Joe GallopEuropean collaborative network Revelland has launched a video toolkit to help enable event operators and artists to make live music performances more immersive and engaging for people with disabilities.
Revelland, funded by Arts Council England, Creative Europe, and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, has created the Go Beyond series. Consisting of six episodes, it has been developed in collaboration with multi-sensory music festival Sencity.
The programme includes training and coaching in immersion, accessibility and sensory effects. The multi-sensory performances will be showcased at Sencity 2024 in The Netherlands, followed by performances at several music festivals across Europe.
Revelland has run a pilot program with London-based progressive brass band Perhaps Contraption (pictured), whose live performances have drawn inspiration from the way people with sensory limitations experience live music.
Sencity festival founder Ronald Ligtenberg said, “Revelland’s goal is to make performing arts accessible to everyone by developing immersive live experiences through connecting artists to leading sensorial experts and people with disabilities, offering new perspectives on creating an inclusive live experience for their audience members.
“Artists are supported in this process by world-leading ‘sense experts’ and experience designers such as Colin Nightingale (Punchdrunk, A Right/Left Project), who has worked with Jack White and James Lavelle (UNKLE), among many others.
“Together they research and develop sustainable ways of incorporating taste, scent, touch, visuals, lighting, decoration, outfits, dramaturgy, choreography and much more into performance, creating an immersive, multi-sensory experience. Adding these new elements to a live show stimulates all the senses.”