Basic and advanced training for working with classic audio description in theatre
Information /// Content /// Costs
Speakers /// Accessibility /// Travel
Create accessible culture with classic audio description! In our basic training course, you will learn the basics of audio description step by step. You will acquire practical knowledge to write your first descriptions for blind and visually impaired people and to design and implement accompanying services.
After successfully completing the basic training, the advanced training offers you the opportunity to work as a team of sighted, blind and visually impaired people to create a complete audio description for your own ongoing theatre production. At the end of the training, you will be able to create audio descriptions independently as part of a team and to design and implement all the associated components. You will be accompanied throughout by instructors with many years of experience in audio description.
More about the advanced training course here.
Information
Target group: max. 6 blind and visually impaired persons and 12 sighted persons (professional theatre practitioners, especially theatre employees, but also freelancers and students)
Speakers: Matthias Huber, Rose Jokic, Beatrix Hermens
Scope and dates of the basic training course
Part 1
Sat, 21 March 2026 | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sun, 22 March 2026 | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Part 2
Sat, 25 April 2026 | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sun, 26 April 2026 | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Part 3
Fri, 12 June 2026 | 2–8 p.m.
Sat, 13 June 2026 | 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Sun, 14 June 2026 | 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Location: Un-Label Studio
Language: Spoken German
Content
The basic training course offers a comprehensive introduction to creating classic audio descriptions for theatre and all the associated components over a total of seven days.
To start with, Matthias Huber and Rose Jokic will work with you to highlight the needs of blind and visually impaired people in the cultural sector. What are the barriers to accessing theatres? How do blind and visually impaired people find out about what’s on offer, and how can cultural organisations effectively reach their target audience? The course also covers cost planning for audio description and the processes involved in creating audio descriptions.
In practical writing workshops during the first two blocks, participants will create audio descriptions for short scenes and design accessible introductions and tactile stage tours. Genre specifics will also be addressed.
In the third block, Beatrix Hermens will use exercises and another writing workshop to teach techniques for narrating audio description. Differences between intro texts and audio flyers will be presented, and all three speakers will jointly round off the basic qualification.
At the end of the basic training course, you will have acquired extensive theoretical and practical knowledge of classic audio description as well as numerous practical experiences of your own. You will have described and narrated your own short scenes, you will be familiar with the materials required for audio description, you will be able to estimate the time and cost involved, you will be able to design and implement introductions and tactile stage tours, and you will be able to create your own audio flyers and other accompanying materials.
Information and costs
General
The basic training course is open to anyone interested, even those without prior knowledge. It can be booked in combination with the advanced training course or individually.
Feel free to register as a team of three consisting of one blind or visually impaired person and two sighted persons from an institution or production company and refer to each other. As a team, you will receive a 20% discount. Individual registrations are also possible.
Blind and visually impaired participants
Participation in the basic training course is free of charge for blind and visually impaired persons with no prior knowledge of audio description.
Blind and visually impaired persons with extensive prior knowledge of audio description will receive an expense allowance for their participation in the basic qualification course by arrangement.
If you are interested, please contact: Charlott Dahmen beratung@un-label.eu, Tel. +49 (221) – 5501544
Contribution towards expenses for the basic qualification (for all modules):
- For sighted individuals based on self-assessment:
€270 + advance booking fee (e.g. students, freelance artists)
€445 + advance booking fee (e.g. employees of independent ensembles)
€610 + advance booking fee (e.g. employees of large cultural institutions) - For blind or visually impaired individuals: free of charge
Are you already part of a team and know that you want to realise your own audio description project? Then book the advanced training course directly with the basic training course and secure a 20% discount for both training courses. More information about the advanced training course can be found here.
Don’t have a team yet? Then you have the opportunity to find a team through the basic training course. Feel free to contact us for more information.
Speakers
Matthias Huber
Matthias Huber, who is sighted, is a freelance director, dramaturge and author of audio descriptions. In 2013, he established an AD team at Schauspiel Leipzig and initiated a tactile guidance system at the theatre. Since 2018, he has been working throughout Germany for various theatres, festivals and theatre groups, always in a team of blind and sighted authors. In 2021, he was part of the disability-led performance ‘(We don’t) [kehr]’ by and with Jana Zöll/Steven Solbrig at Un-Label, and in 2023 he was editorially responsible for the accessibility pages of ‘theaterübersetzen.de’, a website of the International Theatre Institute, Centre Germany (ITI). Matthias Huber is a board member of the Association for the Promotion of Leipzig OFF Theatre (LOFFT) and a member of Hörfilm e.V., the association of German film describers.
Rose Jokic
Rose Jokic, BA in Social Work, has been working in the field of accessibility for many years. In workshops and specialist articles, she shares her knowledge on digital accessibility on websites, social media and learning platforms, and on audio description. She teaches social work at Cologne University of Applied Sciences, among other places, and is committed to inclusion in various areas. She contributes to descriptions of plays, films, series and operas by discussing, correcting and rewriting the visual material together with sighted colleagues, preparing it in such a way that it can also be understood by people who cannot see. As part of her work as an inclusive media educator, she teaches children and adults how to describe videos as a team and incorporate these descriptions into the audio track.
Beatrix Hermens
Beatrix Hermens began working as a copywriter and presenter for radio and television in the early 1990s. She was the station voice for MDR KULTUR for over 20 years and is currently the station voice for SR KULTUR. She also voices programmes for ZDF (‘37°C’/‘TERRA X’), arte (‘arte:re’/‘TWIST’) and Das Erste. Several audiobooks featuring her as a voice artist have been released by Diogenes and Random House Audio, and Beatrix Hermens has also been working in the field of audio description for over 10 years. She writes and narrates audio descriptions for plays and performances, films and television programmes, develops ‘touch tours’ and is always looking for new ways to make theatre accessible to blind and visually impaired people. Beatrix Hermens is a member of ‘Hörfilm e.V.’, the association of German-speaking film describers, and lives in Leipzig.
Accessibility
All event rooms are wheelchair accessible. Assistance dogs are welcome.
If required, we can provide work assistance or mobility assistance on site. Please be sure to indicate this when registering.
Further information
Address: Un-Label Studio | Hosterstr. 1-5 | 50825 Cologne-Neuehrenfeld
The Lenauplatz stop (barrier-free) on KVB line 5 (Dom / Hbf – Ossendorf) is located in the immediate vicinity of the building at Hosterstraße 1-5.
Departure times (KVB)
For questions and further information:
Charlott Dahmen
beratung@un-label.eu
Tel. +49 (221) – 5501544
The continuing education and training programme is made possible by the Access Maker – Innovationshub project.
