Suzanne Bull named UK govt ‘champion’ for music

Suzanne Bull MBE, CEO of attitude is everything, has been appointed one of 11 ‘sector champions’ by the British government to help make the UK music industry more inclusive to the disabled.

Bull (pictured) was today named sector champion for music by Penny Mordaunt, the minister of state for disabled people, health and work. Other industries with ‘champions’ include leisure, tourism, advertising, aviation and retail.

Last February, disability charity Attitude is Everything released its third State of Access report, which revealed that fourth-fifths of UK festivals and venues were missing out on the ‘purple pound’ – or spending by the UK’s 11 million deaf and disabled people – by failing to provide sufficient information on accessibility.

“I’ll be making a solid business case for accessibility, and sharing best practice and innovative ideas”

“I’m delighted to be the disability champion for the music industry because I believe that everyone should have the right to enjoy the arts,” says Bull. “Only 3.6m of the UK’s 11m disabled adults attended a live music event last year. Fear of discrimination can deter deaf and disabled people from attending music events, but without their participation change won’t occur.

“I’ll be making a solid business case for accessibility and will be sharing best practice and innovative ideas, many of which don’t only just focus on physical access, and demonstrate that ways of working can be adopted by other industries with a high degree of success.”

In December attitude is everything crowned the winners of its inaugural Outstanding Attitude Awards, which recognise the venues and festivals that have created the most innovative solutions to improve accessibility for disabled and deaf music fans.

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