Every year, the Festival d’Avignon commits to make sure that disabled people are not excluded from culture by progressively integrating specific measures: better access for disabled people to the venues of the Festival, specific training so that our staff can answer the needs of disabled spectators, increase in the number of shows that are subtitled, but also use of connected glasses with built-in surtitles, video description… Making the Festival more accessible is a concrete challenge.
To know more: accessibilite@festival-avignon.com
Video description in the Cloître des Carmes, 2018 © Sharlie Evans
Video description in the Cloître des Carmes, 2018 © Sharlie Evans
Video description in the Cloître des Carmes, 2018 © Sharlie Evans
Video description in the Cloître des Carmes, 2018 © Sharlie Evans
Video description in the Cloître des Carmes, 2018 © Sharlie Evans
Video description in the Cloître des Carmes, 2018 © Sharlie Evans
Venue programmes in large print and in braille, 2017 © Festival d'Avignon
Printing of a sheet in braille, 2017 © Festival d'Avignon
Electronic surtitles glasses, 2017 © Festival d'Avignon
Access maps, 2017 © Festival d'Avignon
The Festival d’Avignon offers video description for a show every edition. Programmes in large print and in braille are available at the venue.
For more information about video description and set visits: accesibilite@festival-avignon.com
About twenty blind and visually impaired people were able to attend the shows The Bank in the Dark by Pascal Quignard and Marie Vialle in 2016 and Sadness and Joy in the Life of Giraffes by Thomas Quillardet in 2017. During the 72nd edition, about fifteen spectators were able to take advantage of the video description for The Buddha in the Attic, after visiting the set with director Richard Brunel.
Video description at the Festival d’Avignon is supported by the Fondation Raze and implemented with the help of the association Accès Culture. The Festival has also committed to lend its video description equipment to parter structures in the Region to help disabled people.
Every year, many shows are naturally accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired people, such as very visual dance shows and foreign shows with French surtitles.
The Festival team offers a list of shows to help spectators choose.
In 2018, for the first time, the entire programme presentationby Olivier Py was translated into French sign language.
Here’s a short video of the presentation of the 2018 programme with surtitles and French sign language translation.
The Benoît XII hall is also equipped with an audio system for the hearing-impaired.
