In 2021, Pick Up Production set up a project to include deaf and hard-of-hearing people in cultural events, based on the practice of chansigne. This is a form of artistic expression that consists of expressing the lyrics of a song translated into sign language to the rhythm of the music. This project was developed in line with our values: co-construction with the beneficiaries, openness to all, links with partners, desire to encourage diversity.
In 2021, Pick Up Production set up a project to include deaf and hard-of-hearing people in cultural events, based on the practice of chansigne. This is a form of artistic expression that consists of expressing the lyrics of a song translated into sign language to the rhythm of the music. This project was developed in line with our values: co-construction with the beneficiaries, openness to all, links with partners, desire to encourage diversity...
As part of the Hip Opsession Musique festival that it organises, Pick Up Production proposed a course with the rapper Erremsi, who is CODA (child of deaf parents) and Elodia, LSF interpreter and also CODA.
> Programming of a bilingual and accessible concert in LSF by Erremsi & Elodia and Lexi T & Douboukan at the Jam in La Chapelle sur Erdre (90 people)
> Provision of the Bass Me vibrating device to the public during the concert and showcases. "BassMe is a product, made in France, which amplifies the immersion of the user through all the sounds he listens. Placed on the chest, BassMe propels the spectator into the heart of the sound, thanks to a system of sound waves and vibrations. It brings a new dimension of auditory experience with an immersion in the music".
> LSF reception proposed during the concert with the API LSF team
> Production of an LSF video by Erremsi & Élodia for accessible communication: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrenC2Z6bdI
> 2 introductory sessions on welcoming people with disabilities by 123 CitéCAp before the festival
> Showcase of Erremsi & Élodia at the OCENS specialised institute with young deaf people from the boarding school + exchange with the artists on the hip hop movement, rap writing and songwriting
> Hosting of a group of young deaf people at the Closing of the Hip Opsession Musique festival in Transfert
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
Sustainable development is present in the association's statutes and in the team's job descriptions. Pick Up Production's activities are part of a continuous improvement process. It tries to minimise the impact of its activities on its territory. Support from the eco-events network in terms of waste management and mobility.
WASTE
- Household waste, recyclables, glass
- Paper/cardboard: sorted internally and collected by an association for reintegration through economic activity
- Butts: collected by an economic reintegration association, then recycled by a sorting and recycling company
- Compost: collected by an association on an electric bicycle to feed chickens and ducks and to feed composting units fertilizing a permaculture urban agriculture garden
HOUSEHOLD
On a daily basis, by an association for reintegration through economic activity. During events, creation of a "green brigade"
TRANSPORTATION
- Public transport shuttle to minimise the use of cars
- Construction of additional parking spaces for two-wheelers
- Promotion of soft and collective transport: Navibus, metropolitan network buses
- Integration of digital tools on our website targeting secure routes for access by two-wheelers
PROCUREMENT
- Purchase of organic foodstuffs from local production, use of local suppliers, use of ecological household products
- Use of furniture and equipment from second-hand networks
- Local food trucks in line with a sustainable development approach
ELECTRICITY / ENERGY
- Installation of presence detectors
- Reduction of the volume of toilet flushes
COMMUNICATION
Almost exclusive use of digital communication
CITIZEN MOBILISATION
Training of internal teams in the rational management of resources
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
One of Pick Up Production's challenges is to offer all audiences quality cultural and artistic proposals:
- giving pride of place to emerging artists as well as renowned artists
- offering local, national and international programming
- open to a variety of aesthetics
Pick Up Production's aim is to offer a quality spectator experience for all. This includes the desire to welcome all people as much as possible:
- the so-called able-bodied public, with clear communication, a well-designed stage design and an adapted sound environment
- people with disabilities with adapted communication (LSF* teaser, dedicated information number, pictograms, compatibility of the event's website with special software for blind and partially sighted people, ...), an adapted reception (LSF* reception, people trained in guiding blind and partially sighted people, furniture allowing access to people with reduced mobility, ...), a spectator experience allowing access to the proposed content (LSF* interpretation, song, surtitling, audio description, ...)
These objectives are regularly achieved when these systems are put in place, and we would like to make them as systematic as possible.
These objectives were achieved during the Erremsi concert, as far as the so-called able-bodied and the deaf and hard-of-hearing are concerned.
* LSF: Langue des Signes Française (French Sign Language)
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
The objectives in terms of inclusion are the following
- co-construction with the beneficiaries
- financial accessibility of proposals
- equal opportunities
- universal accessibility
They are achieved in the following way:
- co-construction with the beneficiaries: Pick Up Production relies on social structures and people specialised in the subjects on which it intervenes. Examples: Erremsi and Elodia who are CODA (children of deaf parents), Institut de la Persagotière which is a structure specialised in the reception and education of young deaf and hard of hearing people...
- Financial accessibility of the proposals: the association works to make its proposals financially accessible. The Erremsi concert was free. When the association proposes paying events, it is careful to remain less expensive than an equivalent proposal and is a partner in schemes offering very preferential rates for people in precarious situations ("Carte Blanche", "Charte culture"...)
- Equal opportunities: Pick Up Production intends to promote diversity and exchanges between audiences, not only around the artistic proposals but also on the issues developed by the laboratory dimension of the project (place of people with disabilities in the reflection on the construction of the city of tomorrow). It wishes to organise events dedicated to all and not only for a specific type of public (in the case of Erremsi's concert, it was not only for deaf or hard of hearing people but for all)
- Universal accessibility: the association develops devices for all audiences, whatever their form of disability: deaf (LSF*, vibrating furniture, etc.), blind (audio-description, guidance, etc.), people with reduced mobility (ramps, etc.), intellectually impaired (FALC** language, etc.)
* LSF: French Sign Language
** FALC: Easy to Read and Understand
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary
These three dimensions are complementary and all present in our project. They all contribute to the achievement of the project's ambitions, which are
- to develop the universal accessibility of the association's projects: accessibility of information, of the place and spaces, of the programming, of the workshops
- to encourage diversity and exchanges between audiences
- to train and accompany cultural and associative structures in the implementation of actions allowing the accessibility of all to all their events
The reproducible nature of the actions is central to the project. Indeed, it is a question of developing and implementing measures that can be taken up and adapted to all cultural events, in order to make them systematically accessible to all.
Pick Up Production wants to reproduce and adapt its approach to all multidisciplinary cultural structures and associations that wish to do so. The ambition is that the structures adhere to the approach and rely on Pick Up Production to accompany and guide them in the implementation of systems adapted to their own needs, desires and constraints.
The association intends to be a lever for the structures of the region that are starting or deepening their action in terms of universal accessibility of their events. It is a question of assuming a role as a prescriber and modelling methods of action. The objective is to open the way for other initiatives of this type on a national scale, thanks to accessible cultural proposals but also thanks to a training/awareness-raising component for all audiences and professionals of the performing arts, in the service of people with disabilities and a dynamic of cross-fertilisation with the able-bodied public.
The association sets up actions in favour of the universal accessibility of people has already seen different effects of its action:
- two visually impaired people have joined the association's Board of Directors
- it was awarded the Regional Trophy for Sustainable Development in 2017
- it has initiated the creation of an LSF* lexicon on terms related to the reception of the public in cultural venues. This project brought together 15 cultural structures and associations in the region to set up a common tool that should enable us to optimise the reception of the deaf public at our events.
- In the course of the project, she introduced the vibrating waistcoat system at the Zénith in Nantes during a partner meeting dedicated to accessibility that she was organising. The Zenith then equipped itself with these waistcoats, offers them to its audiences at its events and now regularly lends them to Pick Up Production when it needs them.
- The programmes proposed by Pck Up Production, particularly those that call for songs, allow for a real mix of audiences. These are moments where deaf and hard of hearing people and hearing people come together around the same event.
- It is recognised by people with disabilities for the relevance of its action. The testimonies and feedback from people with disabilities mention in particular :
- that people feel safe when they come to the association's events. They know that they will be given an adapted and quality welcome
- that the proposals are adapted to the different disabilities experienced by the people. The systems put in place are co-constructed with people with disabilities and are therefore consistent with the needs and expectations expressed.
- People with disabilities have identified Pick Up Production as a cultural structure offering them adapted events. They therefore follow the association's news, are attentive to the structure's communications and attend the organised events
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.
People with disabilities are stakeholders in the project. Indeed, the project is built around a steering committee made up of people with disabilities, associations of people with disabilities, people from Pick Up Production and the association's partner structures in the social and/or cultural field.
This committee is open to anyone who wishes to get involved. The aim of this steering committee is to analyse existing actions and to design future actions to be developed. It participates fully in their definition, their operational implementation and their evaluation.
Thus, the members of the steering committee are involved in all phases of the project. A bond of trust has been established which encourages constructive exchanges on our systems and initiatives.
In the same way that the blind members helped us to set up a new audio description of the Dance Battle during the 2018 edition of the Hip Opsession festival, the members of this steering committee were pro-active actors in the writing of the project to make Transfert accessible. Since the opening of Transfert in 2018, we have set up recurrent times on the site in order to build this accessibility project together, taking into account their wishes and needs in relation to an atypical site which has many constraints.
Their regular consultation has enabled us to give concrete thought to the devices and tools that are essential for developing the accessibility of the association's proposals. This allows us to adapt our approach and to confront it with the realities they experience on a daily basis.
The inclusion of different audiences in Pick Up Production's activities is in line with several sustainable development goals, as defined by the United Nations:
- Gender equality (objective 5): gender parity in the organisation of the association and balance of roles and responsibilities; special attention given to female artistic creation, particularly in hip hop projects; #Ici c'est cool, participation in prevention mechanisms against sexist, racist and homophobic violence in the party environment.
- Reduced inequalities (objective 10): universal accessibility of the association's events for people with disabilities and the so-called able-bodied; creation of spaces for solidarity and socialisation with particular attention to excluded, homeless or migrant groups.
- Sustainable cities and communities (objective 11): question the place of users in the making of the city; propose spaces for encounters and interactions that improve the living environment and contribute to human, social and cultural diversity.
We want to make our hip hop and transfer activities even more ambitious and become one of the major multidisciplinary cultural structures in France in terms of mix and links between the able-bodied and disabled public. We are thinking of actions that provoke interactions and favour the meeting and solidarity between these populations.
The medical dimension or the notion of disability does not appear in our actions and our approach, in favour of values of collective sharing and living together. We wish to go beyond a work focusing only on the accessibility of the artistic proposals of the programme that animate the site by developing a real interactive and collaborative living space. The new challenge of this space, open to all, is to involve disabled people in the citizen's reflection on the construction of the city.
The second innovative aspect of our project lies in the desire to reproduce and adapt our approach to all multidisciplinary cultural structures and associations that wish to do so. Our ambition is that the structures adhere to our approach and rely on Pick Up Production to accompany and guide them in the implementation of systems adapted to their own needs, desires and constraints.
The association intends to be a lever for the structures of the region that are starting or deepening their action in terms of universal accessibility of their events. It is a question of assuming a role as a prescriber and modelling action methods. The objective is to open the way for other initiatives of this type on a national scale, thanks to accessible cultural proposals but also thanks to a training/awareness-raising component for all audiences and professionals of the performing arts, in the service of people with disabilities and a dynamic of cross-fertilisation with the able-bodied public.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.
The systems developed and tested by the association are reproducible and adaptable to other approaches and events.
We set up training cycles for all the teams working on the site. The aim is to raise the awareness of all the association's staff (employees, volunteers, temporary workers, etc.) and not just the teams responsible for welcoming the public. It is very important that these notions of accessibility run through the whole association and are integrated by all the teams in order to set up a common discourse. These working sessions will focus on knowledge of and links with people with disabilities: training in sign language, guiding techniques for blind people, welcoming people with psychological and mental disabilities, welcoming people with reduced mobility, training in audio description, etc.
This training will make it easier to welcome and accompany people with disabilities on the site. We will thus be able to rely on teams with a high level of competence to adapt our reception methods and respond in an optimal way to the needs of people with disabilities who wish to benefit from and/or become involved in the Transfer project.
Depending on the situation, we will also be able to call on professionals for specific services (LSF interpreters, guides, medical staff, etc.) requiring external assistance.
This training can also take the form of documentation that can be passed on: welcome booklets, guides and good practices in terms of universal accessibility, advice and presentation videos, etc.
Only the LSF* must be adapted from one country to another.
* LSF: Langue des Signes Française (French Sign Language)
@Pick Up Production, 2021
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