Connect, attract, and invite all equally
How to work towards a place that offers access to everyone and in which everyone feels invited to participate fully? How to work towards a place where all inhabitants feel welcome and belong. How should this place, and especially leisure, organize itself. How can it be inclusive, not only in consumption, but also in design? How can leisure re-develop itself and contribute as an instrument to ensure that everyone feels welcome, can participate, can co-design, can meet each other and can identify with and feel connected to each other?
Involve everyone
This is about promoting quality of life – increasing attractiveness – offering equal opportunities – keeping it affordable – providing safety through participation. Designing places and leisure for and with everyone. Leisure is a stage for voices – for enjoyment – for relaxation – for inspiration – for giving meaning – for meeting each other. Involving everyone to design these stages together to get the best fit in design for everyone. No design for the average, but with the margins in head and heart.
Empowerment
Inclusion does justice to diversity. Not by denying differences, polarization, discrimination, or segregation, but by creating opportunities for meetups, discussion, connection, and participation. Leisure plays a significant role in this. Leisure organizations in particular design activities that build bridges. It is precisely in the leisure domain that places emerge where we can meet and get to know others. Culture and sport create opportunities to ’empower’. Theatres, pop venues, restaurants and media provide platforms to give everyone a voice. Leisure activities offer inspiration, relaxation, connection, development, or happiness to varying degrees according to different preferences. And that should be possible for everyone.
Feel welcome
Working towards an inclusive leisure full city means giving space to diversity – variation -differentiation (race, gender, education, etc.), recognizing differences and respectfully discussing them. An inclusive city offers places to meet and facilitates opportunities towards mutual understanding. Places where we feel at home, where we feel welcome. But also places where it can sometimes rub off. Where edges meet each other, Where we get confused, maybe challenged. As long as we continue to offer everyone’s uniqueness in the city a safe and equal stage. An equal power to be.
In this perspective, we search for clues how to work on that inclusive city, inclusive places, inclusive leisure. Without assumptions, with everyone. Through examples from the various cities in which leisure was used as a means, as well as pioneers in the leisure sector in this area, we try to take concrete steps with you on how to achieve this together. The starting point is that we create place to belong for all. The use of experiential expertise is indispensable in these processes. For and by everyone.
Director Buddy to Buddy
Buddy to Buddy matches newcomers who have a refugee background with fellow citizens. Newcomers become familiarised with their new environment and residents get to know their new neighbours.
By getting to know each other and each other’s culture, you not only expand your own world, but also that of others. Everybody can participate! Young, old, solo or as a family. After we match you to a Buddy based on common interests, you will get to know each other over a period of four months.
Initiator Football Memories
“Occasionally I forget something. But not when it comes to football.” ~ Jimmy Calderwood (ex-Willem II)
Collecting football memories together. Football as a connecting factor for older people sharing stories about the old days. Willem II was the first club to start Football Memories in the Netherlands.
Founder BO Diversity
The future of leisure is… inclusive. What is inclusive leisure and what is needed to make a festival truly inclusive? In partnership with Kairos and Drags of Anarchy, BO founded samesame festival which will take place for the first time on May 28th at ‘t Zoet in Breda. A festival where art, music, performance and culture is blended together in an amazing queer inclusive cocktail.
Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (HU)
Student Advisor Inclusion
Experienced Expert
The workshop ‘Inclusion in the leisure sector: next steps’ aims at supporting professionals, students and others in creating an inclusive leisure sector. Although the leisure sector has taken significant steps to make events more accessible and inclusive, much still has to be done to ascertain that activities can be enjoyed by all, regardless of their ability. Participants of this interactive workshop will be given examples of success and of pitfalls of inclusion in the leisure sector. They will be able to discuss insights and experiences and will receive information about the legal requirements of inclusion. The workshop is not only aimed at clients’ experiences, but also brings forward accessibility issues faced by workers, service providers and educational institutes.
Heleen Vermeulen – Managing Director
Elise Jacobs – Marketing & Communicatie Coordinator
Nya Dijkerman – Guide and Audience Office
The muZIEum is not just a museum, but a museum where you experience for a moment what it is like to be blind or visually impaired.
The Personal Encounter is always central: a job for some, an experience for others. In pitch darkness, visitors trust their expert guide and discover what is possible when you can’t see anything. At the same time, our professional develops his talents in a work environment where visual impairment is not an obstacle, but rather an added value.
The Personal Encounter is always central: a job for some, an experience for others. In pitch darkness, visitors trust their expert guide and discover what is possible when you can’t see anything. At the same time, our professional develops his talents in a work environment where visual impairment is not an obstacle, but rather an added value.
