Extant have been leading training for venues, offering consultancy and creatively integrating access for VI audiences into our productions (ranging from theatre stages, to outdoor to immersive shows) for over 25 years.
We’re one of the Arts Council England recommended support organisations as part of their All In programme who offer access training and consultancy in the field.
Our consultancy and access training has been used by: Royal Shakespeare Company, Punchdrunk, Theatr Clywd, The Lowry, MAC, Stratford Circus, Camden People’s Theatre, RADA, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Young Vic, The Curve, Sadler’s Wells and many more.
Visual Impairment Awareness Training Workshop at The Courtyard, Hereford, 2024
Visual Impairment Awareness Training for Venues
Extant VIAT is a three hour practical, on-site training session lead by a VI facilitator aimed at building the confidence, understanding and skills of FOH, Box Office, Technical and Event staff to make your venue more welcoming to VI audiences, volunteers and staff members.
Our training is grounded in the Social Model of Disability and the Equality Act 2010, content includes:
- Myth busting Quiz
- Use of Language
- Barriers Faced by VI and Disabled People
- Sighted Guiding Practice
- Case Studies
- Discussion and Open Questions
Testimonials and Evidence
“The legacies for us are multiple – our staff are more aware of the needs and have more confidence in supporting VI attendees, we now have experience of delivering accessible programming across a broader choice of shows and it has extended our audience reach.”
“I’m sure it’s no coincidence that we had VI audiences for an unrelated event to the Extant programme and our Daily Report said: ‘Operations Manager received very positive feedback from four VI customers with an assistance dog. They were assisted to/from their seats by X at the start, during the interval and at the end. They reported that they had not received that level of assistance in any other venue before'”
During our previous production tours of Flight Paths (2019) and The Chairs (2016) we led VIAT training for every venue which we toured too ensuring that venue staff developed the knowledge and skills to improve services for their VI audience members who came to see our work.
If you want to book a conversation or purchase VIAT for your venue, please contact our Enhance Training Manager: [email protected]
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Thanks to support from Paul Hamlyn Foundation funding, Extant will be working with 18 venues and 54 companies to deliver Post-Enhance training across 2024-26 and being awarded our Enhance mark.
In 24/25 we’re working with The Lowry (Salford), The Courtyard (Hereford), Arena Theatre (Wolverhampton), Camden People’s Theatre (London), Alphabetti Theatre (Newcastle) and Derby Theatre (Derby).