DADAA Ltd is a leading arts and health organisation that creates access to cultural activities for people with disabilities or mental illness. DADAA offers targeted programs that include a broad range of traditional and new media projects in Western Australian communities.
In 2016, DADAA were provided with funds under the State Government’s Community Infrastructure Grant Program, to purchase portable audio description equipment for their Access All Arts program.
Audio description enhances live events and visual art by delivering a verbal description through an audio feed. Previously this service was only available at the State Theatre Centre of WA and the grant has supported DADAA to deliver audio description services at a great range of events and festivals across Perth including visual art, comedy, physical theatre, dance, puppetry and more.
The Access All Arts program is now operating at most major Perth events and festivals, increasing the scope of cultural activities accessible to people who are blind and vision-impaired in WA. Understanding the impact of investments like this and the outcomes achieved is critical for funders, grant recipients and the public.
As part of an overall evaluation of the Program, WALGA has engaged Culture Counts to conduct case study evaluations that identify how the program has impacted people with disability, their families, carers and the broader community. Watch their story here.
Participants in DADAA’s Access All Arts program will be completing Culture Counts surveys that capture the way in which access to audio description services has impacted on them personally, and how these outcomes align with the objectives of the Community Infrastructure Grant Program.
The Grant Program was funded by the Department of Communities (formerly the Disability Services Commission) and administered by the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA). It provided funds to Local Governments and community organisations to deliver community equipment, facilities and spaces that improve access and support for people with disability.
