“At what point is art so inaccessible that it is no longer viable?" 

Improving access in the arts sector is crucial. It relies on significant support, education, finance, and a concrete commitment to accessibility.

It also requires us to look at organisations, projects and venues and assess whether their commitment to accessible engagement meets 'minimum access standards'. Where their commitment falls short, we are also required to ask whether they should be critically engaged with to make concrete commitments to access, or whether they should be boycotted or defunded.

However, there is no sector-wide clarity about what those standards should be, or what actions should be taken where those standards are not met.

What is this survey about?

This survey is to determine what these standards should be, and what should be done when these are not met.

We understand that access provisions may be expensive, and that what can feasibly be provided will vary by budget. In order to assess venues, projects, and organisations fairly, we have created four rough financial bands. These reflect Arts Council England (ACE) funding options. We understand that there will be grey areas for organisations within this, but felt this was the fairest way of assessing 'like for like'.

The four bands are:

1.     A high profile or highly funded organisation, project or venue: a project, venue or organisation that has access to >£100,000 annually.

This might include a commercial theatre, or organisations, projects and venues annually funded by government bodies such as Arts Council England (ACE). Many of these are defined by ACE as “National Portfolio Organisations” - which are “leaders in their areas, with a collective responsibility to protect and develop our national arts and cultural ecology. Public investment brings public accountability, for us and for the organisations we invest in, and this is reflected in our expectations.”

2.     A medium size event or project: a project, venue or organisation that has access to between £30,0000 and £100,000 for its duration.

3.     A small size event or project: a project that has access to between £1,000 and £30,000 for its duration.

4.     A micro or free project: a project where less than £1,000 will change hands. This might include scratch nights at theatres, or open mic poetry/comedy/music nights at pubs.

In this survey we will ask both multiple choice questions and free-text questions. You will also be asked to define, from a selection of criteria, what you would consider to be "excellent" access provisions and "minimum understandable" access provisions.

For the purpose of this survey;

"Excellent access provisions" will refer to access provisions that organisations, projects and venues of the specified budget size should be offering.

"Minimum understandable access provisions" will refer to the minimum offer of access provisions that you believe is understandable within the limitations of their scale and budget. 

In this survey, we do not attempt to outline a full range of access provisions or address all barriers to access. We recognise that the provisions we address will not apply to every deaf or disabled person, or every event, project, or venue, but have tried to consider as broad a range as possible.

None of the questions are compulsory. There is always the option to answer “prefer not to say” or to skip questions. The survey is completely confidential and anonymous. At the end of the survey, you will be asked if you are willing to provide your contact details in order to participate in an additional interview – but this is entirely optional, and your contact information will be separated from the rest of your survey response. At every stage of the project, all your data will be stored securely, in accordance with CRIPtic Arts’ Data Policy https://cripticarts.org/privacy-policy/ and compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In line with CRIPtic Arts’ organisational ethos, and the nature of this research, every aspect of this survey is designed to be accessible. If you require support to complete this survey, you are welcome to contact caitlin@cripticarts.org to request support or adjustments.

If you require this survey in BSL or Easy Read formats, please contact caitlin@cripticarts.org.