Here at BOP, we like to learn. We are increasingly finding ways to undertake research in order to formalise our learning and its outcomes. This is so that we and others can benefit from our successes — and our failures! Our research practice has developed in part from our approach to evaluation, which has always centred on taking learning forward to develop and improve what we do.
This page is currently in development. In the meantime, you might be interested to explore some of our research activity past, present and future.
Current Research
In 2024, we are embarking on an exciting AHRC-funded research project in collaboration with Paul Sermon and his team at Brighton University, and partners CRIPtic Arts and Disability Arts Online. Telepresence Stage offers conceptual and technical solutions to break free of the isolating constraints of working remotely in spaces such as Zoom and provides an altogether new platform, where the experience of online connection is heightened and re-envisioned through the superimposition of our bodies in virtual spaces. BOP will be researching the opportunities for and impacts on creative practice and exploration when this technology is applied while working with disabled artists in remote locations or isolated settings.
Our ongoing research project Locked World continues to explore the landscape of access in the digital world and highlights a collection of brand new artist commissions.
Past Research
Visit our House Lights Up! webpage to find out about our research into relaxed performance for neurodivergent audiences in Scotland. The House Lights Up! report was launched in May 2023 at a sector gathering hosted by Edinburgh International Festival at their base The Hub. The research was undertaken during a hiatus in production of Access Scottish Theatre due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learn about our shortlisted research in collaboration with Dundee University for the highly competitive fund COLLABORATE from Centre for Cultural Value.
You can read a BOP shared learning case study, Birds of Paradise Theatre Company – personalised access statements, on Culture Hive.