So Kate, thank you for joining us today and agreeing to this interview on audio description as an access facility at arts venues. Our focus today is on the practical steps involved in implementing audio description. But, firstly would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself? Well, my name is Kate Ingram and for those of you who have difficulty seeing or maybe are blind, I am five foot four, so medium height, fairly slender. I have grey hair, sort of bob length, chin length, slightly messy. And, I wear glasses. And yeah, that�s me. I suppose, for a long time, for twenty one years I ran Open Arts, which is an arts and disability organisation and in the course of running Open Arts I became very interested in making events accessible and in particular in audio description. So, I qualified as an audio describer in the year 2000 and since then I have been running the audio description organisation Sightlines on a voluntary basis. That�s great. Thanks Kate for that introduction. So, in the video tutorials that we have on this course, we are basically talking about the practical steps in terms of implementing audio description services in the scenic arts. I was wondering if you could talk about your own experiences as an audio describer in that, in terms of how far in advance you should be in contact with the venue if they want to organise an accessible event to include audio description? Yeah, we have certain requirements as audio describers and I suppose the first thing organisations need to know is that they have to book us well in advance. So, ideally three months. We have only seven audio describers and we require two audio describers to work on each show. So, it is quite important to be booked well ahead if you really want people to audio describe for you. Yeah. And so, that is the first thing. We need to be booked in advance and then we need, much less in advance, but nevertheless still in advance, we need a DVD of the production. Preferably, a recent DVD and a recent script of the production. And we would ideally like to have that three weeks before but that never happens. So, our best bet after that is two and a half weeks in advance. And, we really cannot prepare an audio described show with less than five days of work on the DVD and the script together. So that�s the second requirement and then the third requirement is, of course, the technology. The theatre needs some kind of way of transmitting the audio description to the blind and visually impaired people and they also need us to have a view of the show, as it happens, because we do the audio description live. So, we need a view of the show as it is running and sometimes this is from a monitor, but our ideal is, again, to be able to see the stage from somewhere high up in the theatre. And we also need a light for when we are describing, so that we can read our script. I think that is just about everything we require in the technological part. You mentioned that you usually work in teams of two, I was wondering in terms of �dry runs� in audio description, how important is that to be able to do a dry run before the performance? Yes, it is very important from our point of view because we consider it to be quality control. It is quality control. So, what happens with the dry run is, I will have prepared my script for act one, and I will deliver my script for act one, while the show is running. But, I will only be delivering it to my colleague, who will be listening carefully and anything that I omit, which she considers to be significant, she will note down and she will tell me afterwards. And then, when it is her turn to deliver act two, I go into the audience and listen to her and look out for any omissions or anything, which I feel should have been included which hasn�t been included. So, we get quality control on it and also, of course, in terms of the show itself, sometimes it changes a lot. Our ideal is we would see it at the beginning of the run. Then, we would see it in the rehearsal. Then, we would finally audio describe it. Now, the difference between the beginning of the run and the dry run of our audio description is that things often change. So often, the pace might pick up. So, where you thought there was a gap in the acting and in the speaking, there isn�t a gap any longer, so you may decide you�ve got to leave something out. And sometimes, the script can change and sometimes they can cut a whole, maybe, a whole page of the script. So, things can be quite different from the beginning of the run and the end of the run. Yes, it seems like it is very important to allow that space and time for, you know, for it to develop and for you to be able to work with the team there. And, what would you say are the main challenges? You�ve mentioned a few, in terms of technology and timing and DVDs. What would you say are the main challenges that you face in terms of providing, implementing audio description as an access facility? Yeah, well I think, undoubtedly, the main challenge is the technology. The technology frequently lets us down and it is partly the technology itself. It is infrared technology in the Opera House and in the MAC, and in the Lyric. But, it is partly the technology itself. But it is often, the fact that the front of house staff do not know how to deal with the technology. So, for example, one organisation has two channels and one channel is for people who are hard of hearing and the other channel is for the audio description. But often, the set which is handed out to the blind person is on the wrong channel, and it is very very difficult to change channels. Nobody who cannot see would be able to change the channel and, in fact, many people who can see find it very, very difficult to change the channel. So in some respects it is the lack of training for front of house staff which impedes us more than the technology, but it is a combination of both really because people are often quite frightened by the technology. And of course, another issue with the technology is if the headsets haven�t been charged, so the battery runs out half way through. You know, if you are a blind person and you are stuck in the middle of a row and your battery runs out, you can do nothing about it because there is nobody there to help you. You can�t walk out in front of everybody. You don�t know where you are going anyway. So, that is a main challenge and ideally, we would like front of house support whenever there is an audio description, so that people are aware that there are blind people there and are keeping a look out. So that if a blind person puts their hand up somebody would quickly come to them and find out what the issue is, without too much hassle, and I think, I have to say, I think The MAC does that very well. Their front of house staff are very efficient and very well primed. So, thank you Kate for taking the time to meet with us today and talk about your experiences as an audio describer. You�ve left us with food for thought. So, thank you very much. My pleasure and I look forward to seeing the online tutorial. Thank you.
