Accessible festivals during Australia’s summer

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Monday, 8 December 2014 10:19am

Along with an Australian summer comes a raft of festivals nationwide. Three of the biggest festivals are the Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival and Perth Festival, all of which have accessible events for patrons who are blind, vision impaired, Deaf or hearing impaired.

Australian flag waving in the foreground; in the background, a surfer swims in the water off the New South Wales coast

The annual Sydney Festival is set to kick off in early January and amongst its many performances is the audio described Masquerade on 17 January, adapted from the Kit Williams’ children’s book. Open captions will be provided for the dance and stories production of Nothing to Lose on 25 January.

New to this year’s Sydney Festival is the closed captioning of all video content on its website. Two examples are the interview with the creators of Nothing to Lose and the interview with Kate Mulvany, writer of Masquerade.

Please refer to the Sydney Festival’s ‘how-to-book’ webpage for booking information.

Starting in mid-February, the Adelaide Festival has a plentiful line up of audio described events, many of which are complemented by tactile tours. Adelaide Festival booking information will provide further details to secure accessible tickets.

The Perth Festival starts in mid-February also and could take out an award for offering the most accessible events. With four captioned performances, four live captioned events (part of the Perth Writers Festival) and four audio described performances, the festival is making a name for itself as one that everyone can attend.

Make sure you advise of any accessibility requirements when booking for any festival event to ensure equipment and appropriate seating is arranged for your attendance.


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