Country Profile: Portugal
In the first of a series of country profiles by local experts, Maria Vlachou gives an overview of the Arts and Disability and access initiatives in Portugal. Maria is the Director of Acesso Cultura, a non-profit association of culture professionals and people interested in accessibility issues, based in Almada, Portugal.
Unlimited Access
Unlimited Access was in many ways the precursor to Europe Beyond Access, a pan-European collaboration between 7 leading arts organisations, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.
It was a programme designed to support best practice in the commissioning, creation, dissemination and programming of performing arts by Deaf and disabled artists.
In Portugal, Croatia and Greece, a series of ‘Creative Encounters – dance workshops, talks and presentations of work designed to encourage disabled artists and audiences into cultural spaces.
Making music more accessible: DIY Access Guides
We want music events around the world to be more accessible for Deaf and disabled audiences. To help you, we are offering three simple, downloadable guides from the UK (now translated into 11 languages)
Any venue, promoter, band, festival or performer should read them. They contain practical, easy-to-follow advice to make gigs and concerts more accessible. Let music can reach and include the widest possible audience!
Inclusive Design Workshop
The British Council Portugal invited international designers to join a design team to work with artists with special needs from Fundacao LIGA Studios. The idea was to develop a series of images to commemorate the British Council's 80th Anniversary.
We chose Tokyo-based British Designer Laila Cassim to supervise and advise the designers. Laila has significant experience in this area of inclusive art and design practice.
Watch some of the workshop highlights in this Inclusive Design Workshop video.
This Project aimed to help promote the artistic talents of disabled artists through designing stamps. But it had a wider aim of improving the artists' social and financial independence through creating revenue from the imagery from the stamps and their accompanying products.
For more information please contact richard.fleming@britishcouncil.org