AXS doubles down on accessible ticketing
AXS has announced a collaboration with Nimbus Disability, the social enterprise company run by disabled people for disabled people.
The introduction of the Access Registration Scheme – powered by the Access Card is set to first launch at The O2 and will then be accepted across all of AXS’ venues, events, and festival partners.
Guests buying accessible tickets online via AXS, The O2 and O2 Priority will be required to enter their Nimbus Access Card ID which details their specific accessibility requirements from wheelchair access to an essential companion.
The new system will give guests a “highly tailored” service offering ticket locations and other access facilities that most accurately meet their requirements, according to a release.
The O2’s Contact Centre will continue to accept calls from guests who have not yet signed up for the Nimbus Access Card scheme, or who need additional support to purchase the seats that best suit their requirements.
“At AXS we are always looking for ways to make the ticketing process even more effective and want it to be as tailored as possible to the needs of our customers,” says Chris Lipscomb, MD AXS UK.
“[This] will mean that guests who need accessible tickets can get their requirements met even more efficiently”
“In Nimbus, we have a company that will work with us to do just that for disabled people and we are very excited to see this new process launch at The O2.”
Sam Oldham, The O2 venue director, adds “Nimbus has an incredible track record and we are very proud to be working with such a trusted organisation. By bringing in the Nimbus & the Access Card Scheme, it will mean that guests who need accessible tickets can get their requirements met even more efficiently, ensuring their journey continues to be as smooth as possible.”
Guests yet to sign up for the Access Registration Scheme will be directed to do so by the AXS and The O2 websites for a registration process.
The award-winning Nimbus Access Card offers disabled people better access to entertainment venues whilst reducing the amount of administration needed to find the right accessible seats.
Martin Austin MBE, managing director of Nimbus and the creator of the Access Card said, “We’re thrilled to expand online booking options for our several hundred thousand Access Card holders. Moving to a self-serve online booking experience for disabled people is a game changer – to not have to sit in phone queues or wait for registration forms to be processed really opens up true equality of access for disabled customers. We’re also dedicated to making sure that those without an Access Card are able to utilise the same system at no cost by operating a free AXS Access Registration Scheme”
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STAR, AiE partner on accessible ticketing guide
The Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) in the UK has published an industry-first guide to accessible ticketing, advising on best practice for selling tickets to disabled and deaf customers.
The guide, Making ticket sales accessible for disabled customers, was commissioned by STAR and written by disability consultancy Nimbus, with input from Attitude is everything. It highlights ways in which ticket agencies can better serve disabled customers, and also addresses the legal and operational considerations around accessible ticketing.
STAR chief executive Jonathan Brown comments: “This guide’s purpose is simple: There needs to be better equal access to online ticketing and organisations need to be considering how they do it, not whether they do it.
“There needs to be better equal access to online ticketing and organisations need to be considering how they do it – not whether they do it”
“STAR has recently run a number of workshops to help increase awareness of this issue. We know that improvements are being made, and there are certainly ticket agents and venues that are currently working towards implementing online booking facilities for disabled people. We look forward to hearing more on these developments later in the year, but there is still much work to be done.”
Penny Mordaunt MP, the UK’s minister of state for disabled people, health and work, adds: “We must do all that we can to offer disabled people a real choice in how and where they spend their time and money. I wholeheartedly welcome the publication of this guide to support ticketing retailers in becoming as accessible as possible, and hope that the whole industry will take the guidance on board.”
The number of deaf and disabled concertgoers rose 26% in 2015. Attitude is Everything CEO Suzanne Bull told IQ earlier this year that there is a growing “international movement towards accessibility”, wherein live music stakeholders are increasingly “expecting disabled people to be in the audience” and making sure their needs are met.
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Steve Ball: NIMBYish London needs new venues
Columbo Group founder Steve Ball, whose latest acquisition, The Barfly in Camden, will reopen as The Camden Assembly next Friday, has said more needs to be done to foster London’s nightlife if the city is to compete with other global music capitals.
Speaking to IQ, Ball poured cold water on previous predictions of a small-venue renaissance in the UK capital, stating unsympathetic local authorities and restrictive licensing laws are putting the kibosh on any true recovery for London’s club scene.
“London is a global city,” he comments. “We’re competing with New York, Ibiza… [but] most local authorities don’t want new venues. New late-night licences aren’t being granted.”
The Columbo Group – whose portfolio also includes The Blues Kitchen chain, Xoyo in Shoreditch, The Old Queen’s Head in Islington and a number of other venues, bars, clubs and restaurants – bought the 420-capacity Jazz Café (which will keep its name) in January and the 200-cap. Barfly in May, both from Live Nation/MAMA.
Despite its turning The Barfly/Camden Assembly into a “completely new venue” (“I’ve seen some grotty buildings in my time but [The Barfly] was by far the grottiest!” he jokes), Ball says he’s concerned about the lack of truly new venues opening in London. “Many ‘new’ venues were already there – they’re old venues under the new management. What London needs is new venues.”
“The way licensing is in London means the decision lies with the boroughs, not with City Hall… When you put licensing at a borough level you get a NIMBYish attitude”
Does Ball see new mayor Sadiq Khan, who has pledged his support for beleaguered superclub Fabric and vowed to make the cultural sector one of the “top priorities” for his mayoralty, as being true to his word? Or are they just empty platitudes?
“It’s not an empty platitude, but it is just rhetoric,” he comments. “The way licensing is in London means the decision lies with the boroughs, not with City Hall – and I’d argue that licensing authorities can often be backwards in their views… When you put licensing at a borough level you get a NIMBYish attitude.”
Ball points to the path taken by cities such as Amsterdam and Berlin, where venues and clubs are frequently given 24-hour licences and dedicated night mayors oversee the cities’ nightlife, as a potential way forward for London.
Khan is currently recruiting a ‘night czar’ for London – but if much of the responsibility for nightlife and licensing is still devolved to the boroughs, what will the successful candidate actually be able to achieve? “That’s a very good question!” laughs Ball.
Still, for all its licensing woes London is still a great city in which to see live music, and Ball is optimistic ahead of the opening of what he calls a “new home for music in London”.
“The young music consumer of today has very broad tastes: they’ll listen to rock, indie, grime, dance… The Assembly is going to be broad in the music it showcases”
Why ‘The Camden Assembly’, IQ wonders? “We wanted a new name – The Barfly conjures up an image of noughties indie, and the young music consumer of today has very broad tastes: they’ll listen to rock, indie, grime, dance…
“The Assembly is going to be broad in the music it showcases.”
Ball says he thinks young people are listening to a wider range of music as a “byproduct of people not purchasing music” and instead streaming it. “Before, you were really invested in something,” he explains, “because you’d bought it. But now, if everyone’s listening to the latest Stormzy record, for example, you can just check it out.”
So the Assembly is a music venue for the streaming generation? [laughs] “I’m stealing that!”
The Camden Assembly will reopen on 16 September with a seven-hour ‘pub rave’ with dance music duo The 2 Bears, followed by Mikeq, Teki Latex, L-Vis 1990 and Rushmore on Saturday 17 September and Soweto Kinch, Andrew Ashong, Binker & Moses and Laura Misch on Sunday 18th.
The venue will also host the International Festival Forum‘s Opening Party on Tuesday 27th September, which features the ITB showcase of emerging artists from the agency’s roster.
Other upcoming highlights include The Horrors’ Farris Badwan on 23 September, Temples on 25 September and a DJ set by The Streets’ Mike Skinner on 25 November.
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