Surface Area Dance Theatre’s achievement of NPO status will make a unique and substantive difference to arts and culture in the UK. Our distinctive objectives and pioneering working practices are creating important opportunities for D/deaf and hearing artists to develop innovative work and build sustainable careers entering leadership roles in the arts and creative industries. NPO status strengthens SADT ability to bring high quality artistic exploration to audiences and project participants through informed and nuanced approaches which confront barriers and enable D/deaf, disabled, and other marginalised people to access and contribute to the company’s practice. SADT’s distinct creative output – strongly influenced by specific traditions in the visual arts and by Japanese art and culture – allows for aesthetics of difference through expressions of the beauty of human variation. NPO status also increases SADT’s potential to further influence the future of dance as an artform through their innovative investigation of the integration of sound technologies into choreographic experimentation and dance performance practice.