Case study

Review of DaDa IT infrastructure, staffing and roles

DaDa - Disability & Deaf Arts, is a innovative disability arts organisation based in the North West, formally known as NWDAF, it continues to be a cutting edge Disability and Deaf Arts Agency, not only from its base in Liverpool, but also across the northwest region of England, and nationally and internationally. It has been delivering Disability arts projects since it was first founded as Arts Integrated Merseyside or AIM [part of the Shape network] in 1984.

DaDa was successfully awarded a 2 year program of direct financial support from

Amb:IT:ion, the digital development project supported by Arts Council England.  Amb:IT:ion is a change programme for the arts and cultural sector – helping organisations achieve their 21st century sustainability ambitions through implementing integrated IT and digital developments.  As part of the Amb:IT:ion project, DaDa was assigned Beth Aplin of Aplin Consulting an Arts Consultant.

Beth initially met with all DaDa staff and reviewed the organisation and its future plans.  Beth was able to bring prior knowledge of the issues surround disability organisations from her work on the See a Voice project.  This allowed Beth to address the issues with sensitivity, intelligence and eagerness.

DaDa had been going through a significant period of change, and Beth enabled the organisation to revisit its targets, dramatically update its IT infrastructure and reconsider its staffing structure and roles.

Ruth Gould - CEO of DaDa believes Beth enabled DaDa to fully identify its needs, to promote blue sky thinking and to ensure that DaDa had maximised its funding opportunity.  Beth encouraged Ruth to identify areas that would not have previously have been considered, and Ruth credits Beth with assisting her to grow her confidence as CEO of DaDa.

DaDa has recently been awarded Liverpool’s prestigious Cultural driver status.