ABOUT US

We are Built For Good Technology Ltd. (BFG), a British tech start-up based in the East Midlands. Our mission is to become the world’s leading provider of innovative accessibility solutions for people who want to enjoy the collective experience of going to the cinema and the theatre.

BFG was co-founded in 2020 by a three collaborators who have been developing technological solutions which improve access to cinemas and theatres since 2015. We met at the National Theatre (NT) in London, combining our understanding of accessibility with our technical expertise to develop the world’s first closed captioning solution for theatre, the ‘smart caption glasses’, which are sill in use at the NT today and at People’s Light theatre in Malvern Pennsylvania.

WatchWord was launched in April 2024, and our latest product WatchWord Live is a theatre captioning solution which has just been installed at the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia, USA and is being trialled in the UK at Chichester Festival Theatre.

With our technology development partners Epicyclism and Atomic, and with the generous support of the UK Cinema Association (UKCA), Innovate UK, and the Institute of Disabilities at Temple University in Philadelphia, we have developed these two closed captioning to increase accessibility for D/deaf, deafened, and hard of hearing cinema and theatre audiences.

Tabitha Allum
Before co-founding Built For Good, Tabitha worked freelance on a wide range of arts and charity projects, supporting organisations with their strategies and fundraising. Between 2005 and 2014, she was the Chief Executive of Stagetext, the charity which provides captioning for arts events. During this time she raised £2.5m in funding to support the organisation and more than doubled the size of the team. Prior to running Stagetext, Tabitha worked for Arts Council England where she had responsibility for supporting arts venues to improve their accessibility.

Tim Middleton
Tim has a background in theatre sound and technical systems, primarily at the National Theatre and as a freelancer. He is a specialist in accessibility systems development for the entertainment sector. He has been writing software for over 20 years, and was responsible for specifying and integrating the NT’s smart caption glasses project between 2016 and 2019. As our Chief Technology Officer, Tim project manages the technical development of WatchWord.

Jonathan Suffolk
Jonathan has spent over 30 years working behind the scenes in technical theatre, formerly the head of sound at Chichester Festival Theatre and the NT, he held responsibility for supporting the provision of access services, and led the smart caption glasses project on behalf of the NT, while Technical Director.

AWARDS

In 2019, we were recipients of the AbilityNet Tech4Good award for Inclusive Design for our work on the Smart Caption Glasses system. Read more here (open a new browser window).

BFG worked with Atomic to develop the WatchWord user interface and in May 2024, we were honoured with a prestigious Global Business Technology award for our collaboration on a groundbreaking AR Smart Glasses product. The award recognises the significant contribution made by the product to accessibility in the entertainment industry. Read more here (opens in a new browser window).