Making The Arts Accessible

Alice Gilmour
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Alice Gilmour interviews people who make the arts accessible, including audio describers, BSL interpreters, technology experts, disability experts, theatre managers, community outreach workers, and more.

  1. 09/18/2025

    13 - Tim Yates

    Tim Yates leads the Research and Innovation Programme at Drake Music, an organisation dedicated to helping musicians with disabilities discover or co-design instruments that work for them. Collaborating with tech companies, coders, and instrument makers, they are pushing the boundaries where music and technology meet. When we spoke in May, Tim explained how Drake Music is working to develop a kind of one-stop hub—a database and showcase space—for the many inventions and creative ideas emerging in this field. The aim is to share these innovations more widely and make them accessible to all. Links: Drake Music https://www.drakemusic.org/ Tim Yates (page on DrakeMusic website) https://www.drakemusic.org/team/11116/   Paraorchestra https://paraorchestra.com/ The Kellycaster https://www.drakemusic.org/technology/instruments-projects/the-kellycaster/ MiMU Gloves https://mimugloves.com/gloves/ Sony - Inclusive Design https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/accessibility/initiatives/ OrchLab at the London Philharmonic Orchestra https://lpo.org.uk/project/orchlab/ Thanks for listening! You can see all episodes on my website www.alicegilmour.com.

    28 min

  2. 07/18/2025

    12 - James Bottrill

    This is a detailed and comprehensive chat about the technology used in theatres for assistive listening and audio description.  James has a huge amount of knowledge and experience in this area, and we look at all the different options out there - loop systems, infrared, radio, WiFi, and Bluetooth including Auracast - and discuss the pros and cons of each one. Links: James Bottrill - email orchard.audio.services@gmail.com   Ampetronic  https://www.ampetronic.com/   Listen Technologies  https://www.listentech.com/   Sennheiser  https://www.sennheiser.com/   Williams  https://williamsav.com/ Thanks for listening! You can see all episodes on my website www.alicegilmour.com.

    1h 2m

  3. 10/21/2024

    11 - Paul Adams

    Paul Adams is currently Access Project Manager for The Royal Ballet and Opera in London and has been there just over a year.  Before that he worked in Singapore, and has spent his career in creative learning departments working hard to make the arts accessible.  We have a chat about what it’s like working for such a large organisation, tips and hints he has for effecting change, and things he thinks have worked well, and others which have been more of a learning curve.  I hope you enjoy it.      Links   Royal Ballet and Opera https://www.rbo.org.uk/   Paul’s page on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-anthony-adams-a-world-with-access-to-arts-experiences-for-all-8288a821/   Ramps on the Moon Project https://rampsonthemoon.co.uk/   ATG Theatres – access page https://www.atgtickets.com/access/   Devon Healey https://discover.research.utoronto.ca/32146-devon-healey   Paul Hamlyn Christmas Treat https://www.rbo.org.uk/learning/families/paul-hamlyn-christmas-treat   The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – ZooNation https://www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/the-mad-hatters-tea-party-details   Singapore Theatre’s Inclusive Young Company https://www.srt.com.sg/young-company-past-productions   Thanks for listening! You can see all episodes on my website www.alicegilmour.com.

    34 min

  4. 12/19/2023

    10 - Tom and Caroline Maley

    In this episode, recorded at Tom and Caroline's house, we have a great discussion about audio description.  Tom is a general all-round arts-lover and has been blind all his life so has used audio description for many years now, particularly for theatre, opera and for historic buildings.  And Caroline, his wife, has supported him in this, and was on the board of Vocaleyes for five years.  So they are both full of lots of thoughts on what works, what doesn't and how people can make their work or their space accessible to blind people. Thanks for listening! You can see all episodes on my website www.alicegilmour.com.

    46 min

  5. 07/14/2023

    09 - Ben Wilson

    Ben Wilson is an actor, theatre-maker, audio description consultant and recently became Extant's first trainee Artistic Director.  We talk about how he combines these different roles, what it's like having a portfolio career like so many of us in the arts, on his requirements as a blind actor,  on questions like why do West End shows have different access providers every week in each different venue, and should arts organisations and directors who have never cast a disabled actor on their stage still be given a platform.   Enjoy!   Links Extant Theatre https://extant.org.uk/   Graeae Theatre https://graeae.org/   Ramps on the Moon Project https://rampsonthemoon.co.uk/   Sheffield Theatres www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk   Oliver Twist – NT At Home https://www.ntathome.com/products/oliver-twist   Georgie Morrell – comedian, actor, writer http://georgiemorrell.co.uk/   Thanks for listening! You can see all episodes on my website www.alicegilmour.com.

    48 min

  6. 04/11/2023

    08 - Emily Malen

    In this episode, I'm talking to Emily Malen who is Front of House and Access Development Manager at Theatre Royal Nottingham and Royal Concert Hall.  What she stresses is the importance of listening and learning from your audiences, and always pushing forward, looking at the latest technology, training your staff, communicating with every department in the building, and also your visiting audience, and visiting show. Links   Royal Theatre Nottingham and Royal Concert Hall https://trch.co.uk/whats-on/   Attitude is Everything https://attitudeiseverything.org.uk/   Vocaleyes – audio description listings and information https://vocaleyes.co.uk/   StageText – captions in theatre https://www.stagetext.org/   TheatreSign – BSL interpreters and performances https://theatresign.com/   Signed Culture – supporting BSL access to the arts https://www.signedculture.org.uk/   Thanks for listening! You can see all episodes on my website www.alicegilmour.com.

    37 min

  7. 01/25/2023

    07 - Jonathan Suffolk

    I talk to Jonathan Suffolk, Director of Production at The Curve, Leicester who headed up the team at The National Theatre who developed their smart caption glasses.  These augmented reality glasses provide captions for people who are D/deaf or hard of hearing, without them having to turn and read captions on a screen at the side or over the top of a stage.  We get quite techy and hear how it all works in detail.  And he talks very honestly about how access works in a major theatre and how it rubs up against the eternal economic difficulties in the arts. Links:   The National Theatre Caption Glasses https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/your-visit/access/caption-glasses   The National Theatre, London, UK https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/   Leicester Curve Theatre https://www.curveonline.co.uk/   Stagetext – providing captions for theatres https://www.stagetext.org/   Galapro – providing captions and audio descriptions to phones https://playbill.com/article/the-new-technology-about-to-revolutionize-broadway   The Arts Council’s ‘Let’s Create’ strategy https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/lets-create   Thanks for listening! You can see all episodes on my website www.alicegilmour.com.

    34 min

  8. 12/20/2022

    06 - Hannah Thompson

    In this episode, I talk to Hannah Thompson, Professor of French and Critical Disability studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, who describes herself as partially blind and is an expert in audio description. She recently co-created a FutureLearn course on audio description called ‘Creating Audio Description: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’, which explores how to design and create audio descriptions and audio introductions for TV, film and theatre, and she's full of fascinating insights on how audio description can become part of the creative process which ultimately makes a better artistic product, whilst improving the audio description experience for the user. Links:  Hannah Thompson http://hannah-thompson.blogspot.com/   Future Learn course - Creating Audio Description: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/creating-audio-description-for-equality-diversity-and-inclusion   The Smartify app (sign up and search for The Royal Holloway Art Gallery) https://smartify.org/   Play Flightpaths by Extant https://extant.org.uk/productions/digital-flight-paths/   Watch here https://flightpaths.extant.org.uk/   Vocaleyes website https://vocaleyes.co.uk/ Thanks for listening! You can see all episodes on my website www.alicegilmour.com.

    44 min
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About

Alice Gilmour interviews people who make the arts accessible, including audio describers, BSL interpreters, technology experts, disability experts, theatre managers, community outreach workers, and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Alice Gilmour
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    14
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Making The Arts Accessible
  • Show Website
    Making The Arts Accessible