Overview

The field of access is changing all the time, in line with developments in how we use technology, and our evolving expectations and experiences of art and culture.

In cinemas for example, more people are able to use glasses which show captions within them, rather than having to wait until a subtitled screening time, which is often at an inconvenient or unsociable hour. 

Gaming and interactive tools have become a greater feature of artistic works than before, and the shutdown of venues during the pandemic changed many people’s habits and behaviours.

Some venues are adapting their programmes to build back audience numbers, and while there is a risk that things may return to inaccessible models from the past, it might also prove to be fertile ground for new collaborations, where works with embedded access are appreciated in ways they were not before.