The Denver Center for the Performing Arts – Accessible To All Patrons

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is a non-profit organization serving the community through the performing arts. There are eight theatres that make up the performing arts complex.

Buell Theatre
Ellie Caulkins Opera House
Garner Galleria Theatre
Ricketson Theatre
Space Theatre
Stage Theatre
Conservatory Theatre
Jones Theatre
The center has built a reputation as the Rocky Mountain West’s premier producer and presenter of professional theatre. Offering a variety of Broadway tours, Tony Award-winning theatre, intimate cabaret and student performances, patrons can easily choose from an abundant selection of live entertainment.
In addition to delivering top notch entertainment options, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts is strongly committed to ensuring that the performances and venues are accessible to all of its patrons and their abilities. As someone who is passionate about audio, I’m really pleased that they understand how important it is to make sure that the ability to fully hear a theatre performance can make for a more enriching experience. They offer devices for assistive listening at all their performances. For patrons that are deaf they will provide American Sign Language interpretation for select dates. They also provide open captioning for their Broadway touring performances on select dates.
We have been seeing a trend with many of our theatre customers that are using Listen Technologies systems for assistive listening recognizing the opportunity to also use the system for audio description for its patrons. The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is no exception. They have found that there is a lot of interest from their patrons who are blind or have a visual impairment. By hearing a description of what is happening on stage their theatre experience is more fully enriched. At the recent performances of Wicked at the Buell Theatre there were a lot of requests for audio description.
I recently spent time with Jake Bennett, AV Manager at the Buell Theatre and he has implemented a really nice system to help the patron services staff manage their assistive listening and audio description devices. This short video captures Jake’s account of what the Buell Theatre has been experiencing with requests for assistive listening and audio description services as well as how he implemented a system to organize, store and distribute the devices.