Annual Report 2011 - Sydney Opera House

102GOVERNMENT REPORTINGDISABILITY ACTION PLANThe three-year Sydney Opera HouseAccess Strategic Plan 2009/12 wasendorsed by the Trust in June 2009. Itincorporates the planning outcomes setout in the Guidelines for Disability ActionPlanning by NSW Government Agencies.The Plan consists of 48 access strategieswith the goal of increasing theparticipation of people with disabilities(as customers, staff and businesspartners) by providing equal access toSydney Opera House facilities, services,performances and experiences.The full Sydney Opera House AccessStrategic Plan 2009/12 is available on theSydney Opera House website and has beenlodged with the Department of Ageing,Disability and Home Care.Highlights 2010/11 (Access Plan Year 2)- Sign-language (Auslan) tours ofSydney Opera House commenced andoffered twice monthly.- Sydney Opera House, in collaborationwith Vision Australia and OperaAustralia, offered the first audiodescribedopera at Sydney Opera Housefor Pirates of Penzance in November2010, followed by Barber of Sevillein March 2011 and La bohème inAugust 2011.- SOH Presents House:Ed performancesbegan inclusive theatre programmingfor young audiences with disabilities.> Patch Theatre Company’s Me andMy Shadow was both autismfriendlyand sign-interpreted withan introductory pre-theatre sensorysession. Over 80 participantsfrom both the Autism SpectrumAssociation and Royal Deafand Blind School attended theperformance at Sydney Opera Housefor the first time.> 40 students who were blind andvision impaired attended Lah-Lah’sBig Live Band in the Concert Hallfollowed by an inclusive Q&Asession and tactile tour of the bandsmusical instruments.> Scotland’s Puppet State TheatreCompany’s The Man Who PlantedTrees provided a pre-session tactilesession with cast and crew for blindand vision impaired students.- sydneyoperahouse.com was auditedagainst new Web Content AccessibilityGuidelines (WCAG) 2.0 requirements.The last review was conducted in 2007against WCAG Version 1.0. Since thenthe website has undergone variousupgrades and re-designs, and thereforeit was important changes wereassessed against the new guidelines.Compliance with the required WCAGguidelines Level A could not be claimeddue to failure to meet nine Level ASuccess Criteria, however an actionplan to remediate these issues withinthe next 12 months has been agreed.Developers have been engaged toaddress three issues, which will becompleted next year. More issues willbe addressed as part of the event pageand transaction path project currentlyin very early design stage. Patrons areable to access services and assistancevia telephone or face-to-face at theonsite Box Office until issues havebeen resolved.- Accessibility awareness sessions wereoffered as part of the regular staffOrientation program. Tailored front ofhouse accessibility sessions were alsoprovided to Front of House and HostTeam staff.- Annual Sydney Opera HouseAccess Awards were held as part ofcelebrations for International Day ofPeople with Disabilities on 3 December2010. The Awards acknowledged thework of staff and external partnerswho had contributed to Sydney OperaHouse’s access achievements over theyear. Presided over by the AccessibilityAmbassador Louise Sauvage OAM,14 awards were distributed to groupsor individuals.- A captioned customer accessibilityinformation video featuringAccessibility Ambassador LouiseSauvage OAM was produced for theSydney Opera House website.- Sydney Opera House became a silvermember of the Australian DisabilityNetwork. Membership will supportSydney Opera House to meet itsAccess Plan initiatives to increaseemployment opportunities for peoplewith disabilities at Sydney OperaHouse and improve workplace supportto existing staff with disabilities.Initiatives planned for 2011/12 include:- Mental Health and WorkforceWellbeing Training session formanagers during Mental Health Month,October 2011.- Four week work experience programfor final year university studentwith disabilities at Sydney OperaHouse, in partnership with theAustralian Disability Network’sStepping Into Program.- Comprehensive program of targetedaccessible House:Ed performances andpre-performance experiences offeredto young people with disabilities tocontinue throughout 2012.- Consultation with internal andexternal stakeholders will commenceto develop the next three yearAccess Strategic Plan, which will beimplemented for 2012/15.ELECTRONIC SERVICE DELIVERYCorporate WebsiteVisitation to the corporate website,sydneyoperahouse.com reached 3.6 millionthis year, 2.1 million of which wereunique visitors. The focus on improvingservices for customers through thewebsite has continued this year througha range of initiatives. The homepage wasrefreshed and customers are now ablealso able to purchase gift membership ofthe Insiders Membership program online.The Play video portal was relaunched,allowing visitors to access more content.Further development is now underway toenhance the transaction path and eventrelated pages.App DevelopmentThe first App as part of Vivid LIVE wasdeveloped, enabling customers to viewthe illumination of the sails and accessinformation on the program. Furtherdevelopment is now under way to releasea ticket purchase App next year.