Accessibility Accelerator – Xenia Concerts

Despite the slow proliferation of Relaxed Performances, sensory-friendly performances, and adaptive performances, the disability and neurodiversity communities still face significant barriers to inclusion in the arts in Canada. For example, a 2018 report by the British Council titled “Disability and the arts: A global overview” found that 67% of disabled people in Canada felt excluded from arts and culture activities (British Council, 2018). Also in 2018, The Canadian Government’s Disability Advisory Committee found that only 28% of performing arts venues in Canada met basic accessibility requirements (Government of Canada. (2018)). Furthermore, in 2015, the Canada Council for the Arts reported that only 4% of Canadian performing arts organizations have a specific mandate to serve artists with disabilities (Canada Council for the Arts. (2015). Putting the arts on the disability radar: Research report).

To gain a deep understanding of the barriers that exist in our current arts landscape and ideate solutions, the design team leading this project will recruit a diverse and intersectional panel of arts workers with disabilities. These panelists will work together with the design team to:

Identify unaddressed barriers to inclusion in the design of concert experiences at Xenia Concerts and other pre-existing concert designs
Develop design principles for how to incorporate accessibility into arts events at all levels and stages of development – for attendees, artists, and arts organization workers
Develop resources that help artists and arts organizations create accessible experiences that support the needs of disabled and neurodivergent attendees and artists
Develop resources to support neurodivergent and disabled artists in navigating the professional arts world
Develop guidelines and principles for art organizations that enable them to create accessible professional opportunities for disabled and neurodivergent artists

We will use inclusive co-design methods to establish design objectives, ideate possible outputs, develop prototypes, and create resources to share with fellow artists and arts workers. We will centre the voices of neurodivergent and disabled individuals throughout the design process, while keeping in mind that the final outputs will be directed to both disabled and not-yet-disabled people working in the arts. Our ultimate objective is to develop implementable, sustainable design adaptations that support accessibility, and to share those with the broader arts community to support the inclusion of disabled and neurodivergent individuals across Canada, both onstage and off.

Accelerator Co-Designers

Fatima Adam (she/her)

Picture of Fatima, a light-skinned Black woman, facing the camera and smiling. She has short curly black hair, parted down the middle. She is wearing a long sleeve, dark green shirt, and standing in front of a blue and gray backdrop indoors.
Fatima Adam is a Toronto-based producer, theatre creator, and arts administrator. She has worked with; The AMY Project, SummerWorks Performance Festival, Why Not Theatre, Paprika Festival, b current performing arts and more.

Mabe Kyle (they/them)

Mabe Kyle a white person with brown hair and brown eyes is smiling standing in front of a large fallen down tree with a light blue shirt with white suspenders, white bow tie, and trans pride colour earings. There is long brown grass and green trees in the background.
Mabe Kyle (they/them) Expressive Arts Therapist in Training. Peer support worker in practice. Maker of poetry, pottery, and photography who loves being creative.

Vanessa Ng (she/her)

Vanessa is wearing a black blazer with a white shirt underneath, and she has short black-brown hair. She is holding a trombone at her side and smiling at the camera. There are trees in the background and they are blurred out to put Vanessa in the spotlight.
Vanessa Ng (she/her) is a music educator, activist, and graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. She is currently attending the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto for her Masters of Teaching.

Hannah Sullivan Facknitz (they/them)

Hannah, a white femme with round black glasses and curly dark brown hair, stands in dappled sunshine in front of a bookshelf with a very faint smile. Their blue green eyes are prominent as they ruffle their hair.
Hannah Sullivan Facknitz (they/them) is a queer disabled cultural worker and care-mongerer living on the unceded, stolen lands of the xʷməθkʷəy ̓əm, səlilwətaɬ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh peoples.

Jasmine Noseworthy Persaud (they/them)

[Image Description: Jasmine Noseworthy Persaud, a mixed race Guyanese person with light brown skin and dark curly hair smiles wide with teeth showing and hand holding their face. They are in front of an emerald green wall and wear a brown-black tie-dye shirt.]
Jasmine Noseworthy Persaud (they/them) is a nonbinary, mad and multiply disabled, digital media artist of Guyanese and English descent living in Treaty 13 territory. They are interested in where community arts meets community health.

Taylor Stocks (they/he)

Taylor Stocks (they/he) is a trans crip artist, activist, and researcher whose work focuses on the intersection of trans identities and chronic illness. They manage a severe and stubborn form of ulcerative colitis and inflammatory arthritis.