2025 Annual Status Report
In 2025, the Ontario Arts Council continued to comply with its requirements under the AODA and undertook or advanced several accessibility-related initiatives, as described below:
- Developed the OAC Access Guide, a public resource providing visitors advance information about the OAC office space and amenities, including accessibility features, health and well-being supports, available accommodations, and other access-related considerations
- Collaborated with various organizations from the Deaf and disabled arts community to conduct outreach, capacity-building and knowledge-sharing opportunities
- Partnered with neurodivergent artists to co-develop new tools and resources to strengthen neurodiversity-awareness and accessibility in both client services and workplace practices
- Updated the employee accommodations policy and process to ensure clear, responsive, and equitable support for employees requiring disability-related accommodations.
- Improved feedback channels and developed more streamlined systems for channeling accessibility feedback, enabling better identification and addressing of gaps for continuous improvement across programs and services.
- Maintained dedicated grant programs for Deaf and disabled artists, including Deaf and Disability Arts Projects and Deaf and Disability Arts: Materials for Visual Artists. These programs provide targeted funding to remove barriers and enable Deaf and/or disabled artists to create, present, and participate fully in Ontario’s arts sector.
- Continued to deliver the Accessibility Fund: Project Support to help artists and arts organizations cover accommodation costs such as ASL interpretation, grant-writing support or technological needs.