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Thanks and goodbye!
SPIT would like to say thank you and goodbye to two Executive members, Sarah Johnson and Samantha Ireson, who have both resigned from the SPIT Executive to concentrate on other commitments in their lives. We thank them both for their hard work during their time with SPIT and wish them all the best. Congratulations...... to Sarah Sills, SPIT's Administrator for giving birth to her 4th daughter, Miriam! We wish Sarah and her family the very best and hope they don't have too many sleepless nights. SPIT Membership - don't struggle on your own!If you are an arts organisation which offers or plans to offer SLIPs, don't reinvent the wheel, join SPIT and take advantage of the benefits and services that we offer to help and support you. Call us now for details of what being a member of SPIT can do for you! If you want to offer a quality service to Deaf people you can't afford not to join. |
The Accessorise Tour, Autumn 1999
Towards the end of last year SPIT ran a number of Deaf Awareness Seminars at venues across England and Scotland which were open to people from member and non-member organisations. The venues were Nottingham Playhouse, Lawrence Batley Theatre (Huddersfield), Sadler's Wells (London), Fairfield (Croydon), the Hippodrome (Bristol) and Traverse Theatre (Edinburgh). The seminars were well attended; this is some of the constructive feedback we received. "... was exactly what I wanted, needed and expected" "excellent, clarified some areas but generally made me more aware" "very useful to meet John & learn basic methods of communication with Deaf people" "Deaf awareness too big an issue to be met in one day" "I found many of the exercises a little patronising, but overall good day" "work shopping of ideas excellent" "more basic sign language training" "without follow-up workshops/contacts with delegates any progress in Scotland may be lost. I feel theatres would join SPIT if they felt SPIT were active and contactable in Scotland - a part-time employee would be fantastic" "workshop training in an auditorium to demonstrate signing etc. would give a more tangible idea of what is involved" "more theatre staff should attend these courses" We use this feedback to improve our training and services so thanks to all of the attendees who gave us their views. SPIT would like to thank John Wilson for his usual excellent training, Sara Cross and Paul Reeve for travelling across the country to contribute to the workshops and all the venues who held seminars for their support. SPIT will be running further Deaf Awareness Seminars this year so please contact us if you would like to attend one. |
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More training opportunities in 2000 Following requests made to SPIT for further training we are planning to offer these two training opportunities this year. Basic BSL - SPIT is planning to re-run its Basic BSL (British Sign Language) course this year. The course is open to anyone from our member organisations and consists of a two hour weekly session over ten weeks. We will arrange dates and venues (in or out of London) according to levels of interest. Deaf Awareness - we are looking into the possibilities of offering our popular deaf awareness seminars in-house for venues/companies who would like to train a number of employees at the same time and at their own place of work. If you are interested in either of the above please contact SPIT. SPIT on the web At the end of February SPIT's new web site goes live on the world wide web. It will include up-to-date listings of sign language interpreted performances and you will be able to search by area and by performance type. It will also have information about SPIT, forthcoming events and current news. We hope the launch will be a great success, but please bear with us over any teething troubles. We welcome your feedback and your news & views to post on the site and you will even be able to e-mail them to us. (Our email address will be published on the web-site and in the next SPIT News). SPIT's web-site address is: http://www.spit.org.uk/ Photos of 1999 If you have any photographs of sign interpreted performances or projects that involved Deaf people which took place last year please send them to us so we can print them in SPIT News & post them on the web. (We will return any photos we receive). |
SPIT 2000 Conference We are currently planning our next national conference focusing on the needs of Deaf attenders and are looking for a venue in which to hold it. We would like to hold it outside London this year as our last 2 conferences were held in London (at the Barbican Centre & the Royal National Theatre). Hosting the SPIT Conference is an valuable opportunity for a venue that is committed to improving access for Deaf people to theatre and SPIT would be interested to hear from any venue, that is easily accessible from different parts of the UK, which may be able to offer us a suitable space on a Saturday during May or June. If you think you may be able to help please contact SPIT as soon as possible. New policy for listings of SLIPs In the last issue of SPIT News we highlighted the importance of only using qualified sign language interpreters to interpret theatre and opera performances (because only people who are trainee or fully registered interpreters can give a quality sign language interpreted performance that Deaf people can understand). SPIT's responsibility to both its members and Deaf audiences is to promote good practice and high standards and we have therefore (following consultation with our members) decided that we will no longer include performances by "interpreters" who do not have the recommended qualifications in our listings. We believe that this is a move which our Deaf readers will support as many of them have expressed their dissatisfaction at the use of non-qualified "interpreters" in theatres. Our Deaf readers can now be assured that any performances included in our listings will be interpreted into sign language by people who are trained and qualified to do so. SPIT holds a list of people working as theatre interpreters who have the right qualifications and training. If you would like a copy of this list, please contact SPIT. |
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What's new for the Millennium ? Now that the Millennium excitement (or disappointment) has faded, it's time to let SPIT know what you, the organisation you work for, or the theatre you visit is doing this year. What productions are due to be sign interpreted? What projects are going to be happening to improve Deaf people's access to, involvement in and enjoyment of theatre? What are you dying to tell other people about ? SPIT News is the place to share your views & experiences of sign interpreted performances, whatever they are, with other people who are involved & interested. You can now write, fax, phone or email SPIT to pass on your news. It couldn't be any easier, so spare a few minutes to tell us what's happening. SPIT Listings The listings which accompany this newsletter only include SLIPs by members of SPIT who use qualified interpreters. If you don't see a particular theatre or company listed, that you know offers SLIPs, it is probably because they aren't a member of SPIT. As SPIT is a non profit-making charity we need venues & companies to join our membership in order to function. The listings service is only one of the invaluable services which SPIT offers. So if you want your local venue or company's SLIPs to be included in the SPIT listing please encourage them to join ! SPIT Members, please remember
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Who belongs to SPIT? SPIT is a membership-based organisation which means that venues and companies who are providing, or want to provide, sign language interpreted performances or to improve their service to Deaf and hard of hearing people, join us as members. In return, SPIT provides a range of benefits and services to support members, including
Over 100 venues and companies have been members of SPIT during the last 6 years and overleaf, for your information, is a list of current members, so you can see who they are. (Note - not included in web version of newsletter) If your organisation or your local theatre isn't a member why not tell them about the benefits of SPIT and ask them to join us. If you would like to be put in touch with any of our members please contact SPIT. |
If you have any projects that you would like share with other SPIT members, please send the details to Sarah Sills at SPIT.
Any photos or images of events past and present are always gratefully received, and we promise to return them to you as soon as they have been used.