In 2020, EFT received a Sector Development grant from Canada Council for the Arts to pursue their Accessibility Project. The Project had a two-fold goal to recognize the barriers faced by underrepresented artists to accessing the performing arts in Nova Scotia, and to offer recommendations on how we can clear these roadblocks and create a more welcoming arts sector for everyone.
A Project Coordinator and six Community Consultants with lived experience were hired to represent underserved communities in the performing arts. They conducted interviews, held feedback sessions, and administered surveys before making recommendations on what organizations could do moving forward to reduce barriers to accessing and working in performing arts, no matter what their capacity. These recommendations, in the form of a comprehensive final report, were distributed to all performing arts organizations across Nova Scotia in the spring of 2022.
A Project Coordinator and six Community Consultants with lived experience were hired to represent underserved communities in the performing arts. They conducted interviews, held feedback sessions, and administered surveys before making recommendations on what organizations could do moving forward to reduce barriers to accessing and working in performing arts, no matter what their capacity. These recommendations, in the form of a comprehensive final report, were distributed to all performing arts organizations across Nova Scotia in the spring of 2022.
Read the Report
While this phase of the Accessibility Project has been completed, we have applied for another grant to continue the much needed work. Please reach out if you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the future!
Photo by Emily Invidia [IMAGE DESCRIPTION – April, a light-skinned white woman with short auburn hair, sits in her black manual wheelchair. She wears glasses & a flowing gold satin gown. The light highlights the definition of her bare arms. Her wheelchair sits diagonal to the camera to show gold fabric draped through the spokes of her wheelchair. Her upper body faces the camera, one arm wraps around the back of her seat, gripping the frame of her backrest while the other is draped on her lap. Her legs are crossed, her bare feet show beneath the hem of her skirt. The pose accentuates the strong curves of her body. April looks directly into the camera with the mysterious hint of a smile on her lips. Columns of purple and violet light frame her against a black backdrop.]
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PROJECT COORDINATOR, APRIL HUBBARD
April Hubbard began her career as an actor before developing her skills as a director, producer, board member, accessibility advisor and arts administrator after entering the world of disability and finding there was no longer a space for her on stage. As the Chair of the Halifax Fringe Festival, she provides a platform for others excluded from mainstream performance. In 2019, April became a professional trapeze artist and acrobat when she began performing with LEGacy Circus. She cofounded disabilityX Halifax, a storytelling event created and led by people with disabilities and is currently working with Drifting Amber Collective to remove barriers to access in the arts and to support people with unseen bodies & unheard voices to claim creative control. She is an outspoken advocate whose focus is to empower people with disabilities to discover their voice and to be leaders in designing the society in which they wish to live. April proudly shows her body without hiding its differences, which serves to both challenge assumptions and to normalize the presence of people with disabilities in our everyday world. |
Our team of Community Consultants was made up of Nat Chantel, Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis, Carmen Lee, Raymond Sewell, Kirsten Olivia Taylor, and Maeghan Taverner.
Thank you to our Community Supporters:
Atlantic Presenters Association, Bus Stop Theatre Co-operative, Charles Taylor Theatre and Media Association, Chester Playhouse, Dartmouth Players, East Coast Music Association, EVERYSEEKER, Halifax Busker Festival, Halifax Dance, Halifax Fringe Festival, Halifax Pride Festival, Halifax Theatre for Young People, Keep Good (Theatre) Company, Khyber Centre for the Arts, Kick At The Dark Theatre Co-operative, Kinetic, King's Theatre, Lions Den Theatre, Live Art Dance, LunaSea Theatre, Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Mocean Dance, Neptune Theatre, Nocturne Halifax, Page 1 Theatre, Prismatic Arts Festival, Probably Theatre Collective, Ship’s Company Theatre, The Villains Theatre, The Woods Hip Hop Company, Theatre Baddeck, Theatre Nova Scotia, Two Planks and a Passion Theatre, Votive Dance
And thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts - Sector Development.
Thank you to our Community Supporters:
Atlantic Presenters Association, Bus Stop Theatre Co-operative, Charles Taylor Theatre and Media Association, Chester Playhouse, Dartmouth Players, East Coast Music Association, EVERYSEEKER, Halifax Busker Festival, Halifax Dance, Halifax Fringe Festival, Halifax Pride Festival, Halifax Theatre for Young People, Keep Good (Theatre) Company, Khyber Centre for the Arts, Kick At The Dark Theatre Co-operative, Kinetic, King's Theatre, Lions Den Theatre, Live Art Dance, LunaSea Theatre, Mayworks Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Mocean Dance, Neptune Theatre, Nocturne Halifax, Page 1 Theatre, Prismatic Arts Festival, Probably Theatre Collective, Ship’s Company Theatre, The Villains Theatre, The Woods Hip Hop Company, Theatre Baddeck, Theatre Nova Scotia, Two Planks and a Passion Theatre, Votive Dance
And thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts - Sector Development.