UK Performing Arts Embrace Anti-Ableism

Following the success of their first Anti-Ableist cohort, Ramps on the Moon is gearing up for a second group to join them from June 2025.

Funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, a cohort of leadership teams from more than 20 organisations, including large and mid-scale theatres, touring companies, opera, music and dance companies have been able to come together to engage in anti-ableism.

Anti-ableism is the practice of actively challenging ableism, the systemic discrimination, prejudice and social stigmatisation against disabled people.

An associate of Sheffield Theatres, Ramps on the Moon partners with People Make It Work, taking organisations on an evolving journey through four developing phases, from disability awareness and access to disability equality and finally anti-ableism.

Over a year of immersive and intensive learning, including workshops, bespoke mentoring and resources, the cohort will be able to reshape their own company’s futures, embedding anti- ableism throughout.

“If we are to survive and thrive as a rich and diverse cultural sector, leaders need spaces where they can be curious and explore without fearing the day-to-day reality of anti-ableist practice,” said Michele Taylor MBE, Managing Director of Ramps on the Moon and leading UK Anti- Ableist activist.

“The participants in Ramps on the Moon’s first cohort have grasped the opportunities we’ve offered them and taken the conversation, and their work on anti-ableism, to the next level.”

Ramps on the Moon launched in 2015 as a collaborative consortium of six National Portfolio Organisation theatres funded by Arts Council England. Ramps supported founding partners to make lasting organisational change, enabling them to embed the values and culture of disability equality into every part of a working theatre.

If you would like more information, interested in anti-ableism change, or wish your organisation to join the second cohort in June, please visit www.rampsonthemoon.co.uk.