Current Programs

Advocacy/Consulting and Information Program

Through staff outreach and networking, the Alliance maintains relationships with artists, producers, directors, casting directors, agents and unions in theatre, film and television:  we promote and facilitate cultural diversity at all levels of production. The Alliance also serves as a resource for funding agencies, educational institutions, the media and the general public seeking information and background on these issues. We receive several requests a week for this help, equaling an average of 150 requests a year.  We provide a unique depth of service: as a result, our engagement with an individual/ institution varies from a few hours to tens of hours over several months.  The dates of activity for this work are ongoing.

We work with individuals, productions, and theatres on a customized, case-by-case basis, providing information on specific issues and follow-up technical support as needed. Services range from acting as a sounding board and expert consultant for companies struggling with these issues; assisting with a festival's planning process; helping writers with their ideas; providing specific language for casting notices or program notes; to arranging for audition material to be accessible for performers with disabilities, and/or finding a sign language interpreter. 

The Disability/Accessibility Initiative, a subset of the Advocacy/Consulting & Information Program, works to increase and facilitate the inclusion of theatre artists and other professionals with physical, intellectual, developmental or sensory disabilities in theatre, film, and television. For many theatre professionals (and indeed, many Americans), disability represents a new frontier: this has come into sharper focus as tens of thousands of servicemen are returning from Iraq with significant disabilities and as families and friends look to understand the lived experience of disability and re-integrate veterans back into their communities.  We seek accurate portrayals of disability, and increased characters and storylines that include disability, in new models and representations.

Our program addresses the fact that nearly 20% of Americans (56 million people) have a disability of some kind but are seriously under-represented in theatre, television and film. Alliance Disability Advocate Christine Bruno has identified and maintains contact with a professional talent pool of 400 artists with disabilities.  She routinely reaches out to casting directors, directors and producers to encourage expanded opportunities for these artists and to facilitate logistics of their employment (physical access, sign language interpreters, et al.) from the beginning of the casting process through the end of performances.  If you are an artist with a disability and would like to add your headshot and resume to our files, please contact out Disability Associate David Harrell at dharrell@inclusioninthearts.org

Three years ago, we launched DEAL (Disability in Entertainment and Arts Link), a project of the Alliance, intended to serve writers, directors, producers, technicians, network and studio executives, casting directors and disabled artists at every stage of the creative process—from development of the initial idea through production, marketing, and public presentation.  Its purpose is to offer information, resources and guidance regarding disability issues to both performers and employment decision makers so that all parties, together, can progress from endorsing inclusion in theory to practicing it, and ultimately to advocating it.

National Diversity Forum

The Alliance’s National Diversity Forum (NDF) is comprised of Roundtables, Resource Events and Opinion Pieces. The purposes of the Roundtables and Resource Events are to a) deepen dialogue and expand understanding of diversity through candid and constructive dialogue, and b) spark change toward more inclusive standards and practices, and c) build an expanding group of leaders in the field committed to resolving the issues related to racism and exclusion. Over a ten-year history, the NDF has helped theatre practitioners probe their assumptions, share constructive strategies, and reframe thinking and practices. The Alliance is both initiating and being called upon to do more and more in this area. The published transcripts of most of these events are available on this website.

As part of the National Diversity Forum, the Alliance solicits Opinion pieces from a broad range of practitioners representing a spectrum of geography, cultural background, disability, gender, age, experience, point of view, and expertise. We believe this ‘story bank’ of essays captures how diversity actually works in theatre, film, and television today.  After editing (for style, not content) and final approval from the contributor, they are posted online on this website.

Resource Guide - Listening with an Open Eye

Listening with an Open Eye, is intended to provide background and practical information with respect to working with Deaf and hard of hearing actors in auditions, rehearsal and performance and is published on this website: it includes information about Deaf Culture and American Sign Language; procedure and comportment for planning and executing a production, covering the entire arc of the audition, rehearsal and production process; along with the role of the interpreter.