CAN (LET’S) continued our work with the Vancouver Writers Festival (VWF) Accessibility Roundtable. During the festival, committee member were invited to attend events and report back on the accessibility and inaccessibility of the events attended. This month’s meeting was a debrief of our experiences and feedback. Committee members spoke about our general impressions, which events we attended, any highlights, and which accessibility related experiences stood out for us (positive or negative). We then offered suggestions on how the Writers Festival can make the experience of attending an event more accessible, as well as what worked this year and what can still be improved.
We also spoke about the volunteers. This included conversations about the timing of volunteer training (how early to plan for next year, how much time to schedule for accessibility training and when), would we like to support the training next year. And if so, in what capacities. And how can the festival ensure that volunteers feel empowered in their specific roles at the Festival.
Vancouver Writers Festival is committed to improving their outreach. They asked us how best they can deaf/Deaf, Blind, and disability communities to let them know events are accessible. They also ask how they can better inform potential attendees about their accessibility resources.
The meeting was ended with action items and commitments. This included specific actions they can commit to for next year’s festival (and beyond), what they did well this year and what should be repeated next year, and figuring out, given limited resources of time, money, and people, what their priorities for accessibility investments should be.