Creating a festival that centres inclusion and accessibility
We want to grow and deepen our engagement with our audience and have placed focus on improving the accessibility of our programming and our communications. We seek to work with as many communities as possible to make meaningful improvements year on year. Our mission is to welcome everyone to equitably experience the architecture of Dublin through the Open House Festival.
What is Aira?
All Open House Dublin 2022 locations were supported by visual interpreting service Aira. Aira is a live, human-to-human professional assistance service, an accommodation or productivity tool, that enhances independence by delivering on-demand, skilled and reliable visual interpreting.
Aira (pronounced eye-rah) is a service that uses the latest technologies to connect people who would benefit from visual information, with actual humans, highly-trained professionals who provide visual information on demand – describing, reading, explaining, navigating – just about anything, safely and securely.
How can Aira assist you to take part in Open House Dublin?
Aira can assist with digital tasks including booking tickets for tours and events and assisting with website use. It can assist to navigate your surroundings while taking part in tours and events. While Aira Agents go through extensive training on orientation and mobility, Aira Agents are not a replacement for a guide dog or a white cane but rather an additional feed of visual information.
If you would like to join a mailing list to hear about more ISL tours and events that may take place with the Irish Architecture Foundation please contact openhouse@architecturefoundation.ie and ask to be added to the mailing list for future events.
In 2022 we collaborated with the National Gallery of Ireland to offer accessibility awareness training to all our volunteer stewards and tour guides. We will continue to offer this training to all volunteers for future years.
We will strive to improve both our programming and communications year on year. We hope you let us know how we are doing, and what else we should consider to support your participation.
You can contact us at openhouse@architecturefoundation.ie or by phone at +353 (0)1 8747203
The Irish Architecture Foundation’s Audience Development Strategy will result in institutional transformation as well as informing our programme choices.
Download the new IAF Audience Development Strategy (PDF, 590kb)