How the Verona Arena is radically changing the accessibility of shows

VERONA – While the bill to make live performances truly accessible to people with disabilities has been sitting unapproved in the Senate Culture Committee for eight months, while movements like "Live for All" and associations like "AlDiQua Artists" must fight to overcome all discrimination in the number of seats reserved for people with disabilities in the stalls , in ticket booking procedures (just think of the ahistorical impossibility of booking them online), and also in the involvement of artists with disabilities on stage, while, finally, in the vast majority of theaters, the number of accessible performances in a year can be counted on the fingers of one hand, in Verona an accessibility project unparalleled in Italy and Europe is underway: Arena for All . Yes, its epicenter is the Roman amphitheater dating back to the first century AD, the project is aimed primarily at people with sensory, cognitive, and intellectual disabilities, is promoted by the Arena Foundation , funded by Müller, and coordinated by Elena Di Giovanni , professor of Accessibility at the University of Macerata.

Arena per tutti is a program within the program. Of the 43 performances that make up the Arena di Verona Opera Festival, scheduled from June to September, 26 are included in Arena per tutti . This year, the program features Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco, Aida, La Traviata, and Rigoletto, as well as Georges Bizet's Carmen. For each of these five operas, a number of dates have been selected to be included in the Arena per tutti program, 26 in total, as mentioned. On each of these 26 dates, spectators with disabilities have 100 dedicated seats . All in the stalls, in the front rows. Regardless of their location, viewers with disabilities can count on accessible trailers with subtitles, voice, translation into Italian, German, and international sign language, and image descriptions, as well as live audio descriptions and digital playbooks. These replicate the graphics and structure of traditional paper playbooks, complete with synopses, director's notes, photos, and performance information, but are written with simplified texts, editable and enlargeable fonts, images, and scene sketches with audio descriptions for the blind and translation into Italian and international sign language. What we offer is a true journey.

The performance is the final moment , the highlight. Before attending, however, spectators with disabilities can take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Opera and opera performances, immersing themselves in a world reserved for a select few. In detail, in addition to retracing the plot of the performance, they can see the sets, touch the costumes and props, explore the spaces and musical instruments. All guided by the stage staff and those who created the performances in the Fondazione Arena workshops.

This edition marks a debut, an additional experience, one that's particularly significant when it comes to sensory disabilities: singing. So far, it's been offered on three dates, one each for La Traviata, Aida, and Carmen . Before the performance, spectators with disabilities are invited to the nearby Teatro Filarmonico , where they'll be greeted by a pianist and some of the choir members from the show, one for each character. In addition to recounting the opera's plot and story, they play and sing a few notes, aiming to help the audience associate the music with the character, their mood, and, more generally, the atmosphere and mood of a scene or act.

But that's not all: the live, preview demonstration by the pianist and choristers is designed to introduce spectators with disabilities to the techniques and art of singing, to demonstrate how professionals use the diaphragm, how they modulate, blend, and control the voice, and how the singer's entire body vibrates and resonates. And learning also occurs through touch. Spectators with disabilities are invited to touch the singers to perceive their body movements and vibrations and thus hear the music flowing through and out of them. To enjoy similar experiences and attend Arena per tutti performances, simply fill out an online form on the Arena website.

It might seem obvious, but when it comes to live events and people with disabilities, it's not; in fact, it's newsworthy. One example: when booking a concert ticket, a person with a disability must find the organizer's email address, write to them, and wait for a response, which can arrive within hours or days. And it's often a negative response, because while there are arenas or stadiums with tens of thousands of seats , only a few dozen are reserved for people with disabilities. It's no coincidence that equal access to booking systems is a key tenet of the Live for All manifesto. This is another reason why Arena for All is good news.