Alkantara at the Acesso Cultura Awards 2024

Alkantara was distinguished with the Acesso Cultura Award - Accessible Language 2024, with the text about the show Sweat, Sweat, Sweat (A series of little hot flushes), by Sónia Baptista, part of Trilhas’ accessible guide. The jury was made up of Elisabet Carceller (museographer), Pedro Mendes (general and creative director of Coffeepaste) and Rita Pires dos Santos (cultural mediator at Acesso Cultura).

Trilhas is a project developed by Alkantara to create pathways into the festival for people who are generally not in the audience at the central performing arts venues in Lisbon.. This programme is developed in partnership with cultural associations and informal collectives that work with LGBTQIAP+ communities, migrants and refugees, people with disabilities and people of African descent. Trilhas guide is only available in portuguese.

Jury deliberation

We decided to award the Acesso Cultura - Accessible Language Award to the text about the show "Sweat, Sweat, Sweat (A series of little hot flushes)" by Sónia Baptista, which was included in the brochure for the Alkantara Festival's "Trilhas - a programme of encounters for new audiences".

What makes this communication project distinctive is the aim to reach audiences who are still absent from theatres and/or unfamiliar with the performing arts and the festival's artists. With this in mind, it seems to us to be a good strategy to opt for succinct texts and, above all, to ask the reader questions orientated around the theme of the show.

The overview of the show is presented briefly, in two short sentences. These two sentences are followed by three key words and two questions that invite reflection. The text clearly identifies relevant information, such as the venue, time, age rating and duration of each show. It also indicates issues relating to the accessibility of the venues and the type of subtitles available. All this, combined with an accessible and clear graphic design.

We would also like to highlight the fact that the "Trilhas" digital brochure is accessible to blind or low-vision audiences through a file suitable for screen readers, which includes a description of the images.