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Captioning Awareness Week 2026

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Celebrate Captioning Awareness Week 9-15 November, 2026

Captioning Awareness Week is Stagetext’s annual campaign celebrating the theatres, museums and galleries across the UK that use captions and live subtitles to make the arts accessible for people who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing.

We started with one theatre captioned show, The Duchess of Malfi, in the year 2000. Today, we caption and subtitle around 1,000 arts and culture events every year.

During Captioning Awareness Week (9-15 November), we’re shining a spotlight on all the incredible captioned and live subtitled events happening across the country, celebrating the venues making access a priority, and sharing stories from the people who can finally enjoy live performances without missing a single word.

The Third Seat

This Captioning Awareness Week, we’re launching The Third Seat. Around 1 in 3 people in any audience could be deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, and too often their seat is empty. That’s not because they don’t love theatre, talks or exhibitions. It’s because they can’t follow what’s being said.

The Third Seat is about changing that. We want more venues to offer captions and live subtitles, and more people to know they’re there. Whether you love live events or run a venue, there’s a part for you to play.

Find out how you can save the third seat

Celebrate theatre captions and live subtitles in arts and culture

Captioning Awareness Week celebrates text-based deaf access to arts and culture
The week-long campaign raises awareness of theatre captioning and subtitling and challenges misconceptions around deaf access

We share stories about the positive impact theatre captioning and live subtitling have had on deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people’s lives.

During the week we work together with theatres, arts and heritage venues across the UK to promote accessible theatre shows, talks and tours.
Through Captioning Awareness Week, we encourage arts, culture and heritage venues and organisations to support the 18 million deaf, deafened and hard of hearing adults in the UK and change lives.

For Venues

Register for our webinar

Join Stagetext’s CEO, Melanie Sharpe, Liam Steel, award-winning Theatre Director and Choreographer, and guests from Nimax, Nottingham Playhouse and one of our ambassadors to discuss deaf access.

Deaf Awareness Training

Our team can help your venue or organisation understand deaf audiences and make simple changes that really matter to your deaf, deafened and hard of hearing visitors.

Deaf Awareness Training

Set up a captioned event

As the UK’s leading provider of deaf access through theatre captions, live and digital subtitles, we’re here to help you make that happen for your venue’s performance or event.

Make a booking

For Audiences

Keep in the loop

See a captioned show

Celebrate Captioning Awareness Week by attending one of the many captioned or live subtitled events across the UK during 9-15 November.

List of Captioned Events

Become an Ambassador

Stagetext ambassadors are volunteers who help support our work and are the voice or arts-loving caption and subtitle users across the UK. If that sounds like you, get in touch!

Get involved