Extant, the UK’s leading professional performing arts company of blind and visually impaired artists, has announced plans to make an Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue fully accessible for visually impaired audiences. This landmark collaboration will take place for the first time with ZOO Venues at the world’s largest arts festival this summer, in partnership with Sight Scotland and Visually Impaired Creators Scotland (VICS).
Last year, there were approximately only 40 shows across the whole of Edinburgh Fringe with audio description. Extant’s plans for this year’s festival marks the first time a venue will be fully accessible for visually impaired audiences and highlights the company’s dedication to increasing the number of accessible shows.
Three performances at ZOO will headline the initiative, each featuring Extant Enhance – a bold and innovative programme that reimagines access as a creative and collaborative process. Extant Enhance provides live programme notes and tactile touch tours before performances, led by members of the performing company. These interventions offer visually impaired audiences a rich and immersive experience that goes far beyond traditional access models. The three shows are Holly Gifford’sBig Little Sister, Shaper/Caper’sSmall Town Boys and Full Out Formula/Almanac Projects’I Think It Could Work.
Holly Gifford, writer ofBig Little Sister comments,We’re so excited to be working with Extant to provide access performances of our show. The story we’re telling is one that needs to reach the right audiences, and being part of Enhance not only makes that possible—it expands what storytelling means to us.
The Extant approach is designed to cater to a range of productions and budgets; options offered to participating shows include simple self-descriptions for solo performers, pre-recorded audio introductions that describe key visual elements of a show and headset-based live audio description written and delivered by trained professionals. Extant also have expertise in working directly with creative teams to embed inclusive practices into the fabric of the work through integrated or creative audio description.
ZOO venues staff will receive visual impairment awareness training led by Extant’s experienced facilitators, ensuring that accessible practice is properly understood and embraced. Extant will also provide this and touch tour training to the creative teams for the three ‘Enhanced’ shows. Visually impaired audiences will be invited to join the Extant Theatre Club, which encourages participation and builds community by providing free tickets for live performance. The programme will also include the return of Extant’s annual Open House on Access, creating space for conversation, inspiration and practical advice on making the arts more inclusive.
Tam Gilbert, Extant’s Trainee Artistic Director comments,Extant are thrilled to be partnering with ZOO this year to increase accessibility for visually impaired audiences at Edinburgh Fringe. Our team are all very excited to attend and with our three Enhanced performances – complete with touch tours and programme notes showcasing VI accessibility at its finest – and our Open House event, we can promise an enriched experience for everyone to enjoy!
This exciting partnership sets a new benchmark for accessible programming – not only at the Fringe, but UK wide. It represents a shared commitment to creating space for blind and visually impaired artists and audiences to be seen, heard and celebrated.
Main Image: Courtesy of Extant (Anita & Georgie - Graeme Braidwood, 2024)
This post was last modified on July 25, 2025 7:02 pm