About Mind's Eye

About Mind's Eye

Discover more about Mind’s Eye - the UK’s pioneering and award-winning audio description service.

Mind's Eye provides description for drama, opera, ballet, museums and galleries. Online or live, our description engages the listeners and ensures equality of access.

  • Anne Hornsby smiling from ear to ear, holding two of her awards
  • Anne Hornsby with Russian colleague, presenting a Conference on Audio Description in Yekaterinburg

Overview

  • 1992

    Mind’s Eye was established by Anne Hornsby

  • Qualified Describers

    We a have team of highly qualified professionals

  • 2 Major Awards

    From ABP America and the Manchester Theatre Awards, plus nominations from RNIB and Henshaws

  • Providing Audio Description

    For 200 events per year, for over 1,000 blind and partially sighted people

We are a company who believes in delivering a friendly & professional service, providing memorable moments for your customers.

We will:

  • Provide you with hassle-free services which increase accessibility for blind and partially sighted audiences
  • Promote these services through our social media and online platforms
  • Support your staff in offering the best welcome for visually impaired visitors
  • Feed-back afterwards with an ongoing dialogue about how to improve services

We offer:

  • Live and recorded Audio description
  • Live and recorded Audio introductions
  • Live and recorded Visual Arts and Museum Tours
  • Training for Museum and Gallery Staff to enable them to offer visual description
  • Training for Customer facing staff in how best to welcome visually impaired customers

Open up access to your venue or your project by ensuring equality of access for all your customers. Contact Mind’s Eye to help advise you how.

Like this recording? If so, you can also listen to audio description examples on Soundcloud

A listener tries on her headphones to hear the audio description at a performance at The Royal Exchange Theatre

Describing near you

Operating across the UK & Ireland

Mind's Eye offers audio description on a wide geographic basis, as well as for online projects. International events have included working in France, Poland, America and Russia. Wherever you are based, we can help. And if there are no events scheduled near you, contact us and we will support venues nearby to expand their services.

Anne Hornsby and colleagues deliver an audio described tour at Manchester Art Gallery

Bespoke training

For Museums, Galleries & Theatres

Anne Hornsby offers an introduction to visual impairment awareness and audio description, for curators, educators, box office and front of house staff. She is an accredited trainer in audio description for the Audio Description Association.

Anne Hornsby of Mind's Eye, backstage providing audio description for a theatre performance

Anne Hornsby working behind the scenes to provide Audio Description for Les Miserables (Photo by: Vincent Abbey Photography)

Our qualified team, dedicated to your needs

  • Mind's Eye team member Anne Hornsby

    Anne Hornsby

    Drama graduate of Bristol University, & an Arts Marketer, Anne began audio-describing in 1988. Anne established Mind's Eye in 1992. Anne describes around 100 spectacles a year, from Opera to Burlesque, Fine Art to chimpanzees.

  • Mind's Eye team member Jane Ensell

    Jane Ensell

    Jane worked for eight years as an audio describer for Sheffield Theatres, before branching out, with Mind's Eye and Vocaleyes, to describe art and performance across the country. She is always on the look out for the different and the difficult.

  • Mind's Eye team member Pat Hayes

    Pat Hayes

    Pat has been a professional audio describer since 2005, working around the UK. She mainly does theatre work - drama, comedy, thrillers, musical theatre, pantomime, classics. She has also audio described other cultural events, for galleries and short films.

  • Mind's Eye team member Theo Hornsby-Walsh

    Theo Hornsby-Walsh

    Theo has been working in audio description for around five years now. Although his main focus is on theatre, Theo has also described circus shows, TV series, feature films and even boxing matches. He loves his job due to the variety it offers from day to day, and the chance to interact with users of audio-description. He aims to adapt his description to enter into the spirit of each show, with an emphasis on vivid realism in his depiction of characters, movement and action.

  • Mind's Eye team member Chris Berry

    Chris Berry

    Chris has worked with Mind’s Eye since 2005 describing theatre, gallery and museum exhibitions, and conferences and events around the country. Involved in acting and writing for pleasure, Chris likes describing comedy, and particularly enjoys describing thrillers such as Agatha Christie’s works and The Classic Theatre Company productions, as it gives him the opportunity to study professional acting

  • Mind's Eye team member Michael Hurst

    Michael Hurst

    A musician from Liverpool Michael has been describing since 2005 in theatres, museums and galleries across the north-west of England.

  • Mind's Eye team member Faith Florence Agaba

    Faith Florence Agaba

    Faith is a British-Ugandan working in education & refugee support in Liverpool. Since completing training with Mind’s Eye in the spring of 2023, she is thrilled to be providing audio-description at theatres & arts events around the North West. She can also be heard calling women’s regional cricket on livestream for Lancashire.

  • Mind's Eye team member Paula Cookland Burns

    Paula Cookland Burns

    With over 20 years’ experience in theatre, Paula originally trained as an actor for stage, before going on to work in Theatre Front of House teams, Events and Box Offices.

    Paula currently works as a House Manager for a leading regional theatre, alongside freelance Audio Describer work for live theatre. Paula particularly enjoys describing Musical Theatre and is passionate about making theatre accessible for all. Originally from Northern Ireland, she is now based in Yorkshire.

  • Mind's Eye team member Davinia Jokhi

    Davinia Jokhi

    Davinia is currently the Artist Development Producer for Theatre at HOME Manchester and has a long history working in artist development with the Royal Exchange Theatre, Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme and Arts Council England. She trained in audio description with Mind’s Eye and has been providing Audio Description for performance for the last 18 months. Every show is a learning experience.

  • Mind's Eye team member Remy Lloyd

    Remy Lloyd

    Based in the Midlands, Remy has led on Access and Community Outreach at Wolverhampton Grand since 2018, working alongside Mind’s Eye to support with audio described performances and touch tours since then. She trained to become a describer with Mind’s Eye in 2023 and has described a mixture of plays, musicals and pantomimes since then.

  • Mind's Eye team member Maria Major

    Maria Major

    Maria has been describing for Mind's Eye since 2023 and is based in the North West of England. Audio description fits beautifully with her portfolio of work including continuity announcing, theatre marketing and acting.

  • Mind's Eye team member Nicola Williams

    Nicola Williams

    Based in Oxfordshire, Nicola began audio describing for Mind’s Eye in 2023 with her first show being Around the World in 80 Days at Cambridge Arts Theatre. Nicola has been a qualified BSL Interpreter since 2010 and regularly interprets on stage around the UK. She is looking forward to describing more in the future.

Mind’s Eye also works with other professional describers including ...

  • Jane Brambley
  • Julia Grundy
  • Clare Le May
  • Jonathan Nash
  • Sue Reading
  • Margaret Spittles
  • + Members of the New Vic Team

Copyright © mindseyedescription.co.uk

Company Registration Number: 7183672

Thanks to Vincent Abbey Photography

Website by Aly Sebastien

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