Europe Beyond Access (2024 - 2027)
- Project Type
- Dance, theatre, accessibility
- Title
- Europe Beyond Access (2024 - 2027)
- Release Date
- 2024
- Irish Partner
- Project Arts Centre, Dublin
- Co-Partners
- Lead partner: Skanes Dansteater, Sweden
- Ariona Hellas, Greece
- Centrum Kultury Zamek, Poland
- Coda Oslo International Dance Festival, Norway
- Consorci Mercat De Les Flors/Centre De Les Arts De Moviment, Spain
- Fundacao Caixa Geral De Depositos-Culturgest, Portugal
- Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik, Germany
- Oriente Occidente Impresa Sociale Ets, Italy
- Stichting Holland Dance Festival, Netherlands.
- Funding Strand
- Cooperation Projects (Large)
- Year Funded
- 2023
- Funding Amount
- €2,000,000
Europe Beyond Access (2024 - 2027) is Europe’s largest and most influential initiative to focus on the active participation of artists with disabilities in mainstream dance and theatre.
Ten leading European performing arts institutions are joining forces to advance the work and careers of disabled artists including Deaf artists, artists with physical disabilities, sensory impairments and learning difficulties.
Europe Beyond Access (EBA) will embed best practices in their organisations and networks, champion the ground-breaking artistic practices of disabled artists and platform their work in mainstream institutions. Ultimately, their aim is to eliminate ableism in Europe’s cultural arena.
Europe Beyond Access has four major strands
- Artistic Exchanges: The programme includes artistic laboratories in which artists from different countries come together to exchange ideas and learn new skills. EBA also hosts artistic residencies for artists who seeking to develop a specific artistic idea.
- Audience Development & Engagement: to develop widespread public interest in disability-led performing arts, as well as increasing access to the arts for disabled audiences.
- Capacity Building: to build the capacity of two key groups of arts professionals at either end of the cultural market. We do this through providing training opportunities, toolkits, reports and conferences.
- Artist Commissions and Public Presentations: to support disabled artists to make and tour new dance and theatre works. EBA also presents works that are already made and which are touring across Europe.
‘Through EBA the Project team and local disabled artists developed practical and creative knowledge, skills, and connections as well as a deeper understanding of access through training sessions like Audio Description: Easy Read and Autism, Learning Disability and Neurodiversity Awareness. We expect to deepen our learning through working groups focused on Visually Impaired and Deaf audiences. EBA significantly improved the level of support we can offer to disabled artists. Early-career artists, Lianne Quigley and Maryam Madani, participated in learning labs in Oslo and Rovereto. Maryam described the experience as “one of the most exciting and joyful experiences of my creative career and indeed my life! It was inspiring to connect with amazingly talented disabled dancers from across Europe… It gave me a sense of support, confidence, and energy to expand my creative practice.” We commissioned disabled artists Bobbi Byrne and Soso Ní Cheallaigh to make a new work, Variations on Two Disabled Bodies, presented as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, which won a Fringe Award.’ Project Arts Centre
Irish Partner
Project Arts Centre is Ireland's leading centre for the development and presentation of contemporary art, dedicated to supporting artists and protecting the next generation of Irish artists across all forms of the performing and visual arts.