme explores how internal organisational approaches, and the performers they engage, work with and employ, are challenged by external factors and considerations. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Internal ethos vs external barriers Organisations discussed this contrast a lot in relation to the problems they found in including disabled performers from the groups this study was about. Jodi at Graeae was clear that her initial response to the question about problems was, ‘We will make it work. We will let people's access requests and requirements inform how we manage this project or how we manage these rehearsals or how we schedule all those things. They're all opportunities’. However, she went on to add: ‘But then I started to think about those external factors of, you know, when there are gaps in access to work provision for a freelancer who might already come with an Access to Work package, and the kind of stress that maybe sometimes is held around that. So the way we respond to that is always putting funds aside to help fill any gaps, which I'd mentioned earlier. There's also those problems arising when people are unsettled or are being affected by any negative changes to their personal support circumstances, which affect their day. […] But I think that the kind of – those personal independence payment cuts and the cuts to people's benefits. It's just us as an organisation being really aware of that. And that also, if we know about, if someone has spoken to us about that previously and we're approaching them about work, we might even have a confidential conversation with them about that to ease their mind. […] But when those problems happen in, you know, midway through a project, it's just being there to support someone, you know, through that particular stressful situation and just have all hands on deck from our point of view, if we can see that someone's not getting what they rightfully should have and we're in the middle, in, in the thick of a project, we will absolutely, you know, everyone rolls up their sleeves and we try and make stuff happen to ease the stress and the worry out of that and, and build in support that perhaps has been taken away.’ This point from Jodi connects to two themes we discussed previously - Time and Processes, and Funding - connecting them to the external factors that impact on a project. They also relate to comments made by Rebecca at Spare Tyre, who said navigating individual people’s support budgets ‘can be tricky’. This is especially significant when considering support such as personal care - essential support with daily living that impacts employment opportunities. It also links to the perspectives of performer participants, who made observations like: A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S ‘There are so many skills and specific things which are needed to work with us. I'd far rather build up a network of people I trust and work with, and I'd rather ask other disabled people who's good so you don't spend a huge amount of time and effort training people’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S ‘Don’t think people understand the complex nature of around-the-clock care’ ‘There are so many skills and specific things which are needed to work with us. I'd far rather build up a network of people I trust and work with, and I'd rather ask other disabled people who's good so you don't spend a huge amount of time and effort training people’ ‘I do have a carers rota but some staff members are more experienced than others and some have different family commitments and some are more available or flexible than others are. If I have to go out to London or anywhere else for a day or overnight stay or even a week, then my care team does affect sometimes what I can realistically do and I might need extra support if there is a long journey’ This report, like the participants’ contributions in it, frequently references disabled-led arts organisations. With that in mind, it is important to acknowledge that these issues can affect staff and creative teams, too - as shown in the following observation from Jamie at CRIPtic: ‘One of the challenges CRIPtic has faced is that where we are putting on work, we are often only allocated limited rehearsal time by the theatre. We try and make sure that every performer gets their rehearsal time and their breaks, but this often means that the creative team and director are working flat out instead - and that a schedule that met their needs wouldn't allow anywhere near enough time for everyone to rehearse.’ All of these contributions emphasise issues that extend to the wider industry, as this comment from a performer participant explicitly illustrates: ‘No matter how much contingency I build in, that time always ends up eaten by something, and that's just something about the degree that the pressures of the industry are squashing as well’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S The extent of these problems is interesting because it raises the question about whether the processes and ethos promoted by disabled-led companies (to meet the needs of the people working within them) can be made compatible with the industry in its current state. While much of the evidence provided suggests that the answer might be “no”, Spare Tyre and Graeae (as well as CRIPtic Arts and others) are succeeding in that, within the industry. Parts of their contributions show how they’re perceived as experts – whether that be in terms of safeguarding, for Rebecca and Spare Tyre, or for Graeae in what Jodi described as “creative partnerships”. The creative partnerships Graeae builds with other organisations means that it has to navigate these tensions. This highlights even more how this can create harmony or conflict in balancing these internal and external factors: ‘A partnership with Graeae is a really attractive thing for so many people, and we have partners at the moment who we're incredibly excited by because of the way they work. But there is a lot of pressure on us to put in extra work with some organisations. Because not all organisations are knowing how to do accessible marketing. They're not knowing about some of the other kind of in-house stuff, access stuff. From the attitudinal, you know, the disability equality or disability awareness training right through to the kind of practicalities. We have to be really honest with partners when we start a conversation and go, “Are we an access consultant or are we a creative partner?” And even if we are a creative partner, there will still be access things. So we have to build that into the value of what we deliver, and make sure that people know that we have expectations. It's good when you're working on a production because they can see, they're not just doing something for, for them, for the sake of doing it because they've been told. There's like a hard, tangible outcome to it. […] So, yes, I would say Graeae does take that responsibility seriously. And we do it when we know that it benefits our artists and communities. We don't do it if it's a tick box. Unless there is a consultancy fee, for example, and people are bringing us in to make changes .’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Jodi’s focus on the fact that Graeae will do access consultancy when it benefits the artists involved, and on the way in which working with Graeae is an incentive (or a ‘hard, tangible outcome’ for venues) serves to underscore how the company and team are continually trying to use their work to facilitate other opportunities for their community. As well as referring back to her earlier points around the recurring issues with (a lack of) Changing Places toilets, this approach of making opportunities is more generally relevant to an observation made by Rebecca at Spare Tyre, who asked: ‘We've got great people here, where else can we help them go to pursue their interests as well as working with us?’ Touching on career progression, this question also links to the theme of Attitudes and Expectations. This theme explores some of the less tangible barriers that are encountered by the groups of disabled performers this study was about. No matter how much contingency I build in, that time always ends up eaten by something, and that's just something about the degree that the pressures of the industry are squashing as well A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Attitudes and expectations As well as reflecting on how Spare Tyre can help people go on to future opportunities - which is where the previous theme ended - this one begins with another contribution from Rebecca, where she considers a different kind of progression: ‘Some of the people that we encounter, their perceived difference as children has meant that they've received different opportunities. And now as adults, because we mostly work with adults, they're sort of – in some groups we work with, there's a sense of like, well, that's it. That's as far as they're going to get in their developments. And I would dispute that with anybody. But being able to bring in some other technology and showing what could be done and sharing those things through – people who have motor issues being able to use some of the more interactive stuff and haptics, that would just be really exciting.’ The condescension Rebecca describes in the attitudes and expectations people in particular groups have faced, highlights the importance, to her, of challenging these - and the fact that Spare Tyre wants to focus on “showing what could be done and sharing those things” through technology and other methods. Without access to these tools, people may not even be able to consider performance careers. However, even people actively pursuing careers still face barriers around low expectations and a lack of support. ‘Low expectations abound. There’s too few graduate schemes aimed at or prioritising disabled people’ ‘I found the more you've done, the less support there is for you in terms of schemes, and you're left to sink or swim in the wider arts world which is quite hard. I've actually ended up in a position where I'm doing work that is not at my level as I don't have the experience’ ‘There’s a lack of specialised training and support for disabled performers, there is a huge shortage of resources and training programmes that cater for the unique needs of disabled dancers, making it challenging to develop our craft and improve our skills and get somewhere that makes us feel like we are as competent as the other performers in the room.’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S We have to be really honest with partners when we start a conversation and go, “Are we an access consultant or are we a creative partner?” And even if we are a creative partner, there will still be access things. So we have to build that into the value of what we deliver, and make sure that people know that we have expectations. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S The references to “too few graduate schemes” and “a huge shortage of resources and training programmes […] making it challenging to develop our craft and improve our skills and […] feel like we are as competent as the other performers in the room” (from the first and third participants above) highlight some of the factors that contribute to situations where, as the third participant puts it, “I've actually ended up in a position where I'm doing work that is not at my level as I don't have the experience”. This is perhaps a parallel but opposing problem to the one in which the inaccessibility of smaller venues means performers may have no choice about whether to start their career and work up, or whether to be started on major stages they may not feel prepared for. This was something Jamie at CRIPtic shared that they are specifically aiming to address: ‘When we were designing our programmes, we realised we'd fallen into a similar trap to other organisations and created programmes to get people into an industry that was just not willing to welcome and make space for them. Last year we designed a “higher-level” programme looking at people who are on the brink of “breaking through” - because we wanted to make sure we were involved in the development of disabled talent at every level, and celebrating it at every level.’ Furthermore, the evidence of relying on either entry-level or much more senior opportunities suggests that the midpoint could be the trickiest career stage to navigate – and this is explicitly shown in the following two contributions from performers: ‘I was bored of getting mentors because I had them so much that I didn’t know what to do with them and there were so many opportunities for a disabled early career artist. But now it is difficult to find the right opportunity for my career next’ ‘[… Accessibility issues, and my access needs, have] meant that it is necessary to try and get work at larger venues (and, in my case, I've been lucky to work at the Barbican and Southbank Centres) but, without having had a buffer of “working my way up” through several smaller venues [which are inaccessible to me], this has felt daunting (even terrifying)’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S I found the more you've done, the less support there is for you in terms of schemes, and you're left to sink or swim in the wider arts world which is quite hard. I've actually ended up in a position where I'm doing work that is not at my level as I don't have the experience A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S For many performers in our target demographic, it is clear that being even vaguely close to the midpoint of a career (in terms of numbers of opportunities and jobs) would be a privilege they can hardly imagine. This is exemplified in the following contribution from a performer participant who shared details of disableist discrimination: ‘A few have suggested that I just do the lights or stuff behind the scenes, which has felt very disheartening and as a way to avoid the wheelchair being seen. I even tried to get into stand up despite not being able to stand up, and been unable to as they said the stage isn’t accessible and when I said I could just sit to the side of the stage, they said it would look bad on them for not having an accessible stage and were worried [about] the audience’s response’ This reflects the experience of Jamie Hale (Artistic Director of CRIPtic and part of the research team on this study). Jame was given the opportunity to compete as one of a shortlist of ten acts, the winner of which would receive support taking their show to Edinburgh Fringe - but while the other acts performed on a venue’s main stage, Jamie was only given the option to perform in the studio space, as the event had not booked a venue with an accessible stage. They withdrew from the awards - live on stage - having just delivered their performance (link). The significance of the incidents described above is that they are not isolated. In fact, the organisational contributions showed how much the opposite is true. Jodi at Graeae highlighted the company’s emphasis on, “making sure that that actor knows that nothing is too much trouble, if it means that they can get on and be the best actor that they can be in a space, we will make that happen”. But she went on to share: A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S ‘Hopefully when they have left that project, they can go on and ask the same things of other organisations. One of the things that really upsets us is when we can see that that isn't happening. When people are feeling scared or they're going, “Well, no, I really wanna do this project, but they said there's no, like I can't get any access support for it. But I'm just gonna do it and, like, muddle my way through it.” That's just like, so painful. But I think hopefully when people have worked with us on a project and seen how access can be such a positive thing in the space – and learning about yourself as well and what you need – we just really hope that that stays with people and fires them up to be able to ask on another project that might not be a Graeae project, that this is what they need.’ Jodi’s comment suggests that core to the work Graeae is doing is that they are not just giving people access in the space to allow people to work in that space. By doing this, they are also showing disabled people what having the right support can offer, and how to ask and push for it but she acknowledges that this does not always mean people receive support next time. Her comment illustrates the power of being in a space, and participating in practice, that “stays with people and fires them up”. This connects to the final theme of the findings – Communities. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S One of the things that really upsets us is when we can see that that isn't happening. When people are feeling scared or they're going, “Well, no, I really wanna do this project, but they said there's no, like I can't get any access support for it. But I'm just gonna do it and, like, muddle my way through it.” That's just like, so painful. But I think hopefully when people have worked with us on a project and seen how access can be such a positive thing in the space – and learning about yourself as well and what you need A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Communities The importance of communities has been a thread throughout the rest of the themes discussed so far. However, communities needed their own theme in this report in order to demonstrate just how important both performers and organisations considered them to be. Having finished the previous section with an organisational contribution from Jodi at Graeae, this theme begins with a perspective from Rebecca at Spare Tyre, which builds on the positive potential of communities: ‘by bringing [Spare Tyre participant] into our cohort of facilitators, that's just changed the game because the representation is utterly different. And there are now participants going, “Oh, okay, I could do that.” And we've been working with some of these participants for three years now and three years ago they couldn't have done, they didn't. But they're seeing somebody who looks and sounds like them and behaves like them, or in similar ways to them. “Okay, oh, well they've been recognised as an artist, so maybe I can do that.” So the possibilities there are really interesting.’ The significance of representation in Rebecca’s comment above is paralleled in the response of a performer participant to a question on what they would like the wider industry to know about accessibility for our target demographic. They shared: ‘I would just like them to take on board that we want to be able to perform too and being given the access and the things necessary for us to be able to participate makes a huge difference to how disabled people are viewed and the future of disability looks bright when children growing up in chairs see they don’t have to give up on their dreams of being a dancer when they become disabled because the world is accepting and accessible and allows disabled performers to have fulfilling experiences performing in theatre’ A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S It is a really complicated dynamic because – are we just friends because we have this shared experience of impairment, or actually are we now going to do amazing collaborative work together […] Also, what happens to the people who aren't in our networks for whatever reason? A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S This emotive contribution connects representation to ideas around shared experience, which is one of the features of community. It highlights the enormous value for disabled people who are wanting to begin careers in knowing that “someone like them" is already working within that field and being “recognised as an artist”. It therefore seems apt to conclude this theme’s discussion, and the findings section of the report, with a contribution celebrating the galvanising property of communities whilst also asking how this power can be embraced to ensure they include everyone who would benefit from their support rather than people and organisations limiting themselves to those they already know well: ‘I think it's very interesting – these often aren't networks we set out to create, because we're put together in particular situations. […] We meet people at medical appointments and support groups […] It is a really complicated dynamic because – are we just friends because we have this shared experience of impairment, or actually are we now going to do amazing collaborative work together […] Also, what happens to the people who aren't in our networks for whatever reason?’ In the spirit of that participant’s final question, the report now moves to present some recommendations based on the findings of the research. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Recommendations and conclusions Where the findings of the project were split into seven themes, these findings have led to six concluding recommendations. 01 Funding and budgets 02 Training for organisations 03 Consistency of support 04 Flexible approaches 05 Transparency about access 06 Holistic support Funding and budgets Access costs should be budgeted into all training and productions, ensuring that these are high enough to cover the costs of support for people with high support needs, and flexible enough to cover a range of types of support. Funding and budgets were raised in some form by all participants. Where accessibility is not budgeted for by projects, organisations or venues, disabled people do not feel that their presence on those projects or in those spaces is valued or desired. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Training for organisations Like access costs, training for organisations should be budgeted for. This should cover how best to engage with, work with, and support disabled performers with high access needs throughout their careers. This should be led by disabled people, and budgets should cover proper payment. Working with performers facing high physical access barriers will require changes in the way that organisations work. It is vital that performers are not also expected to train the organisations they work with, and that this training is in place at the outset. Consistency of support Organisations should reach out to and engage with disabled people with higher access needs on a consistent basis, offering sustained support and engagement for disabled performers with higher access needs throughout their careers. Disabled performers are used to short-term initiatives and provision which does not allow organisations to build a sustained relationship with them and support their holistic development. For performers with high physical access needs, career trajectories are likely to be different, and continued, consistent engagement is vital. Flexible approaches Organisations should be flexible with their established processes in order to work in ways that are accessible to disabled artists. This could include an openness to flexibility, changes, and new ideas in areas including scheduling to better suit disabled artists, attitudes towards the presence of support workers, the processes and systems that construct applications, rehearsals, workshops, training and methods of work (e.g. hybrid, online, and digital engagement) A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Transparency about access Organisations should be transparent about accessibility in the projects, processes and venues overall. They should also be transparent about what changes can and cannot be made to systems, processes, schedules, and timings to meet the needs of disabled performers. We recognise that not all organisations can meet all accessibility requirements all of the time, but transparency allows artists to engage with organisations in an informed manner. Holistic support Organisations should build support structures that take into account every part of a performer’s circumstances and needs – from physical and communication accessibility to emotional and mental wellbeing, and any factors (internal to the work situation, or external such as budgets for care or travel support) that impact these. These should be addressed appropriately and together rather than as separate issues. In many ways, the recommendation of holistic support combines aspects of the five previous recommendations and to illustrate our idea of - and our participants’ hopes for - an industry where disabled artists are fully and holistically supported. Taken together, the six proposed recommendations provide practical actions towards tangible change for disabled artists from the groups in this study, such that access needs are not only met but embraced, allowing all of us to carry out our best creative work. After all, this is an aim we share with every other performer in the industry. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Partners CRIPtic Arts is a creative development organisation focused on making the arts industry more accessible, and supporting, developing, and championing deaf and disabled people across the industry. It was founded as an artistic showcase in 2019 and an organisation in 2021 by Jamie Hale. CRIPtic Arts now employs six people and focuses on artistic excellence for disabled people through: Exploring creativity with a range of interactive community-centred events to create work across multiple artforms and genres, led by excellent facilitators, building community, reducing isolation, and improving mental well-being Developing creativity with targeted training programmes and opportunities to support people towards working in the arts Platforming creativity by producing and running plays, showcases, and live music events, from performances at local libraries to world-class exhibitions at the Barbican Changing creative industries using research, training, and campaigning to reduce disableism in the arts Spread the Word is London’s literature development agency, a charity and a National Portfolio client of Arts Council England. It is funded to help London’s writers make their mark on the page, the screen and in the world and build strategic partnerships to foster a literature ecology which reflects the cultural diversity of contemporary Britain. Spread the Word has a national and international reputation for initiating change-making research and developing programmes for writers that have equity and social justice at their heart. In 2015 it launched, Writing the Future: Black and Asian Writers and Publishers in the UK Market Place. In 2020 it launched Rethinking ‘Diversity’ in Publishing by Dr Anamik Saha and Dr Sandra van Lente, Goldsmiths, University of London, in partnership with The Bookseller and Words of Colour. Spread the Word’s programmes include: the Early Career Bursaries for London Writers, London Writers Awards, Wellcome Collection x Spread the Word Writing Awards, CRIPtic x Spread the Word Salon, City of Stories Home, the Deptford Literature Festival and Runaways. Red Pencil is an independent consultancy agency working exclusively with charities and social purpose organisations. Founded 20 years ago, the Red Pencil team works across marketing, brand, research and fundraising with charities from small arts organisations to household names to build relationships and communicate impact. Founder Natasha Roe is a published author of non-fiction books and research in the Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership. A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S References or readings Scholarship Charmaz, Kathy. Constructing Grounded Theory (Second Edition), SAGE Publications, 2014 Charmaz, Kathy. ‘Loss of self: a fundamental form of suffering in the chronically ill’, in Sociology of Health & Illness, Vol. 5, No. 2 (July 1983), pp.168-195, Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness, 1983. Danieli, Ardha and Carol Woodhams. ‘Emancipatory Research Methodology and Disability: A Critique’, in International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Vol. 8, No. 4, October 2005, pp. 281–296, Routledge, 2005 Dean, Deborah. ‘No Human Resource is an Island: Gendered, Racialized Access to Work as a Performer’, in Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 15, No. 2 (March 2008), Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2008 Dean, Deborah. ‘Performing industrial relations: the centrality of gender in regulation of work in theatre and television’, in Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 252–268, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2007 Dean, Deborah. ‘Recruiting a self: women performers and aesthetic labour’, in Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 19, No. 4 (2005), pp. 761-774, BSA Publications Ltd, SAGE Publications, 2005 Glaser, Barney and Anselm Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Sociology Press, 1967 Holmes IV, Oscar. ‘"For diversity scholars who have considered activism when scholarship isn’t enough!"’, in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal Emerald Publication, 2019 Humphries, B. ʽFrom Critical Thought to Emancipatory Action: Contradictory Research Goals?ʼ, in Sociological Research Online, vol. 2, no. 1, 1997 Parrott, Jessi. Rolling the Boards: The interplay of representation and recruitment in disability casting in UK theatre and television, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Warwick, 2019 Tregaskis, Claire and Dan Goodley. 'Disability Research by Disabled and Non-Disabled People: Towards a Relational Methodology of Research Production', in International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Vol. 8, No. 5 (2005), pp. 363 – 374, Routledge, 2005 A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S Reports Matson, Lawrence and Birds of Paradise Theatre Company, Barriers to Access: Report on the barriers faced by young disabled and D/deaf people in accessing Scottish youth arts provision. (Birds of Paradise and Creative Scotland, 2016) Making A Shift: Disabled people and the Arts and Cultural Sector Workforce in England: Understanding trends, barriers and opportunities. Arts Council England, 2018 Time to Act: How lack of knowledge in the cultural sector creates barriers for disabled artists and audiences. British Council and On the Move, 2021 A L W A Y S T HE AUD IE N CE - CRI PT I C ART S