Access Consultancy
Zoo Co can offer Access Consultancy for arts organisations, with our Creative Access Director Fleur Rooth. This may be useful if:
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You want to make your show or project accessible to deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent people
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You’re running a show or a project that includes deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent people
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If you have brought a new staff member on board who has access needs, and you want to offer them considered support.
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If you are deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent, and would like help advocating for higher levels of support in your working environment.
Through detailed discussion, we will:
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Assess the overall accessibility of your show, project or work environment
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Offer suggestions on how you might make your project more accessible
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Use Zoo Co’s experience of working in the arts with limited budgets to set realistic and attainable goals suited to your budget and timeframe
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Look at the access needs of the people delivering the project (e.g: performers, production team, course leaders) and the project audience (course participants, audiences etc)
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Provide a sounding board for your ideas around accessibility, and offer reassurance that you are providing access to the best of your ability for your project.
You do not need to have previous experience of access to receive consultancy, and Zoo Co can guide you through different access elements if you are new to working in an accessible way.
Please contact fleur@wearezooco.co.uk if you'd like to discuss booking.
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If, after your consultancy session, you then decide you would like Zoo Co to manage the access needs of your project, we can help with this. You may want an Access Coordinator on your project, or you may want Event Access Provision.
Access Coordinator Provision
Zoo Co has offered access coordination across many arts teams, and can join your project to offer different levels of support.
Support could include:
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a 1-to-1 check in with all team members prior to a project starting, to assess their access needs
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creating an access plan for the needs of the group and how best to work together within your given setting, then discuss it with your team to see what budget you may have to deliver the plan
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within your budget, book appropriate support workers to support any relevant access needs (for example a BSL interpreter to aid communication between deaf and hearing teams)
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conversations with the appropriate team member (Stage Manager or course leader for example) on how to deliver the access plan; the plan might include recommendations on how often breaks are needed or when a breakout space is required.
It is then the responsibility of the project team to see these access needs are met, and the Access Coordinator to advocate for them.
During the project, the Access Coordinator can check in to see if anyones access needs have evolved and/or if the team feel their access needs are being met to the best of the project team’s ability.
After the project, the Access Coordinator can check in with the team again to evaluate what worked well and what could have been improved.