New ways of audience development for culture and more inclusion in society.
The project final conference took place on Friday 4 October 2019 in Brussels, Belgium. We were delighted to welcome over 50 participants, both deaf and hearing. Sign language interpretation was available in Flemish, Finnish, Greek and British Sign Language, and International Sign.
Carmen Arroyo of EASPD welcomed the participants and introduced Ivo Peeters, representing the project coordinator De Zeyp, who spoke about the original inspiration for the project: a play by Eero Enqvist. Eero then talked about how he came to write his play, loosely adapted from a classical Finnish work by Viita.
The project consortium presented the results created in the course of the Sign and Sound Theatre project. This was followed by a debate on arts and inclusion policy with a range of policymakers represented:
- Representative from the EESC
- Julie Ward MEP, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. Vice-Chair Committee on Culture and Education
- Barbara Gessler, Head of the Unit Creative Europe, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission
- Inmaculada Placencia-Porrero, Senior Expert – Social affairs, Disability and Inclusion Unit, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission
- Eoin Nash, COPE Foundation, Ireland. Chair of the EASPD Interest Group on Arts
The afternoon sessions started with a presentation of accessibility good practice by four European companies:
- Nalagaatorg, Israel
- Un-Labelproject, Germany
- Fattoriavitadini,Italy
- Elimpulso del silencio, Spain
Participants then had time to share their own experiences of access and inclusion in cultural situations.
As coordinator, Gemeenschapcentrum De Zeyp hosted a dinner at their centre for all participants, to finish the event.