Shaw Festival Partners With Wavefront Centre to Expand Assistive Listening Accessibility

Through a partnership with Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility, the Shaw Festival is introducing a new hybrid assistive listening system that combines Wi-Fi + Bluetooth and Auracast technologies, giving patrons more ways to connect to performances using the hearing technology they already own. By offering both solutions, the Shaw Festival can support a broader range of compatible hearing aids, cochlear implants, earbuds and headphones. Together, these complementary technologies provide greater accessibility today while preparing for the future of assistive listening.

Supported through Wavefront Centre and made possible thanks to The Slaight Family Foundation's 2024 gift establishing the National Disability Initiative, the project reflects the Shaw Festival's ongoing commitment to creating welcoming, inclusive and accessible theatre experiences.

Beginning with its spectacular holiday production of Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella opening on November 20, The Shaw will start piloting Wavefront Centre's technology to complement its existing accessibility offerings by giving patrons another flexible way to experience performances with clearer, more personalized sound.

The Shaw Festival joins a growing network of Canadian performing arts venues partnering with Wavefront Centre to advance communication accessibility, demonstrating how accessibility and artistic excellence can go hand in hand while creating a model for theatres across the country.