Research Stream: Social Structures

Authors: Elodie Makhoul & Alessia Palladino, Research Assistants, ERC DANCING, Maynooth University

On Thursday, 13 March 2025, the ERC DANCING Project published two complementary outputs, a Toolkits for Cultural Organisations and a Resource List, both geared at cultural organisations and professionals in the Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS). These outputs aim to support the CCS in advancing cultural participation of people with disabilities, both as audience and professionals.

These outputs contribute to DANCING’s overarching aim of challenging the cultural exclusion often faced by people with disabilities and advancing cultural diversity and inclusivity across the European Union (EU). In particular, the Toolkit and the Resource List aim to raise awareness about barriers faced by persons with disabilities in the cultural domain and to highlight how cultural organisations can ensure inclusion and accessibility and ultimately inspire societal change.

The deployment and publication of this Toolkit and Resource List stem from DANCING’s empirical research and from a close collaboration with persons with disabilities and cultural professionals.

One of the main reasons underpinning the publication of these outputs is the recurring ‘loss’ of good practices. The empirical research undertaken in DANCING showcases that one of the challenges often faced by cultural organisations is that good practices developed remain isolated and often are ‘forgotten’. This happens because good practices are developed within distinct projects and are discontinued at the end of the project, or rely on the distinct expertise of certain employees, artists or cultural workers, and run their course following the exit or retirement of such experts. Further, while there are several good practices across the EU, there is no mutual learning. These outputs aim to address and counter these challenges and to provide guidance and useful information to cultural organisations, with a view to support the creation of a community of practice and the sharing of breakthrough practices.

The Toolkit is dedicated to support cultural organisations in their inclusivity journey towards ensuring greater accessibility in cultural spaces and enhancing diversity. The Toolkit provides cultural organisations with key information and recommendations to improve and advance the inclusion and cultural participation of people with disabilities in the CCS both as professionals and as an audience. This Toolkit raises awareness and improves the reader’s understanding of what facilitates cultural participation of people with disabilities and how to foster cultural diversity. It also presents all the preliminary information required to successfully develop an accessible and inclusive disability policy. By prioritising accessibility and inclusion, cultural organisations can reflect the inherent diversity of society, and reimagine the cultural landscape to fully involve people with disabilities both as audience and cultural professionals.

The second output is a non-exhaustive Resource List showcasing existing initiatives improving the cultural participation of people with disabilities as well as the relevant fundings making these efforts possible, both at the EU level and at the local level in all the EU Member States and in the UK. This Resource List developed by DANCING complements the Toolkit. By highlighting relevant projects, initiatives, toolkits, reports and other resources produced by other projects or organisations advancing the cultural participation of people with disabilities, it aims to foster collective learning and knowledge sharing. Further, this Resource List can also support a better understanding of suitable funding streams which could enhance inclusion of people with disabilities in the CCS.

Advancing the cultural participation of people with disabilities requires reaching a large and diverse body of stakeholders, from cultural institutions to organisations of persons with disabilities and from policymakers to civil society. Hence, DANCING has developed tailored tools and resources designed to meet the specific needs of various stakeholders who have the potential to contribute to greater inclusion. By customising tools and strategies for each of these stakeholders, DANCING hopes to support the development of meaningful change that is both practical and impactful. The Toolkit for Cultural Organisations and the Resource List are developed within DANCING’s objective of creating ‘Tools for Change’. While DANCING – as an ERC funded project – has primarily a scholarly focus, it has also developed tools addressed to a wider audience. This approach aligns with research findings that highlight the importance of raising awareness of academic blue-sky scholarship (Linden, 2008) and of ‘democratising’ academic advancements. This approach also aligns with the ethos of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and ensures that people with disabilities can reap the benefits of cutting-edge research.

On the whole, these ‘Tools for Change’ developed by DANCING advance the dissemination and enhance the impact of the project, reaching specific stakeholders and ultimately improving the right to cultural participation for people with disabilities.