In June, 27 theatre professionals, artists, researchers, and accessibility practitioners from across Europe gathered at Det Norske Teatret in Oslo for ETC’s first Inclusion & Accessibility workshop, From Access to Belonging – Inclusive Theatre Practice. Together, they explored a central question: how can theatre move beyond accessibility as a checklist and towards belonging as an artistic, organisational, and human practice?
Through contributions from Artistic Director Kjersti Horn, Professor Halvor Hanisch, writer Jan Grue, Balansekunst, Europe Beyond Access, and a range of Norwegian and European practitioners, participants reflected on disability, representation, artistic quality, institutional change, and the future of inclusive theatre-making.
Key takeaways from the workshop included:
- Belonging goes beyond representation. Inclusion is not only about who is visible on stage, but about who feels at home in our institutions and who gets to shape them.
- Disability brings artistic value. Participants challenged the idea of disability as a limitation and highlighted how lived experiences can enrich artistic processes, aesthetics, and storytelling.
- Accessibility is everyone's responsibility. Meaningful change requires action across artistic programming, recruitment, audience development, organisational culture, and production processes.
- Change needs collaboration. Examples from Norway and Europe demonstrated the importance of partnerships with expert organisations, disabled artists, and international networks such as Europe Beyond Access.
The workshop also raised important questions for ETC theatres: How can we create pathways for disabled artists into professional theatre? How can repertoire and ensemble theatres engage more actively with disability-led artistic practice? And how can we ensure that accessibility and inclusion become part of long-term institutional development rather than isolated projects?
The conversations in Oslo confirmed a strong commitment across the ETC network to continue learning from one another and to move from awareness to action. Building on these discussions, ETC will continue its Inclusion & Accessibility Focus through upcoming online exchanges, workshops, and festival-based encounters.
