Following the success of the audio-described Tactile Tour program in 2010, Sculpture by the Sea are partnering with Accessible Arts to offer people with vision impairment and people with intellectual disability the opportunity to engage with art in a hands-on guided experience.
Accessible Arts hosted the Festivals Forum in July 2011, to review access for people with disability at festival events throughout NSW. Representatives from fifteen festivals large and small, and supporting arts organisations, gathered at the Utzon Room at Sydney Opera House to attend the three hour forum.
As part of an agreement to support festivals to develop accessibility, Accessible Arts has provided training to Sculpture by the Sea staff for the third consecutive year. Twelve staff from all sections of the organisation attended three hours of Disability Awareness and Access training to further embed accessibility practices throughout their organisation.
Festivals are increasing in popularity and continue to give expression and exposure to innovative creative arts and culture, which in turn adds greater vibrancy to communities who share in these occasions. Accessible Arts will present a forum in July, to bring festival producers together to discuss the unique challenges they face when improving access to festival events.
Nastasia Campanella is a Sydney based freelance print, radio and online journalist who also happens to be blind. She recently attended one of the audio described tactile tours presented by Sculpture by the Sea in partnership with Accessible Arts and reported on the experience.News
Accessible Cinema trials Rear Window captioning at the Sydney Film Festival plus audio described screening announced
The 56th Sydney Film Festival in partnership with Accessible Arts will trial a new method of captioning for people who are deaf or who have a hearing impairment, at this year's festival. An audio described screening will also be included as part of the Accessible Cinema program. 
As audio described and captioned films are not regularly screened, the Sydney Film Festival is offering a rare and important opportunity to experience improved access and provide support for technology that will enable the expansion of audio description and captioning in cinemas across Australia. Rear Window captioning uses a reflective plastic panel mounted on a flexible stalk that sits adjacent to the viewer’s seat. A large LED display is mounted on a rear wall that displays caption characters in mirror image. Viewers move the panels into position, below the movie screen, so they can read the reflected captions and watch the movie. Audio description provides a concise and meaningful description of the visual content of a film through head sets and enables a richer experience for people who are blind or have low vision.
The following screening will have rear window captions and audio description:
Cheri, UK-France-Germany, dir Stephen Frears: Lushly romantic adaptation of the novel by French scribe/bonne viveuse Colette is an immensely entertaining portrait of love bought, found and lost among the rarefied courtesan circle of the Belle Époque.
Screening time: Fri, 12 June 9:15 pm, State Theatre
The following screening will have rear window captions:
Prime Mover, Australia, dir-scr David Caesar: A little bit of truck-love burns a lot of rubber in this diesel-charged romance about a dab-hand at the repair shop, who has a crush on the roadhouse girl from across the highway and hankers after a chromed-up prime mover of his own.
Screening time: Mon 8 June 4:00 pm, State Theatre
To book rear-window captioned seats and audio described head sets please call the festival office on 9690 5390 or email tickets@sff.org.au. Please note, seats are limited and subject to availability.