Venue Description

mac birmingham is a contemporary arts centre and charity, set in Cannon Hill Park. With over a million visitors a year, mac is a fully accessible building providing arts for all, for every age and background. It’s the most visited arts centre in the Midlands. Art is in the fabric of the building, with commissioned pieces throughout that reflect our environment and engage with our audiences. Originally opened in 1962, mac birmingham reopened in May 2010 after extensive refurbishment and is a hub of creativity and learning in the Midlands, offering over 150 creative courses and workshops for children, young people and adults. With four performance auditoria including an outdoor arena, rehearsal and media studios, a cinema, visual art galleries, café and bar, mac birmingham presents a broad range of contemporary work from both emerging and established artists across genres.

Accessibility

mac is fully accessible with level and/or ramped access throughout the building. There are wheelchair accessible lifts to reach all levels. Accessible toilets are located on every level, including a washroom with hoist, shower and changing table. For full details about our accessible facilities and services, please visit www.macbirmingham.co.uk/access.

Accessibility Guide

Accessibility Guide Link: http://macbirmingham.co.uk/access

Access Statement

Access Statement Link: http://macbirmingham.co.uk/access

Accessible Performances

To see a full list of upcoming accessible performances and events, and descriptions of these services, visit our website at www.macbirmingham.co.uk/access. mac strives to make as much of its artistic programme accessible to a wide range of customers, by scheduling events and performances catering for various requirements, as outlined below. We encourage all visiting companies and film distributors to provide signed, captioned and audio described performances, to help their work reach as wide an audience as possible, but the supply of these services is often dependent on the external companies. mac also makes an effort to programme work that celebrates the art of disabled artists and the lives of disabled people, and regularly engages artists with disabilities and companies supporting disabled artists. We also commission work that considers access needs, integrating Makaton, BSL, audio description and sensory stimulus.

Toilets

Accessible unisex toilets are available on every floor, fitted with alarm chords. A toilet with a hoist, changing bed and shower is also available. If you require urgent access to a toilet you can make this known to staff at any time and they will ensure that you are quickly taken to the nearest toilet with discretion and dignity.

Staff

Our friendly staff have had a variety of training, including autism, visual awareness and deaf awareness training. Specially trained access workers are on hand in many of our workshops to support customers with access requirements. With prior arrangement, we are happy to show anyone around who would like to see our performance spaces during a quieter time, to familiarise themselves with areas, ask questions and to resolve any potential concerns they may have in advance of their visit. We will do our best to make reasonable adjustments so everyone can access mac.

Assistance dog facilities

Assistance dog exercise facilities

Situated in Cannon Hill Park, there's plenty of space to exercise your dog right on our doorstep.

Other assistance dog facilities

Assistance dogs are welcome in the public and performance spaces, and mac is happy to provide bowls of water, which are usually outside in the terraced seating area leading to Cannon Hill Park.