17 March 2026
2-4pm CET (Brussels) | 1-3pm WET (Lisbon)
Online
Trainer: Maria Vlachou
Pre-recorded participation of Deaf and disabled artists

The report  Time to Act: how lack of knowledge in the cultural sector creates barriers for disabled artists and audiences, commissioned by the British Council and published in November 2021, it is a good depiction of our sector at European level. One of the failures it points out is the lack of preparation of those working as producers with regards to the specific needs of disabled and Deaf artists.

In a recent conversation with artists with disabilities in Portugal (organised by Circostrada – European Network of Contemporary Circus and Outdoor Arts within the scope of LEME – Festival of Contemporary Circus and Artistic Creation in Non-Conventional Spaces, we realised not only that this failure is also verified in Portugal, but also that people who work as Producers in our country do not have references and do not know how to obtain them. This means that some of these professionals learn things on the job, with all the implications this has for disabled and Deafartists.

Seeking to respond to this need, in this seminar we will address the following points (also counting on the interventions of disabled and Deaf artists and producers):

  • The results of the Time to Act study
  • What does “accessible” mean?
  • Ableism and language
  • Disabled and Deaf artists in Portugal and in the world
  • Concrete aspects of the work: artist riders, contexts and workspaces, rehearsals, shows, transport, hotels, restaurants

Target Audience

Cultural managers, producers, Deaf and disabled artists

Registration fees

Standard: €30
Students / Unemployed: €25
Access Culture members: €20

Registration form

Payment by bank transfer or via PayPal. Details will be sent by our secretariat after receiving the registration form.

Bionote

Maria Vlachou is a Cultural Management and Communications consultant. Founding member and Executive Director of Acesso Cultura | Access Culture, promoting access – physical, social, intellectual – to cultural participation. Author of the bilingual (pt/en) blog Musing on Culture, where she writes about culture, the arts, museums, cultural management and communication, access. She is the manager of the Facebook group Museum texts / Textos em museus and co-manager of the blog Museums and Migration. She participated in the European project RESHAPE – Reflect, Share, Practice, Experiment, having joined the trajectory “Arts and Citizenship”.

In the past, she was Communications Director of São Luiz Municipal Theatre and Head of Communication of Pavilion of Knowledge – Ciência Viva (Lisbon). Board member of ICOM Portugal (2005-2014) and editor of its bulletin. She has collaborated with different programmes of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Fellow of ISPA – International Society for the Performing Arts (2018, 2020); Alumna of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center in Washington (2011-2013); she has a M.A. in Museum Studies (University College London, 1994) and a B.A. in History and Archaeology (University of Ioannina, Greece, 1992).