Formidability

Introduction Context FormidAbility was set up in 2019 as a company limited by guarantee number11846854 by two founder Directors, Joanne Roughton-Arnold and Holly Mathieson. The company has developed rapidly with a reputation for high quality and innovative work. The scale of project and ambition has grown alongside increased support and partnerships. With funding and support of Arts Council England, formidAbility has been able to increase capacity and develop as a company, broadening its vision and ambition. Vision Our vision is a sector where it is normal to see disabled people working in all areas of our industry; and where disabled audiences feel welcome and included at all performances. By putting accessibility at the heart of the creative process and giving it artistic life of its own, we enrich the experience of all our artists and all our audiences. Mission We lead by example: engaging a mix of disabled and non-disabled professional artists to create powerful work of the highest calibre that speaks to as wide a demographic as possible, weaving accessibility for our audiences throughout our productions. We will widen perception about, and access to, high quality opera; every audience member will to be able to engage with our work. We will do this by: • Identifying existing barriers through lived experience and consultation and addressing them through practical and wellresourced measures. • Creating engaging work and performances that challenge perceptions about disability through innovative work that raises the profile of disabled artists. • Evaluating our work through reflective, systemised and consistent approaches to inform artistic work and the development of our company; and to create a body of evidence that can inform advocacy and increase impact. Values Equality: We actively uphold and manifest the principles of equality throughout all our creative work, practices and policies Ambition: We hold high artistic and production values: we always create work of artistic integrity within our resources Collaboration: We work with creative partners across genres and sectors; connective collaboration is key to our artistic work A learning environment: We support personal and professional development for all our artists and staff team; we prioritise company learning in all our activities Responsibility for positive change: We model our artistic philosophy, approach and creative practice for other organisations The passionate belief that opera has the capacity to reach many more people if the industry better reflects the diversity of the general public is at the core of the company’s work. Nearly one in four people in the UK identify as disabled, but we don’t see anywhere near that representation on our stages, in creative teams or in opera company governance. We are determined to change this and to bring high quality disability-led creativity into the mainstream. We are working towards a world where it is normal to find talented and highly skilled Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent professionals on stage, in creative teams and in governance of the UK’s opera companies and classical music organisations. As a disability-led organisation, formidAbility falls into Arts Council England’s p ool of priority applicants, giving us access to a Relationship Manager who has been immensely supportive of our company ethos and keen to see our trailblazing work funded. In 2025 we secured a Project Grant of just over £76,000 for activity running from April to October 2025. This has enabled formidAbility to design and implement a sector-leading inclusive and open recruitment process to create our new Affiliate Pool of creatives, performers and production team members. This presents an exciting new opportunity to grow as an organisation and show mainstream arts organisations what can be achieved when barriers are removed for the disabled workforce. This in turn enables us to reach communities underserved by the opera sector, enabling people from the Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent communities to participate more fully in the arts as participants and audiences.