Arts group earns award for inclusive nature project

Artist Tom Adams, on a boat, leading audio recordings at Wicken Fen

A nature project has helped an arts company become the only cultural organisation in the country to be awarded a Visibly Better Employer by The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

Babylon Arts, based in Ely, Cambridgeshire, led Inspired by Nature, a programme aimed at connecting and engaging with people with visual impairment and sight loss.

It paved the way for the group to make "modest changes" to how it works and become "accessible to all".

Alex Innes, from Cambridge-based CamSight, said the award was a "benchmark for other collaborators and industries to hopefully follow suit".

A listening party held at Babylon Arts as part of the Inspired by Nature project

Inspired by Nature was funded by the The National Lottery Heritage Fund, in partnership with Ely Museum, the National Trust’s Wicken Fen Nature Reserve, the Highfield Littleport Academy, RNIB, CamSight and Vision Norfolk.

The aim was to "deliver a programme featuring innovative and creative approaches which aimed to facilitate connection and engagement with nature and the arts for people with low vision", Babylon Arts said.

One highlight was an audio artwork, called The Lantern Man, led by artist Tom Adams, which was produced by taking 14 people with visual impairment on sensory walks at Wicken Fen.

When it was exhibited, audio descriptions were available as well as raised drawings by Kaitlin Ferguson, the head artist for Highfield Littleport,to allow visitors to "feel their way around selected artworks".

Sensory walks and boat trips took place at Wicken Fen

Co-ordinator Liz Falconbridge said the project "developed hugely and increased awareness of the sometimes modest changes needed to make our work accessible to all".

"Babylon Arts is the only cultural organisation in the country to have achieved this standard [the Visibly Better Employer status]," she added.

"It signifies that Babylon Arts both welcomes and supports applicants and employees with blindness or low vision."

Mr Innes, activities coordinator for CamSight, said: "The end result has allowed Babylon Arts to reach this status which is a benchmark for other collaborators and industries to hopefully follow suit.

"It means that the wider visually impaired community will be able to gain from recent and future projects and receive the experience they deserve."