By Harriet Smith

Over the past few months, I have been involved in a Disability and Inclusion Advisory group that has been advising on accessibility at the Milton Keynes International Festival, a 20-day event which is held every two years in July at Campbell Park. The aim of the group is to provide advice about every aspect of accessibility for a wide range of disabilities including visually impaired people, those who are deaf and wheelchair users. The festival features a large variety of performances, from art installations and theatre to comedy and music. As part of their focus on accessibility, two audio described events took place which I went along to experience. The first of these was a guided tour for visually impaired people on four art installations that are on display at Centre MK. The first one that was described to us was a huge globe of the world conveying what it looked like from outer space. Although I wasn’t able to touch this due to it being too high up, I could hear the whirring noise of the motor as it turned and some of the soundtrack that accompanied it.

The second installation we examined was a group of seven metal robotic woodpeckers that were placed on telegraph poles and a telephone box outside the shopping centre. Created by Marco Barotti, the woodpeckers were very clever because they responded to radio waves and internet signals, meaning that every time someone put their mobile phone near them or received a text they made an extremely loud rattling noise as if they were pecking the metal. I experienced this when I was there and it was quite an amazing sound once they were all going simultaneously!

The next installation was a piece of art called The Breathing Room designed by artist Anna Berry. This was a huge tunnel-like structure which was made to resemble a lung and lined with 28.000 paper cones. Mechanics on the outside enable the cones to move, giving the impression of breathing. When I stepped inside and put my hands on two of the individual cones, I could feel one going in and one going out, as if it was breathing. I could hear the cones creaking and stretching too which added to my enjoyment of the installation. I thought it was a truly wonderful artwork that captured the act of breathing in an original way.

The final installation was entitled Arrivals Plus Departures. This is an interactive installation exploring birth, death and the journey in between. Taking the recognisable form of a station or airport arrivals and departures board, the artwork invites the public to share the names of people who have arrived and departed as a way to celebrate a birth or commemorate death. People can submit their own name via the Arrivals and Departures website, and the board constantly scrolls with this information all the time. All the personal stories are also available to view on the website. I thought this artwork was brilliant and a unique way to represent life and death.

The last audio described event of the day was a dance performance called Black Victorians. Created by artistic Director and Choreographer Jeanefer Jean-Charles, the performance explores and challenges historical and contemporary perceptions of black people in history through choreography. Black Victorians is inspired by the discovery of hundreds of studio photographs of black men, women and children in England from the Victorian era, airbrushed from our society for over 100 years. There was a pre-show tour beforehand where I had the opportunity to explore the stage and learn about the background to the performance which I found useful. The audio description was conducted by a company called Vocaleyes, who provide audio description in theatres and outdoor events round the country. I’d never been to a dance performance before, but I thought Sophia, the audio describer, did an excellent job of describing the dance moves and facial expressions of the performers.

Overall, I had a fantastic day and would like to thank Ursula White for the huge amount of effort she put into organising the events. I have enjoyed being a part of the advisory group, and look forward to hopefully working with the festival on accessibility once again when it next takes place.                                                                             

Harriet and her guide dog inside the art installation called The Breathing Room designed by artist Anna Berry. A huge tunnel-like structure which was made to resemble a lung and lined with 28.000 paper cones.

Harriet and her guide dog standing in front of a giant globe, which is illuminated and suspended from the ceiling.