Introduction to the Project

© Tom MilesTouch tour before a performance of Cats

From 2006 - March 2010 See a Voice has been working to develop and broaden the programme of arts and cultural events made available to deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, blind and partially sighted audiences across England.

Working with groups of local venues and organisations the project has helped facilitate the programming and promotion of good quality captioned and audio described performances.

Each group of venues have state of the art equipment purchased for their shared use and See a Voice will undertake a training programme for staff. Where necessary captioners and audio describers have been recruited and trained locally. In addition the venues have received audience development support to help them build closer relationships with deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, blind and partially sighted audiences which can be further developed in the future.

Photograph provided by STAGETEXT
A captioned performance of Novel Theatre’s Little Women

In consultation with the Arts Council, 27 venues were approached or applied to participate in the project.  The first performances under the scheme took place in June 2007 and the last venue to join the programme, Lighthouse in Poole, delivered their first performances in Januray 2010. 

See a Voice is a joint project between STAGETEXT and VocalEyes which has received funding from the Treasury’s Invest to Save Round 8 and the Arts Council England Grants for the Arts.  If you are a venue who would like more information about captioning or audio description please contact STAGETEXT or VocalEyes via http://www.stagetext.org/ and http://www.vocaleyes.co.uk/

The Services

© Tom Miles
Andrew Holland, Head of Description (VocalEyes)
in action at the Donmar Warehouse

Audio description is a live verbal commentary delivered during a performance, capturing the key visual elements such as actions and movements, gestures and facial expressions, sets, props and costumes. The description is relayed to the audience member through a lightweight headset which is supplied by the venue. Occasionally at some performances a touch tour will be available before a performance.

© Gerry Litman
STAGETEXT captioner at the Hampstead Theatre

Captioning converts the spoken word into text, which is displayed on a caption unit situated on or next to the stage. As the words are spoken or sung the captioner sends the specially formatted script to the display unit.  As well as dialogue, the captions also include the name of the character who is speaking or singing and descriptions of any sound effects.

The Launch of See a Voice

On the 16th January 2007 at the invitation of The Lord Harrison of Chester, the See a Voice project was officially launched at the House of Lords.  Both David Lammy MP, Minister for Culture and Peter Hewitt, CEO of Arts Council England spoke to those assembled including theatre practitioners, users of the services and members of the House of Lords and House of Commons.

If you would like to read what was said at the launch click on the links below:
David Lammy MP, Minister for Culture
Peter Hewitt, CEO Arts Council England