In Italy, a significant share of the population lives with serious visual impairment, and the numbers grow considerably with age. For many of these people, a theatre visit means missing everything that happens on stage without being said out loud: an actor's expression, a costume, a piece of choreography.
Culture and access to it matter for wellbeing, connection and personal growth just as much as for anyone else, yet performances built entirely around sight leave blind and visually impaired audiences on the outside of an experience everyone else in the room is sharing.
The project
"Cultura No Limits" provides live audio description for theatrical performances, prose, musicals, ballet and beyond, filling in what would otherwise go unsaid: expressions, movement, costumes, the visual texture of the stage. The result is full, real-time access to the performance, delivered by trained volunteers, so blind and visually impaired audience members can follow the show as it unfolds, alongside everyone else.
Beyond the theatre itself, the project builds a genuinely shared cultural life: reducing stigma, encouraging integration, and giving volunteers a concrete, valued role in making culture available to people who would otherwise be excluded from it.
Who the project is for
The project's beneficiaries are blind and visually impaired people across Italy, hundreds of thousands in total, along with the family members, friends and companions who often attend performances alongside them.
Project name: CULTURA NO LIMITS
Proposing organisation: CENTRO DIEGO FABBRI ETS
Area of intervention: Environment & Sustainable Communities
Country: Italy