Andrew Coats

Andrew Coats is the Creative Director of Beacon Films, a North-East UK organisation supporting Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent (DDN) filmmakers. They provide training, mentoring, and opportunities for screen creatives to develop their skills and build professional careers in film and digital media.

Andrew Coats will be speaking at the Museum Digital Summit 2026 :

Who Gets to Tell the Story? Co-Producing Digital Meaning in Museums

What happens when museum curators and disabled and neurodivergent creatives co-produce digital interpretation? We would like to share the current work at Great North Museum, Hancock, where filmmakers from Beacon Films and museum staff are jointly re-imagining underused spaces and surrounding collections through filmmaking, short-form video and digital art. Together, we are interrogating what stories are missing, what spaces could become, and how lived experience reshapes museum meaning. We will explore practical ways to embed co-production into digital engagement, curatorial practice and organisational culture — creating more inclusive, authentic and resonant digital heritage.