PROMOTING EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

The DunsPlayFest organisers are committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive and diverse Festival. We will actively seek opportunities to engage with writers and theatre companies from a range of backgrounds and experiences and to provide a space for a range of voices at the Festival. We will work with our partners and national agencies to promote opportunities for artists and participants from diverse experiences to make a contribution.

​

ACCESS AND INCLUSION

We will continue to work with A Heart for Duns to make the Volunteer Hall as accessible as possible for those with mobility, hearing and/or sight issues and have made an allocation in our budget to contribute to ongoing improvements in access provision. 

 

The Volunteer Hall is fully wheelchair accessible, with disabled toilets.

​

We will provide information about access facilities on our website and in our booking information.

 

Making the DunsPlayFest available online will also improve access for those unable to attend in person, for disability or health reasons.

 

We will encourage the organisations involved with DunsPlayFest to hardwire inclusivity into all their recruitment and other processes.

 

Our Family event is designed to be fully inclusive and accessible to all families as a free event.

​

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CRISIS

The pandemic notwithstanding, this is the number-one issue of our time and DunsPlayFest must concern itself with climate change and consider how to deliver a Festival thoughtfully and with as little damage to the environment as possible. We will seek advice from Creative Carbon Scotland on how to manage this https://www.creativecarbonscotland.com/ 

 

We are committed to reducing use of paper and single use plastic (especially plastic bottles) whenever we can, and we will use social media for the bulk of our advertising.

 

Transport, especially sustainable transport choice, is a major issue in rural communities and we will seek to arrange bus travel with local charity Berwickshire Wheels to ensure that as many people as possible can attend the festival without using their cars. Local people in Duns will be encouraged to walk or cycle to the Festival. Where possible we will advocate car sharing, eg for Artists/audiences travelling from further afield.

 

Our plans are to decorate the Hall in a sustainable way and will work with local business Borders Eco Flowers - providers of fresh, seasonal flowers, grown organically in Berwickshire – who will help to adorn the hall as part of their mission to alert people to the wonders of flowers which have been grown not flown.

 

Young people’s voices are central to the climate debate, and at least one of the children’s plays that we stage will be focused on the environmental crisis.