Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Enterprise Strategy
Our Mission 6
Who We Are 7
Our Customers 7
Our Employees 7
Contents
Our Accessibility Commitment 10
Data Profile 12
What is Disability? 13
Consultation Process 24
Workplace 34
Community Leadership 34
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Enterprise Strategy
Louise Herron AM
CEO
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Sydney Opera House
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18
The Sydney Opera House embodies beauty, Through Sydney Opera House Presents,
inspiration & the liberating power of art & the Sydney Opera House also offers its own
ideas. It is a masterpiece that belongs to all programming, ranging from contemporary
Australians. music & dance to talks & ideas events & shows
for children & families.
We will treasure & renew the Sydney Opera
House for future generations of artists, The Sydney Opera House’s spectacular
audiences & visitors. harbourside precinct also includes a wide
range of restaurants & bars, as well as tours
Everything we do will engage & inspire & retail offerings.
people through its excellence, ambition &
Who We Are
Sydney Opera House customers include:
The public, who attend events, visit the
site, take guided tours & frequent the
MISSION
The Sydney Opera House is Australia’s restaurants, cafes & retail outlets. They
premier tourist attraction & one of the world’s include domestic & international tourists,
busiest performing arts centres. More than as well as local residents.
eight million people visit the Sydney Opera
House each year & more than 1.4 million Performing arts presenters & commercial
attend a performance. partners, who present in & hire venues &
deliver a range of services. They include
A World Heritage-listed “masterpiece of performing arts companies, schools,
human creative genius” that belongs to community groups, corporations,
all Australians, the Sydney Opera House individuals, government departments,
embarked on a Decade of Renewal at its 40th & operators of on-site food & beverage
Anniversary in 2013 to prepare for future & retail outlets.
Sydney Opera House belongs to everyone. generations of artists, audiences & visitors.
As an organisation, our goal is to provide The Sydney Opera House has seven Our Employees
barrier-free access, making the site, performance venues: Concert Hall; Joan The Sydney Opera House has more than
building & the experiences they offer Sutherland Theatre (opera); Forecourt; 850 employees (364 full-time employees)
accessible to all people. Drama Theatre; Playhouse; The Studio; & located in three sites. The diverse workforce
Utzon Room. includes technical staff involved in staging,
The Sydney Opera House is home to seven lighting & sound, theatre managers & ushers,
flagship Australian companies: Opera tour guides, maintenance, security
Australia, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, The & administrative staff, & management.
Australian Ballet, Sydney Theatre Company, Of these, 15 staff members (2.5%) have
Australian Chamber Orchestra, Bangarra identified as having a disability & four staff
Dance Theatre & Bell Shakespeare. members (0.005%) required adjustment at
work in the past 12 months.
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Accessible
Babies Proms
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Sydney Opera House
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18
OUR
with disability; & physical); and
Access issues are addressed early in the Access solutions must comply with
planning stage of new initiatives; the Sydney Opera House’s heritage
Preference is given to access solutions that requirements.
ACCESSIBILIT Y
achieve integrated & independent access
(e.g. people with disability use the same
access routes as people without disability);
Initiatives comply with relevant disability
COMMITMENT
access standards & legislation;
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Vivid LIVE: Lighting of the Sails,
audio-described tour
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Sydney Opera House
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18
DATA
are twice as likely to be in the bottom 20%
Psychiatric;
of gross household incomes.
Sensory;
3.4 million (15%) of Australians have a
Neurological; physical disability;
Learning disability;
PROFILE
1 in 6 Australians experiences hearing loss.
Physical disfigurement; or There are about 30,000 Deaf Auslan users;
Immunological (the presence of organisms Vision Australia estimates there are 357,000
causing disease in the body). people in Australia who are blind or have
low vision ;
45% of the population will experience a
mental health disorder at some point.
People aged between 15 & 64 years with
disability have both lower participation
(53%) & higher unemployment rates (9.4%)
than people without disability (83% & 4.9%
respectively).
Graduates with disability take longer
to gain fulltime employment than other
graduates [footnote 2].
The likelihood of living with disability
increases with age; 31% of 55 to 64 year
olds live with disability.
Almost nine in ten people aged 90 & over
(88%) have a disability.
More than a third (39%) of complaints
lodged with the Australian Human Rights
Commission are against businesses & are
related to disability.
“
Ensuring that the Sydney Opera
House is accessible to all is an
essential part of Renewal. It is
vital that everyone feels welcome
& is able to engage with the
Sydney Opera House as deeply &
in as many ways as they wish.
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Bella in the House Program
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Sydney Opera House
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18
The Sydney Opera House’s Access participating fully. This focus on mainstream
service access means that all levels of
Strategic Plan 2016–18 aligns with government, as well as other parts of the
NSW, national & international community, have a role to play in giving effect
social-policy & legislative to the convention.
frameworks that include: National Disability Strategy 2010–20 (NDS)
Supporting people with disability has been
SOCIAL
NSW Disability Reforms
recognised as a key policy priority through
NSW is undergoing a period of major reform the National Disability Strategy & subsequent
to improve inclusion for people with disability. National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The Disability Inclusion Act (2014) & the Developed by the Commonwealth, States,
POLICY
Disability Inclusion Regulation (2014) came Territories & local governments in partnership,
into effect on 3 December 2014. Part 2 the NDS 2010–2020 sets out a national plan
of the Act requires NSW Government for Australians with disability, their families &
departments, local councils & other public carers, in support of the commitment made to
authorities (as set out in the regulation), to
CONTEXT
the UNCRPD.
develop & implement Disability Inclusion
The NDS is designed to guide public policy
Action Plans.
across Australia & to bring about change
Disability Inclusion Action Plans itemise in all mainstream services & programs. The
actions to be taken to ensure that people NDS sets out six priority areas that reflect
with disability can participate fully in the the broad scope of the UNCRPD. The NDS
local community. The plans must contain NSW Implementation Plan 2012–14 was the
strategies to support people with disability. NSW Government’s initial two-year strategy
They detail how people with disability were to promote NDS principles. These principles
consulted & how the plan supports the have been aligned with the objects of the
State Disability Inclusion Plan. Disability Inclusion Act (2014) & Disability
Inclusion Plans.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities Other relevant legislation & guidelines
informing the development of the Sydney
The United Nations Convention on the Rights Opera House’s Access Strategic Plan include:
of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) was
ratified by Australia in 2008. It acknowledges Commonwealth Disability Discrimination
that people with disability have the same Act 1993 (DDA);
human rights as those without disability. NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (ADA);
This commits participating governments to
NSW Government Sector Employment
ensure these rights can be exercised & that
Act 2013;
barriers to exercising such rights are removed.
Implementing a rights-based approach under Disability (Access to Premises – Buildings)
the convention requires governments to Standards & Australian Standards for
address not only the provision of specialist Design of Access & Mobility 1428.1–4; and
services to people with disability, but also the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web
provision of mainstream services. These are Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
to be provided in a way that does not directly
or indirectly prevent people with disability 17
Sydney Opera House
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18
The Sydney Opera House’s first Access Highlights of the Access Strategic Plan
Strategic Plan (2007–09) focused on 2013–15
helping people with disability navigate the
Launched inaugural Access Program of
precinct & venues via large-scale building events & experiences in 2014; 2015 program
improvements, as well as introducing a launched by the NSW Minister of Ageing
range of access amenities. For example,
& Disability.
the first public lift was opened in 2009,
providing independent access to most Programmed Oddysea, an immersive
HISTORY
areas of the site for the first time, including sensory theatre experience designed
all Western Foyers theatre venues. specifically for young people with profound
& complex disability – a first for an
The second strategic plan (2010–12)
Australian performing arts centre.
focused on making the experiences
AND
offered by the Sydney Opera House more Expanded Access Program to include a
accessible through touch tours, audio- discount $5 ticket program for people
description, captioning & sign-language- experiencing social or economic
interpreted performances. Dedicated disadvantage, offered through the Balnaves
autism-friendly performances allowed Foundation Open House Program.
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Sydney Opera House
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18
Partnered with Accessible Arts NSW & Completed the Sydney Opera House Live-streamed the first signing choir
the MCA to provide an annual accredited Accessibility Master Plan, which includes performing Handel’s Messiah in Auslan,
Professional Development Day for special concept designs to inform building-renewal in collaboration with Accessible Arts &
needs teachers titled: Dance, Theatre accessibility upgrades. Sydney Philharmonic Choirs. The live-
& Visual Art: Engaging Students with stream included both audio-description
Partnered with Vision Australia to provide
Disability. & live captioning.
accredited audio-description training to
Continued to help emerging artists with Sydney Opera House staff. A new Sesame lift was installed in
disability to showcase their work at the Bennelong restaurant, providing
Provided online closed-captioning for
Sydney Opera House. The Can You See mainstream access to the lower dining level
Sydney Opera House Presents talks & ideas
Me? Theatre Company, an initiative of shows & live-captioning of the Sydney for the first time.
Cerebral Palsy Alliance, gave sold-out Opera House’s digital education program Introduced a quarterly online access
performances in The Studio in 2014 & 2015. for students who are Deaf or those who e-newsletter, What’s On in Access,
Offered people with Parkinson’s disease & have hearing loss. informing audiences of accessible
NSW school students a once-in-a-lifetime experiences, performances & programs.
Introduced final-year university students
opportunity to dance at the Sydney Opera with disability to the Stepping Into paid Access Program received $60,000 from
House as part of a series of workshops
internship program. Students joined the Sydney Opera House donors since launch.
hosted in conjunction with New York’s Sydney Opera House’s human resources,
acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group, as Won a prestigious NSW Government Green
finance, building development & workplace
part of its global Dance for PD program. Globe award, reflecting the Sydney Opera
health & safety teams. House’s social sustainability leadership,
including our accessibility programs.
The Access Strategic Plan The Access Program will continue to broaden
its scope to facilitate:
(2016–18) builds on the
Access for those facing social & financial
foundation established by disadvantage; and
three successive plans. Health & well-being benefits for new
sections of the community, such as
Many access initiatives have become part of
people with Parkinson’s disease, through
ACCESSIBILIT Y
business as usual as a result of those earlier
performing arts experiences.
plans. Yet work remains to remove remaining
barriers to full inclusion. These have been Workplace: We will continue to create
identified through customer feedback & an inclusive workplace culture & provide
stakeholder consultation. employment opportunities for people with
VISION
disability.
The Access Program has also begun to attract
thousands more people with disability to Operations & Customer Service: We will
Sydney Opera House each year. To support enhance customer services for people with
our efforts to attract & sustain these new disability, making the Sydney Opera House a
2018
audiences, it is crucial that we provide an more welcoming & navigable place.
accessible & inclusive environment, physically, Community Leadership: We will continue to
operationally & in terms of customer service. provide leadership in the area of accessibility,
The latest plan focuses on improving access looking at new ways to share both our
in the following five areas: knowledge & resources across the arts &
disability sector.
The Building: The Sydney Opera House’s
Stage 1 Building Renewal program represents
an opportunity to address a number of
remaining physical-access barriers.
Performances & Experiences: The Access
Program will continue to explore ways to
enhance sensorial access to Sydney Opera
House performances & experiences.
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Dance for PD Community Class
Utzon Room
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Sydney Opera House
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18
C O N S U LTAT I O N
Sydney Opera House & why do you visit?
We sincerely thank the following
representatives for their participation in the What additional accessibility measures
consultation process & their ongoing support would you like to see at the Sydney Opera
for improving access: House & what matters most to you?
PROCESS
Dr Jane Bringolf Can you identify locations or buildings,
Liveable Communities, COTA either locally or overseas that are leaders
in accessibility?
Melissa McCarthy
Director, Education Services, RIDBC The Sydney Opera House will continue
to foster strong relationships & work
Greg Killen
collaboratively with our partners in the
Senior Policy & Advocacy Officer, Spinal Cord
disability sector throughout the life of
Injuries Australia
this plan.
Sancha Donald
CEO, Accessible Arts
Carl Southern
Teacher, St Edmunds
Alex Jones
Auslan Stage Left
Vanessa Lucas
Music Therapist, Giant Steps School
Joanna Agius
Deaf Arts Officer, Accessible Arts NSW
Nea Cahill
Project Officer, Strategic Initiatives, Arts NSW
Christian Carter
Sydney Opera House patron
Jennifer Moon
Guide Dogs NSW
Sam Hardy
Sydney Opera House patron
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Sydney Opera House
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18
“
The Access Program has also
begun to attract thousands more
people with disability each year... it is
crucial that we provide an accessible
& inclusive environment, physically,
operationally & in terms of
customer service.
”
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REVIEW
measurements taken in 2015;
Feedback from patrons, visitors & disability Annual decreases in the number of
organisations will be sought throughout the disability access-related complaints;
life of the plan, as the views of people with Positive feedback on the quality of access
AND
disability will help determine the success of events & experiences at the Sydney Opera
the plan’s initiatives. House from post-event customer surveys &
The Sydney Opera House’s Chief Executive disability organisations;
Officer will ensure that progress towards the Annual increases in the number of patrons
MONITORING
plan’s goals is reviewed & reported. & disability organisations subscribing to the
The plan will be available on What’s On in Access e-newsletter; and
sydneyoperahouse.com, including an audio- Increased media coverage of accessibility
file version. Hard copies, including copies in initiatives in both mainstream & disability-
alternate formats (Braille, large print & easy specific media.
English) can be requested from:
The plan will be registered with the Australian
Jenny Spinak Disability Rights Commission & achievements
Accessibility Manager, will be noted in the Sydney Opera House’s
Sydney Opera House, GPO Box 4274, Annual Report.
Sydney, NSW 2001
Australia
Telephone: 61 2 9250 7175
Facsimile: 61 2 9250 7135
Email:
jspinak@sydneyoperahouse.com
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Oddysea sensory theatre
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Sydney Opera House The Building Strategies
Access Strategic Plan
2016–18 GOAL: The Sydney Opera House Implement accessibility improvements (as identified in
is an accessible building & site. the Accessibility Master Plan) as part of new Stage 1
Renewal projects, including the Concert Hall upgrade;
new Creative Learning Centre; Function Centre; Theatre
& Events offices & Foyers & Lobbies. This include access
upgrades to wheelchair seating options; food & beverage
& toilet amenities; accessible passages linking southern
& northern foyer areas; lifts linking box offices to foyer
areas; as well as linking northern foyers with upper levels.
Improvements may either be implemented simultaneously
or staged over time.
Ensure new upgrades & refurbishments are, at a minimum,
ACCESS
compliant with relevant access standards & codes,
while aiming to achieve best practice in accessible
design, subject to heritage & Utzon Design Principle
considerations.
Ensure accessibility is considered as a key customer
Use International Day of People with Disability to Improve services & facilities for patrons with disability
showcase the contributions made by people with by providing:
disability by programming an annual event at the Additional accessible seating options in foyers;
Sydney Opera House. A companion card booking line;
An adult changing places facility in the Western Foyers;
and
Braille/large-print menus in all food & beverage outlets.
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Keep in touch
Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
T 61 2 9250 7111
sydneyoperahouse.com