Hynt - Creu Cymru

Creu Cymru is an organisation and network championing the performing arts in Wales. It manages a project called Hynt, which is an Arts Council of Wales (ACW) initiative and the national access scheme for theatres and art centres in Wales. Creu Cymru manages the scheme on behalf of ACW in partnership with Diverse Cymru, a Cardiff-based equalities organisation.

We interviewed Louise Miles-Payne, Director of Creu Cymru and Megan Merrett, Projects Administrator at Creu Cymru, to learn more about the scheme, its EDI goals and how it works to improve diversity and equity in the arts in Wales. We find out more about how the three-person team at Creu Cymru has taken Hynt from conception to 31,000+ cardholders, 40+ key venue partners and a growing collaborative network.

What are your motivations for addressing diversity and inclusion within your organisation?

Louise: Creu Cymru is a membership organisation and we represent theatres, producing companies and freelancers who work across performing arts in Wales. EDI is important to us for two big reasons. One is about how we support our members on their EDI journeys and the other is what we do about it internally. Some of those things intertwine and some of those things are quite separate issues.

Megan: The ‘Why?' of it is because we want as many people to experience the fabulous live experiences on offer at our member venues across the whole of the country as possible. It's about accessibility, disability, equity, and what we can do in our role to facilitate that and make the connections. It's not us changing the world, but us playing that role in supporting our members to have a greater understanding and to play a key role in removing barriers for disabled people and deaf and neurodivergent audiences as well.

Louise: There's a larger element about ensuring staff are equipped to understand why the scheme exists and why they should be more accessible and more open to disabled audiences as well. Then, what effect that might have on the workforce and trying to diversify workforces as well. Overall, greater diversity in the workforce is a big one for us because we know it's predominantly white, predominantly able-bodied and, in quite a lot of the leadership roles, male. While there's nothing wrong with any of those things, I think we're now at a point where we're asking why that's the case.

Also, a better representation of diverse audiences within venues. That comes back to what's being programmed, how accessible venues are, and how they're responding to current issues. We don't solely have any control over any of these things, but what we can do is look at ourselves and try to identify where those problems are and what we can do to address them.

How are your EDI motivations embedded in your wider company strategy?

Megan: We recently put together a document about something we've been living and breathing but wanted to make it exist beyond our decisions. It's on our decisions around speakers and who we choose to communicate with our members at in-person events and online training. So, all Hynt training is delivered by somebody with lived experience and at the Hynt symposiums and all Creu Cymru conferences, we aim to have a really diverse mix of people speaking and facilitating. There's also a part in there about our role in calling that out if we're invited to speak somewhere if a panel isn't representative of the whole community, for example.

Louise: We're a really small organisation; there are only three of us who work for Creu Cymru. We have EDI policies, and we have a board, and we try to make sure that the board is representative of not just our members but the skills and diversity we need in order to be reflective of society as it is today. The document Megan mentioned holds us accountable, but it gives us something to reference externally, too, when we're on panels and doing talks. We can be really clear about why and how we're choosing to do things.

What do you believe are the risks of not addressing EDI in your space?

Louise: The risk is we're going to be a stagnant sector that is not reflective of today's society and the population of Wales. If we don't reflect the people who live within the country, we're just going to alienate audiences. Why would you want to work in an alienating industry, let alone go and see the shows? We'll end up being left behind.

Megan: It comes back to that question of authenticity as well. If the teams who are creating, programming or planning or even talking about the work aren't reflective of a wide variety of communities, you're not going to get authenticity. If it becomes a homogeneous entity of the same kind of people, you don't get that diversity of thought and ideas and that richness of creativity - and that's what it's all about.

If we don't do things in a way that really embeds EDI in everything, it gets dangerous and boring. It does everybody a disservice and if people don't see themselves represented, they distance themselves. A lot of our research has demonstrated the impact of being involved in cultural activity on wellbeing, happiness and inclusion. If people feel excluded, all the opposite things will happen.

Can you tell us more about Hynt?

Megan: Hynt is the national access scheme for theatres and art centres in Wales. it's an Arts Council Wales initiative managed by Creu Cymru in partnership with Diverse Cymru. The scheme is threefold and the most visible part is the card scheme, but it's also a network and a resource. As far as the network goes, we've got well over 40 venue organisations and a growing number of associate members, which includes some smaller festivals and National Museums Wales.

The network shares learning, best practices, concerns, questions, and curiosities - things they can talk about with other people in the same situation. We can take that information and either put it into our training planning or address it in an online access forum. It's also about holding each other to account. There's also the annual symposium, the training and the access forum we run to help those conversations happen in a really sector-specific way.

We're also a resource. So, our website isn't just a landing page of information - it has separate pages for each of our venues because a lot of information on their websites is geared up to sell tickets, and accessibility information can be hidden or missed. Our website shows it in a very clear way because the approach we take is giving people the information they need to give them the power to make their own decisions about how accessible something is. There are also online listings on there, which means visitors can find what they need without having to go through lots of different venues. Someone can search by BSL-interpreted shows, for example. There's also a members' area on the website they can log into with tool kits, plans and advice they can access all in one place.

The card scheme is for people who need an essential companion with them when they go and experience a live performance. It entitles them to a complimentary ticket for their essential companion at all of our participating venues and associate organisations. We also know it's accepted by places even beyond that, which is great. It comes down to people having one expectation and not having to give all of their information every time they book a ticket. It's trying to make that process easier. In the card portal, for example, which our member venue box officers have access to, they can see if someone requires a certain type of parking. Membership is also free for cardholders, so affordability doesn’t become another barrier.

What are the overarching problems Hynt aims to address?

Megan: Inequity for disabled people who need an essential companion with them when they go out because there's a financial penalty there. If someone can attend independently, they're just paying for their own ticket. If someone can only go with one other person, they've got to pay for two tickets. The other problem is a lack of confidence, experience, knowledge and understanding about the needs of deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent audiences and sometimes, to an extent, the workforce, which includes fellow colleagues and artists.

Louise: Also, helping audiences only have to apply once when they have specific requirements. Someone shouldn't have to be part of 15 schemes and apply 15 times to get what they need. We take that away and turn it into just one application process.

What are some of the methods that you've used for assessing the outcomes and impacts of your work?

Megan: As part of that impact report work, there was a survey that went to all cardholders and through that, we got a huge amount of information. We held individual interviews with some cardholders and some cardholder family members where the holder wasn't in a position to talk with us. We also held some focus groups; we held in-person events, events over the phone and video events to try and get the information in a range of different ways.

When we get audience, visitor and potential ticket buyer information through emails or social media, we always make sure to share it internally and record it. If people do have a worry or a complaint or a concern, we can talk about it and work to improve. The information is also shared with Arts Council Wales.

What limitations, challenges or barriers have you faced in setting up and delivering Hynt?

Louise: I think the main limitations go back to resource. If we had more resource, there are bigger ways we could grow the audiences and the cardholders. It currently costs us £5 per card to produce because it's a physical card, so for every card produced, there's a cost and additional administration.

Megan: I'd also say it's about people resource as well. If there were more of us, whether or not we can attend events wouldn't depend as much on our availability. We could do more in-person visits. There would be more potential for growth if there were more people in the mix. Another challenge that comes with being a small team is that we can't say any of us have lived experience of disability.

That’s also why we very much avoid being an individual face of Hynt because that would be misrepresentative. I see myself as an administrative conduit of the scheme, which has been designed and created by deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people in partnership with the sector. We wouldn't do public-facing press without having the words of disabled people in the mix, for example. Or, if I'm presenting at an event or if I'm on a panel, it can't be that there are no deaf or disabled people on that panel. I will try and make space for somebody to do that speaking rather than doing it on their behalf. But again, that comes down to our limitations.

What advice or key learning would you share with other organisations considering delivering similar initiatives?

Megan: For me, it would be talking with and engaging and involving and giving voices to deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people because you can't do it for people. You've got to do it with people - that's key. You need to do it with a big range of people as well because not every blind person will have the same opinions about what they need, for example. Not everybody with shared access requirements will want exactly the same thing. So, talk and listen to as many different people as possible - people from all sorts of backgrounds.

Learn more about Hynt and the wider work Creu Cymru and its partners are doing to open access to the arts in Wales at creucymru.com.

Explore other case studies today at diversity.wearecreative.uk/case-studies.