Embedding Creative Access In Your Work
With Aarian Mehrabani
Date: Tue 7 July 2026
Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Venue: Lowry Studio 3
Cost: Free to attend with a £5 refundable deposit
About the Workshop
What if access wasn't something you added to a show, but something that helped create it?
More and more artists are using access as a creative tool. Not only opening their work up to wider audiences, but discovering new approaches to storytelling, design and performance in the process.
In this workshop, writer and theatre maker Aarian Mehrabani will explore different approaches to accessibility, from creative captioning and audio description to integrated practices where access becomes part of the artistic language itself. Drawing on examples from his own work, Aarian will share how access influences everything from dramaturgy and stagecraft to audience experience, and how building it into the process from the outset can unlock unexpected creative possibilities.
Drawing on his lived experience as a blind artist, the session will explore a range of access approaches, with a particular focus on work for blind and visually impaired audiences. Together, we'll consider how access can become a creative choice that shapes the artistic experience for everyone in the room.
Who It Is For
This workshop is for anyone working in the performing arts, at any stage of their career. Whether you're a writer, performer, director, producer, designer or technician, the session offers practical insights into how access can inform and strengthen your creative practice. You'll leave with new tools and perspectives to apply to your future work.
No experience or knowledge of access is necessary to participate.
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About Aarian Mehrabani
Part of Developed With 2024-2025 Cohort: Aarian Mehrabani | Lowry
Aarian Mehrabani is a comedian, writer and actor, and Co-Artistic Director of the multi-award winning theatre company FlawBored. He co-wrote the company's debut show, It's a Motherfking Pleasure, which received widespread critical acclaim for its bold approach to disability, accessibility and audience experience.
Alongside his work as a theatre-maker, Aarian advises artists and organisations on creative approahces to accessibility, helping them embed access into the artistic fabric of their work. Drawing on his lived experience as a blind artist, he champions access as a source of creative possibility rather than a final-stage addition.
Aarian is now also a stand-up comedian, currently working on his debut show, How's Your Head? comissioned by Lowry as part of the Developed With programme. Opening at Lowry at the end of July and then heading to Edinburgh Fringe this year.