Attitude is Everything partner with Venues Day 2015

08 October 2015 - Press release

Charity campaigning for improved live music access for Deaf and disabled fans aims to engage with more small venues at the 20th October event
The New Cross Inn and Putney’s Half Moon announced as latest sign-up’s to Attitude’s Charter of Best Practice - joining 100+ venues and festivals around the UK
Attitude is Everything, the charity that campaigns for improved access to live music for millions of Deaf and disabled fans, has been announced as the latest partner for Venues Day 2015.

Taking place at the Ministry of Sound on Tuesday 20th October, the one-day event is focussed on the needs of small and medium scale music venues from across the UK who, alongside representatives from government and the cultural & music industries, will explore how to support the future of the UK’s vital grassroots music circuit.

Having joined the debate at last year’s inaugural event, Attitude is Everything have made great progress in signing a number of small venues to their Charter of Best Practice - with the New Cross Inn and Putney’s Half Moon joining the likes of The Boileroom in Guildford and Manchester’s Band on the Wall in making a public commitment to continually improve their access facilities.

At Venues Day, Attitude is Everything’s Senior Project Manager, Gideon Feldman, will be joining the panel: The Big Issues: Business Up - Be Inspired to explain the benefits of improved access to smaller venues, while Attitude is Everything staff will also be on hand to provide delegates with further information.

In total, more than 100 festivals and venues have now signed up to the Charter, with their 2014 sales of disabled tickets increasing more than 70% year-on-year.

However, as highlighted by this year’s Understanding Small Music Venues report by the Music Venue Trust, there is still significant scope for improvement - with more than a third of the small venues surveyed stating that they had no disabled access.

Suzanne Bull MBE, chief executive Attitude is Everything, said: “Working with smaller venues has become a real priority for Attitude is Everything. These places are the lifeblood of our music communities and it is essential that they can be as inclusive as possible.

“There are a number of cost-effective and easy-to-implement changes that all live music promoters can make - and, as proven by ticket sales at our Charter venues and festivals, attracting greater numbers of disabled fans and disabled artists is not only good for their business, but for British music overall.”  

Beverley Whitrick, strategic director Music Venue Trust, said: “Venues Day 2015 is all about the practical steps that venues can take to strengthen their business and develop their audiences; we're moving on from talking about issues to taking action. Inviting Attitude is Everything to be a partner in the Business Up: Be Inspired strand of the day was an obvious choice and we hope that venue delegates will grab the opportunity to talk to AiE reps throughout the day about how they can encourage wider audiences to their venues.”

Katie Oliver, Events and Programme Manager at the New Cross Inn, said: “With a limited budget and resources, its not always easy to make changes in a small venue but we were surprised at how easy and hassle free it was to take the important steps towards making our venue more accessible. Attitude is Everything gave us a lot of support and helped us work around the limitations we faced. It took us two meetings, a month or so of sign-offs and about £60 to complete our Bronze Award and the response from staff and customers has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Carrie Davies, Venue Manager at The Half Moon, added: “We're very keen to ensure everyone can enjoy live music here at The Half Moon and Attitude is Everything have proved that with a few changes we really can make the experience more enjoyable for all. Gideon has been so helpful and the changes we have made have been so easy. We look forward to working closely with the team in the future.”