2014 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards - Award for Arts Promotion

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Hearing Through the Eyes & Seeing Through the Ears
Making Arts Accessible for ALL to Reach More Audiences
Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong Received Its Third ‘Award for Arts Promotion’

With the vision 'Arts are for Everyone', Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong (ADAHK) has been dedicated to promoting arts with people with different (dis)abilities and social inclusion since 1986. The ongoing development of the Association has proved the effectiveness of its works in arts education and arts promotion.

Besides active promotion of inclusive arts, as a one year grant arts organisation of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, ADAHK is also dedicated to promoting arts to different people in the society. Through the ‘Jockey Club Arts Accessibility Scheme’ (JCAAS), ADAHK received its third ‘Award for Arts Promotion’ for its provision of arts accessibility services for arts and cultural organisations.

No arts is unapproachable: once visual elements in visual arts or performing arts are translated into languages (Audio Description), people with visual impairments could also ‘see’ and appreciate arts though hearing; when auditory elements are translated into Hong Kong Sign Language (Sign Interpretation / Theatrical Interpretation) or Accessible Captions, people with hearing impairment could also ‘hear’ the sound through their eyes. JCAAS has been providing arts accessibility services and promoting arts to different people in the community, such as people with visual impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual differences, ambulant disabilities, on autistic spectrum, children and senior citizens, etc.

The scope of work of JCAAS includes direct services, staff and volunteer training, professional training and public education, etc. In the past year, we developed some services that were the first of its kind in the world or in Hong Kong. Besides, the Scheme also invites overseas experts to provide trainings and seminars for local practitioners or arts administrators so that they know more about the required skills and points to note for serving different audiences.

The First-ever One-Stop Arts Accessibility Service Centre

ADAHK established the Jockey Club Arts Accessibility Service Centre in 2011, providing one-stop arts accessibility services for arts and cultural organisations, as well as promoting the accessible programmes to people with different abilities.

The set up of the centre has also provided opportunity for nurturing a group of professional arts accessibility ambassadors and practitioners through various training. The general public or anyone interested in arts accessibility could attend study groups, training courses or free seminars orgainsed by the Centre, or visit the resource corner to look for relevant information.

Besides, JCAASC runs an accessible website from which everyone may look up details of accessible programmes. The website has received Gold Award in the ‘Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme’ for two consecutive years.

Pave Way for the Development of Arts and Culture in Hong Kong through Physical and Programme Access

As the West Kowloon Cultural District develops, more cultural venues will be built alongside the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade. ADAHK has been working with different groups, including local arts and cultural organisations, rehab organisations and artists to submit petitions together to urge for a West Kowloon for ALL by universal design of the facilities and provision of accessible programmes. ADAHK becomes the accessibility consultant of Xiqu Centre, M+ Museum as well as the WKCD Park in recent years, arranging stakeholders meetings for various sectors and people with different abilities to express their views.

In 2013, with the support of JCAAS, ADAHK provided arts accessibility services for Freespace Fest, the first outdoor festival in Hong Kong’s history that provided a simplified version of information, on-demand Sign interpretation, audio description and theatrical interpretation for poetry and music programmes. Everyone can appreciate the poetry and music through the body language and Signs by the interpreters. And in January 2014, JCAAS served 60 patrons with visual impairments and their support persons to participate in the world's first audio described Cantonese opera performance cum touch tour. These activities enriched the experiences of the patrons and encouraged their support persons to enjoy the Cantonese opera performance together.

A New Form of Arts Appreciation for Everyone

In fact, not only people with different abilities but everyone can benefit from arts accessibility services. For example, when visiting an exhibition, audio description can provide general audience another perspective to appreciate the artwork, while tactile diagrams / representations can arouse more interest in arts appreciation by touching; for theatre, accessible captions is especially popular among audience at musicals.

We hope more accessible programmes will be available in the future, so that more people with different abilities could enjoy arts events in theatre and museums.

Group photo of all awardee of Hong Kong Arts Development Award 2014

Group photo of ADA Chairperson, committee member, guests and staff

Core members of JCAASC

Group photo of audio describers

Group photo of public education team