Here, Suzanne Bull, founder of UK live events accessibility charity Attitude is Everything, highlights the need for more events to sign up to the organisation’s #FestivalsWithoutBarriers campaign and make 2023 the most accessible summer yet.
Following the wholesale closures of 2020 and 2021, 2022 has still been a strange and peculiar year for live music. Obviously, it’s brilliant that fans can at last enjoy a return to gigs and festivals, although it’s been difficult to ignore some of the pandemic’s more serious and lingering disruptions – and especially for certain artist and audience demographics.
It’s also easy to forget how quickly events have moved on. Seems remarkable now, but it wasn’t until the end of January [22’] that UK venues were freed from Covid-related restrictions. Meanwhile, according to pan-industry trade body LIVE, in the first three months of the year, a quarter of all UK music events had been cancelled.
For some, these traumas might feel like they’re fading away in the rear-view mirror – and in the interim period, a number of high-profile successes like Glastonbury’s belated 50th birthday or Adele’s triumphant Hyde Park performances, have arguably papered over a few cracks. But many will concede that the pandemic’s ongoing impact for livelihoods and businesses continues to be pretty devastating.
Judging from the feedback collected by Attitude is Everything’s team of mystery shoppers, there definitely appeared to be a mixed picture when it comes to access provision for disabled audiences.
Whether the result of experienced access officers losing their jobs or shortcomings in planning and preparation or simply a lack of understanding in terms of how disabled people feel about returning to live shows, it definitely feels that we’ve taken several steps backwards.
“Aside from the clear legal and moral obligations for event organisers to cater for disabled customers, there is also a strong economic argument to encourage inclusivity”
As you can imagine, for the founder of a charity committed to breaking down access barriers, this was a challenge. In the year before the pandemic, Attitude is Everything was preparing to celebrate our 20th anniversary with a series of initiatives to highlight how far we’d come and how things had improved.
However, while this situation is clearly worrying for millions of disabled music fans, of whom many also bore the brunt of the pandemic, it should also be a huge concern for the live sector at large as it looks to retrench and bounce back amidst these highly uncertain headwinds.
Aside from the clear legal and moral obligations for event organisers to cater for disabled customers, there is also a strong economic argument to encourage inclusivity.
Thanks in part to the work of Attitude is Everything, in the years before the pandemic, the economic spend from disabled people attending live music grew from £3.4m in 2013 to £9.3m in 2019. Even during the height of Covid, our research highlighted a huge demand from the disabled community to return to live events.
In August 2021, 50% of disabled people we surveyed told us they’d feel comfortable attending an indoor live event as long as increased safety measures were in place. 48% said they planning to attend an indoor live event and 55% that they were planning to attend an outdoor event by the end of 2021.
“I’m convinced we can return to the positivity of 2019 and play our part in building a better industry for the future”
For all these reasons, I was delighted that last month Attitude is Everything could announce a new partnership with the Association of Independent Festivals [AIF], the Association of Festival Organisers [AFO], and the British Arts Festival Association [BAFA] that’s looking to reset the agenda between live music and the disabled community and make 2023 the most accessible year yet.
Called #FestivalsWithoutBarriers, it means more than 200 events including the likes of Boardmasters, Boomtown Fair, End of the Road, Cambridge Folk Festival, and the BBC Proms have been issued with a renewed call to commit to three actions:
To provide quality access information to disabled audiences at the point of tickets going on sale by implementing Attitude is Everything’s Access Starts Online guidance.
To integrate questions about access requirements into the artist booking process.
To implement practical changes to make festival workplaces and festival volunteering accessible to disabled people.
Complementing this, we will help support AIF, AFO, and BAFA members to implement these actions through our guidance and publications, as well as offering hands-on and subsidised Disability Equality Training and an opportunity to learn from the experiences of disabled people (whether they are artists, audience members, volunteers, or professionals) including participants on our Future Leaders Programme.
These won’t, of course, amount to a silver bullet that makes everything perfect, but if we can at least recognise and re-evaluate the positive and dynamic contribution made by disabled people to live music, then I’m convinced we can return to the positivity of 2019 and play our part in building a better industry for the future.
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Make 2023 the most accessible year yet
Attitude is Everything founder Suzanne Bull highlights the need for more events to sign up to the charity's #FestivalsWithoutBarriers campaign
30 Jan 2023
Here, Suzanne Bull, founder of UK live events accessibility charity Attitude is Everything, highlights the need for more events to sign up to the organisation’s #FestivalsWithoutBarriers campaign and make 2023 the most accessible summer yet.
Following the wholesale closures of 2020 and 2021, 2022 has still been a strange and peculiar year for live music. Obviously, it’s brilliant that fans can at last enjoy a return to gigs and festivals, although it’s been difficult to ignore some of the pandemic’s more serious and lingering disruptions – and especially for certain artist and audience demographics.
It’s also easy to forget how quickly events have moved on. Seems remarkable now, but it wasn’t until the end of January [22’] that UK venues were freed from Covid-related restrictions. Meanwhile, according to pan-industry trade body LIVE, in the first three months of the year, a quarter of all UK music events had been cancelled.
For some, these traumas might feel like they’re fading away in the rear-view mirror – and in the interim period, a number of high-profile successes like Glastonbury’s belated 50th birthday or Adele’s triumphant Hyde Park performances, have arguably papered over a few cracks. But many will concede that the pandemic’s ongoing impact for livelihoods and businesses continues to be pretty devastating.
Judging from the feedback collected by Attitude is Everything’s team of mystery shoppers, there definitely appeared to be a mixed picture when it comes to access provision for disabled audiences.
Whether the result of experienced access officers losing their jobs or shortcomings in planning and preparation or simply a lack of understanding in terms of how disabled people feel about returning to live shows, it definitely feels that we’ve taken several steps backwards.
As you can imagine, for the founder of a charity committed to breaking down access barriers, this was a challenge. In the year before the pandemic, Attitude is Everything was preparing to celebrate our 20th anniversary with a series of initiatives to highlight how far we’d come and how things had improved.
However, while this situation is clearly worrying for millions of disabled music fans, of whom many also bore the brunt of the pandemic, it should also be a huge concern for the live sector at large as it looks to retrench and bounce back amidst these highly uncertain headwinds.
Aside from the clear legal and moral obligations for event organisers to cater for disabled customers, there is also a strong economic argument to encourage inclusivity.
Thanks in part to the work of Attitude is Everything, in the years before the pandemic, the economic spend from disabled people attending live music grew from £3.4m in 2013 to £9.3m in 2019. Even during the height of Covid, our research highlighted a huge demand from the disabled community to return to live events.
In August 2021, 50% of disabled people we surveyed told us they’d feel comfortable attending an indoor live event as long as increased safety measures were in place. 48% said they planning to attend an indoor live event and 55% that they were planning to attend an outdoor event by the end of 2021.
For all these reasons, I was delighted that last month Attitude is Everything could announce a new partnership with the Association of Independent Festivals [AIF], the Association of Festival Organisers [AFO], and the British Arts Festival Association [BAFA] that’s looking to reset the agenda between live music and the disabled community and make 2023 the most accessible year yet.
Called #FestivalsWithoutBarriers, it means more than 200 events including the likes of Boardmasters, Boomtown Fair, End of the Road, Cambridge Folk Festival, and the BBC Proms have been issued with a renewed call to commit to three actions:
To provide quality access information to disabled audiences at the point of tickets going on sale by implementing Attitude is Everything’s Access Starts Online guidance.
To integrate questions about access requirements into the artist booking process.
To implement practical changes to make festival workplaces and festival volunteering accessible to disabled people.
Complementing this, we will help support AIF, AFO, and BAFA members to implement these actions through our guidance and publications, as well as offering hands-on and subsidised Disability Equality Training and an opportunity to learn from the experiences of disabled people (whether they are artists, audience members, volunteers, or professionals) including participants on our Future Leaders Programme.
These won’t, of course, amount to a silver bullet that makes everything perfect, but if we can at least recognise and re-evaluate the positive and dynamic contribution made by disabled people to live music, then I’m convinced we can return to the positivity of 2019 and play our part in building a better industry for the future.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
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