Creating Accessible Events

Creating events that are welcoming and inclusive is essential to ensuring that everyone can participate fully in Scotland’s museums and galleries. Accessible events help broaden audiences, strengthen community relationships, and reflect the sector’s commitment to anti‑oppressive practice. When accessibility is integrated from the start, events become more enjoyable, predictable, and navigable for everyone, leading to better outcomes for audiences, speakers, and staff. This guidance has been developed for anyone involved in running in‑person, online, or hybrid events.

We created the Accessible Events Standard with Birds of Paradise Theatre Company as part of our anti-ableism work. We’re using the guidance in this Standard to help our events be more inclusive and have accessibility built in from the beginning.

While it was originally intended for use internally in Museums Galleries Scotland, the guidance can be used by anyone involved in planning, running, promoting, and evaluating events. It offers clear, practical information on removing barriers, meeting access requirements, and embedding inclusive practice across every stage of event planning. It also explains key concepts such as the Social Model of Disability, universal design, and reasonable adjustments, and helping organisations understand why accessible event design is a vital part of anti‑oppression work.

The standard also contains helpful checklists and hints and tips on how you can continue to embed accessibility in to your event processes.

Accessible Events Standard - Making events more accessible

(DOCX, 466 KB)

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All In is an access scheme in the UK and Ireland, designed to make creative and cultural experiences more accessible for deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people.

Birds of Paradise Theatre Company are a Scottish disability‑led theatre company. They provide training, development opportunities, and consultancy to help the wider arts sector become more accessible, inclusive, and confident in dismantling ableism.

Disability Collaborative Network (DCN) supports museums and the wider heritage sector to develop inclusive practice. The website provides guidance, resources, and cross‑sector expertise to help organisations plan for accessibility, improve inclusive working cultures, and address the needs of disabled audiences, staff, and volunteers.

StageText provide captioning and live subtiling to theatres, museums, and other cultural venues to improve access for people who are deaf, deafened, or hard of hearing. They offer training designed to help staff communicate confidently with deaf, deafened, and hard‑of‑hearing visitors.

VocalEyes provides live and recorded audio description for blind and visually impaired people across theatres, museums, galleries, heritage sites, and digital media. They also offer training, guidance and accessibility audits.

Publications

Collections Trust | UK Museum Accreditation Access Resources

Disability Arts Online | Accessible Events Toolkit

High Peak | Organising Accessible Events

Historic England | Disability Access to Heritage

Historic Environment Scotland Managing Change in the Historic Environment: Accessibility

Scope for Business | Accessible Events Toolkit

VisitScotland | Inclusive and Accessible Events A Guide for Event Organisers

Creating Accessible Events

Introduction

Download the Accessible Events Standard

Further guidance

Publications