Disabled artists in the mainstream: a new cultural agenda for Europe
Working towards raising awareness of the barriers that disabled artists and audiences continue to face when accessing Europe’s cultural institutions, this report heralds a clear call to policymakers and funders to seriously reduce the cultural exclusion of disabled people.

Disabled artists in the mainstream: a new cultural agenda for Europe emerges from the first European Arts & Disability Cluster meeting in The Hague on 30 November 2019, hosted by two of the core partners of Europe Beyond Access, British Council and Holland Dance Festival. The cluster represents the first time that EU arts & disability projects have gathered in order to shape policy and cultural change.
Working towards raising awareness of the barriers that disabled artists and audiences continue to face when accessing Europe’s cultural institutions, the report heralds a clear call to policymakers and funders to seriously reduce the cultural exclusion of disabled people.
Co-authored by Betina Panagiotara (dance researcher and journalist, Greece), Ben Evans (Head of Arts & Disability, European Union Region) and Filip Pawlak (artist and producer, Poland), it outlines one major policy recommendation for a new European cultural agenda and six proposals for the forthcoming 2021-2027 Creative Europe programme.
As the British Council’s Head of Arts & Disability in the European Union region, Ben coordinates a transnational project building links between disabled artists and building links between organisations, arts funders and policymakers seeking to transform access to the arts for disabled people as audiences and artists. This includes the website and regular newsletter www.disabilityartsinternational.org / @DisArtsInt on Twitter. After training and working as a theatre director, Ben became Director of Theatre at London's Oval House - a theatre known for the diversity of its audiences and for the non-conformity of its artists, including pioneering, Minority Ethnic, LGBTQ, and Deaf & disabled artists. Ben then became Creative Director of BeCreative, an independent producing company and consultancy, working on a variety on international projects including launching the inaugural Lagos Theatre Festival in Nigeria. Ben first joined the British Council as the Drama and Dance adviser for EU ...