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Armagh’s ‘Home of Entertainment’ Achieves Impact Award Reaccreditation

The Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre has recently achieved Autism NI’s Impact Award for another three years, demonstrating their ongoing commitment to inclusion for autistic and neurodivergent customers and employees.

The cultural and entertainment hub in Armagh achieved their initial Award in 2020, and recently completed their reaccreditation, to continue their commitment to inclusive services for all.

Autism NI’s Director of Development, Christine Kearney said “We are delighted that The Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre has completed their Impact Award reaccreditation. The training and step-by-step support provided helps organisations to create meaningful and lasting change for autistic people who use the service.

By achieving the Award and continuing their journey of inclusion with us, The Market Place Theatre clearly demonstrates their ongoing dedication to creating an inclusive environment for all customers and employees. It is fantastic to work with Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council to help them play their part in building an inclusive society.”

The Market Place Theatre’s Marketing & Customer Service Manager, Lynn Crooks said “We are delighted to achieve the Impact Award reaccreditation and be able to continue offering an accessible service for autistic people across our Council Borough and beyond.

Our staff want to ensure that all visitors can have a positive and welcoming experience, and the Impact Award training has really built their confidence to provide this. We offer a range of different supports for autistic and neurodivergent customers, including relaxed performances and autism friendly screenings across our programmes, the introduction of sensory packs, pre visit information, and a quiet room available to support people to engage in their visit in the way that works best for them.’

Autism NI work alongside autistic people and their families, and build partnerships that champion better understanding, accessibility, and services for our autism community. The Impact Award is available for a range of organisations, to build their inclusive approach for clients, customers and employees.

A visual story designed for visitors to The Market Place Theatre to help prepare you if you are curious or anxious about your visit, is available here: Generic Visual Story 2021

Should you have any comments or suggestions on our support to individuals with Autism and their families, please do not hesitate to contact us at feedback@marketplacearmagh.com

Sculptors at Work: Photographs by Anne-Katrin Purkiss

Sculptors at Work: Photographs by Anne-Katrin Purkiss

F.E. McWilliam Gallery until Autumn 2021

 

When Anne-Katrin Purkiss photographed F.E. McWilliam in London in 1989, neither could have envisaged that, more than 30 years later, the image would hang in a museum dedicated to the sculptor in his birthplace, Banbridge, County Down. In the years since that serendipitous meeting, Anne-Katrin Purkiss has photographed dozens of sculptors, often in their studios.

Sculptors at Work includes a selection of 40 of these portraits. Some, like McWilliam’s friend Elisabeth Frink, are engaged in the physical act of making. Others, including Irish artist Eva Rothschild, appear to wait patiently for the process to be over so that they can get back to work. The artists included represent the diversity of contemporary sculpture, which is no longer limited by materials, permanence, gender or ethnicity.  A selection of work by artists including Frink, Kenneth Armitage, Tim Shaw, Geoffrey Clarke and Rana Begum, loaned by public and private collections, will be exhibited alongside the portraits reminding us that the origins of these images are in the act of making.