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Arts and Humanities Day 2024 | Accessibility

Summary

 

We aim to make Arts and Humanities Day an enjoyable experience accessible to everyone.

Arts and Humanities Day 2024 will take place at Sir James Matthews Building, John Hansard Gallery, MAST Mayflower Studios and Southampton City Art Gallery. All festival venues are wheelchair accessible.

 

Parking

Car parks near to the Festival venues include a limited number of blue badge parking bays. The closest ones are located in Commercial Road (alongside Watts Park) and Park Walk (just behind John Hansard Gallery).

Please refer to the Southampton City Council website for more information.

 

Who is who

Our Festival team (lime t-shirt) and Student Ambassadors (light blue t-shirt) will try their best to assist you during your visit.

Arts and Humanities Day exhibitors will wear pink t-shirts.

The Security team at the University of Southampton will be patrolling Sir James Matthews Building. They will wear a black uniform with yellow high-vis jackets on top.

All Arts and Humanities Day signage will have a pink/purple background.

 

Upon arrival

There will be four Welcome Desks located at the entrance of Sir James Matthews Building, John Hansard Gallery, MAST Mayflower Studios and Southampton City Art Gallery.

Please make sure to check-in to collect your event programme and talk to the Welcome Desk team if you have any queries upon arrival.

We will have a series of stickers available at the Welcome Desk to support people with different needs in engaging with our exhibitors, the Festival team and Students Ambassadors.

HOW TO CHECK IN

To keep waste to a minimum, we kindly ask everyone to avoid printing their Eventbrite tickets if possible.

Once at the Welcome Desk, please show on your mobile phone the QR code on the email confirmation you received from Eventbrite or just provide the name and surname of the contact you used for booking. You can also download the Eventbrite app onto your iPhone or Android device to show the QR code at the desk.

 

Quiet Room

A quiet room - for some peace and privacy, and to recover from sensory overload - will be located in Sir James Matthews Building on Level 3, in Room 3009.

The room will have chairs, a sensory tent with padded flooring, soft dimmable light, hand sanitiser and sanitising wipes.

 

Sensory overload

We know that Arts and Humanities Day can be intense and overwhelming at times for some.

A few areas of the festival venue might become crowded and the programme includes some activities with loud noises, flashing lights, and darkened spaces. You can check each individual activities for accessibility information on our website: this will help to inform your choice of activities to visit.

A few ear defenders will be available to borrow on a first-come-first-served basis at the Welcome Desk at the entrance of Sir James Matthews Building. Please note that ear defenders will need to be returned once leaving the venue.

Our friendly exhibitors, students and Festival team will wear a name badge on top of their branded t-shirts.

An optional set of three stickers with a traffic light system will be available to use. This will help Festival members be more considerate about specific needs and will aid better understanding e.g. how visitors in the autistic spectrum feel during the day. The colour of each sticker represents the following:

  • RED = I can’t interact with others and I need some quiet time.
  • YELLOW = I am anxious so don’t interact with me unless I initiate it.
  • GREEN = I am feeling okay.

The stickers are free to take and will be available for pick-up at all Welcome Desks.

Please also remember that a Quiet Room with a sensory tent (as detailed above) is available on the day. Just ask a member of the Festival team (lime t-shirt) or a Student Ambassador (light blue t-shirt) for directions if needed.

 

Breastfeeding and Baby changing Room

Arts and Humanities Day is breastfeeding-friendly, please feel free to breastfeed wherever is comfortable and convenient for you and your baby. A Quiet Room (detailed above) will be available with chairs.

Baby changing facilities are available as follows:    

  • Sir James Matthews Building: at The Artisan
  • John Hansard Gallery: on the ground floor    
  • MAST Mayflower Studios: on the first floor
  • Southampton City Art Gallery: on the ground floor, please ask staff at the front desk for the key.

At John Hansard Gallery, lockers and a buggy park are also available on the ground floor.

 

Prayers Rooms

Prayers Rooms (for some peace and privacy for praying) are located in Sir James Matthews Building on Level 3, in Room 3013, 3015 and 3017. 

The room will have chairs, a partition for privacy, space with padded flooring, hand sanitiser and sanitising wipes.

 

Hearing Loop

The Lecture Theatres (LT) where talks are taking place are fitted with induction loop for hearing aid users.

The front 1-2 rows at each talk will have priority seats for hard of hearing, deaf, visually impaired and blind visitors.

 

Assistance Dogs

Fully trained assistance dogs are welcomed at Arts and Humanities Day.

Where possible, we kindly ask you to have your dog wearing a harness or jacket to identify it as an assistance dog.

 

Routes, toilets and building evacuation for disabled persons

Toilets for disabled persons are available as follows:    

  • Sir James Matthews Building: at The Artisan and on all floors
  • John Hansard Gallery: on the ground floor and first floor    
  • MAST Mayflower Studios: on the first floor
  • Southampton City Art Gallery: on the ground floor, please ask staff at the front desk for the key.

Activities on Level 1, 3, 4, and 6 in Sir James Matthews Building will require evacuation through a service lift in case of emergency. In case the alarm is set off, please ask a Student Ambassador (light blue t-shirt) to assist you in reaching the refuge point next to the lift, and wait until a member of the Festival team (lime t-shirt) will assist you to enter the lift to leave the building.

Both the John Hansard Gallery and MAST Mayflower Studios do not use elevators in case of building evacuation. eVac chairs will be used by trained staff at the venue to evacuate wheelchair users from the upper floors. In case of emergency, please let the staff know how you feel about leaving your wheelchair behind to exit the building on an eVac chair. John Hansard Gallery and MAST Mayflower Studio also have a designated refuge bay at each floor above ground. In case of emergency, please follow the instructions from the venue staff.

 

For more information on accessibility, please refer to each venue’s website:    

 

If you require further assistance on the day, please get in touch asap by emailing us at festival@soton.ac.uk