New campaign launched to make festivals more disability friendly

A new campaign has been launched to improve accessibility at British music and arts festivals.

Headed by accessibility campaign group Attitude is Everything, #FestivalsWithoutBarriers has teamed up with the Association of Festival Organisers (AFO), the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) and the British Arts Festival Association (BAFA) to improve the experience of disabled attendees beginning in the 2023 summer festival season.

To do so, the campaign has three calls to action to improve accessibility for both artists, attendees and workers for the participating events, which are:

• 1.Festivals should provide quality access information to attendees at the point where tickets are being sold.
• 2.During the artist booking process, questions about access requirements should be included.
• 3.Make practical changes so that working and volunteering at a festival is more accessible to disabled people.

In order to implement the points, Attitude is Everything will create a new Accessibility Volunteering Guide, as well as publish new guidance on inclusive artist bookings, as well as offer members specialised Disability Equality Training.

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When announcing the campaign, Suzanne Bull MBE, the founder of Attitude is everything said in a statement: “I see this new partnership between Attitude is Everything, AIF, AFO and BAFA as a powerful force in transforming the industry.

“The experiences of disabled people over the 2022 festival season appear to have been quite mixed, especially when it comes to availability of pre-event information, booking accessible tickets and the level of access onsite,” she continued.

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“Working together we will drive through the change necessary to improve access for disabled audiences, artists, employees and volunteers. As a disabled person, I’m looking forward to a stress-free festival season in 2023!”

The AFO, AIF and BAFA have a combined membership of 200 festivals and events, including Boomtown Fair, Love Saves The Day, Lost Village and Boardmasters.

Isaac Muk is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Twitter