Help Dan design a care-centred theatre venue

Support us as we begin to design and build a public arts space where the needs of historically excluded people are centred. This is your chance to invest in the planning stages of an access-centred, person-centred capital build project...

As we all resurface from this pandemic, there is a growing awareness that we need to care for each other better. During lockdown, as a disabled person, Dan made a commitment to himself that he was no longer going to accept living in a world that knowingly and actively excludes D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, Black, brown and trans bodies. 

Now is the time to actively do something to create long-lasting and systemic change and he will do this by consulting with D/deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, Black, brown, and trans artists and audiences to interrogate the violence of inaccessible architecture and design an arts performance facility that is as universally accessible as it can be.

Dan is interested in what an arts centre might look like if it centred the needs and voices of every (historically excluded) body in order that they determined the shape of all future builds in the UK and globally. Although the majority of performing arts venues are compliant with current legislation around accessibility, there is much more work needed if our cultural spaces are to be truly open to all.

How will this happen?

Dan Daw of Dan Daw Creative Projects has joined forces with studio three sixty in association with Adjaye Associates and the Association of British Theatre Technicians to deliver the following:

Stage One:

Partnering with arts venues across the UK, we intend to visit 6 cities (London + 5 others) to lead two consultancy workshops per venue with 10 people per workshop, in which we intend to capture what it is historically excluded people want from an arts centre. In line with this, we will be running online workshops and launch an online survey, so that we can gather as many responses as possible.

With the information gathered from participants we will work in partnership with architecture firm, Adjaye & Associates to develop a VR / digital rendering of an arts facility that includes all of everybody’s needs. This stage is about saying yes to absolutely everything by producing a Disney version of an arts facility digitally.

Stage Two:

Working with Adjaye & Associates and a taskforce of historically excluded members of the arts community to collectively decide on the fundamental architectural elements that need to be included in new arts faciliy builds in the future.  

Our aim is to create a benchmark that will inform and inspire new architectural, institutional and cultural approaches to the design or refurbishment of public arts buildings, looking towards a future accessible to everybody.

Stage Three:

Working with Adjaye & Associates to develop building plans for a capital build project.

How will your donation be used?

Your generous contribution will directly pay for:

- 12 community consultations across the UK, ensuring all community members will be paid for their time ;

- 6 steering group design meetings;

- 2 digital renderings of our arts facility, at first and second stages, to be shared at a private view with you, our donor, to hear your feedback;

- A concept design for the new building, which will be made freely available to anyone who is interested in collaborating with us to make the dream of building it a reality

What will you receive in return for your support?

In return for supporting this very important work, you will be a stakeholder and become a valued member of this project’s wider community. Through our newsletter and website you will be kept up to speed with the latest news on our progress and will be the first to know about public events and ways you can get involved.