Image by Yahoo Accessibility Lab via Creative Commons
“Diversity Is Being Invited to the Party; Inclusion Is Being Asked to Dance”
– Moving Diversity Forward: How to Go From Well-Meaning to Well-Doing by Verna Myers.
Volume 7 of #CdnCult opens by picking up a conversation we started in Volume 6 about race and representation onstage.
Any conversation about ‘diversity’ is incomplete without addressing artists and audiences with disabilities. Technologies like ASL interpretation, captioning and audio description are slowly creeping into mainstream use, making theatre-going more welcoming to audience members with disabilities. But some barriers for artists with disabilities remain unexamined.
Curating an edition on ‘inclusive design’ has forced us to acknowledge that Spiderwebshow.ca and #CdnCult are not successful examples of inclusive design. From our production timelines to online forms and website layout, we still have a lot of work to do. And it is underway.
In this edition, Camila Diaz-Varela interviews three artists about the impact of inclusive design: Wanda Fitzgerald, Adam Pottle, and Frank Hull. Marcus Youssef asks why he might lie to long-time collaborator Niall McNeil. And Adrienne Wong chats with Jan Derbyshire about some of the principles that inform inclusive design.
As with any confrontation of difference, the opportunity is to not only open up space and systems, but to change our own thinking. We’re at the party. Now it’s time to dance.
Adrienne Wong and Michael Wheeler
Co-Editors: #CdnCult V7
