Attitude is Everything has always been committed to putting disabled people and their lived experiences at the heart of the music industry’s development of access and belonging.
The organisation continues to raise awareness, train and share through their Live Events Access Charter reflecting what disabled music creatives and the music industry event circuit need to progress disability equality and inclusive practices.
Just Ask, a guidance and training programme launched in 2022 by Attitude is Everything, was designed to support live event promoters to actively engage and ask Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent music creatives about their access requirements so they are more readily able to access all that the live circuit has to offer.
Just Ask was designed in response to an earlier survey in 2019 (before the Covid-19 pandemic). It found that a whopping 70% of disabled music creatives were hiding their health conditions and access requirements for fear of creating negative impact on relationships with promoters, venues or festivals.
Last year the No Climate Justice Without Us toolkit was launched to explore ways of including disabled people in live event sustainability.
Developed by Attitude is Everything in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle and A Greener Future, and published with the support of Arts Council England, the toolkit’s development began an exploration of disabled music creatives’ perspectives on access and environmental sustainability at live events and festivals.
The key findings at that time were that:
- sustainability was a consideration for over two thirds of disabled respondents;
- a third of respondents felt that environmental solutions were not easy to navigate and did not meet their access requirements;
Only 22% of respondents felt included and able to participate in events and festivals that aligned with their own climate values.
As a follow on from the publication of the No Climate Justice Without Us toolkit, Attitude is Everything alongside Sarah Pickthall – a coach, consultant and disabled leadership specialist – honed in on the ideas, experiences and values of disabled music creatives around access and climate sustainability through a survey, a set of roundtable discussions and some additional follow up conversations.
The aim of this work is to make those experiences and ideas more central to the climate sustainability debate.
Sarah additionally shaped two international case studies with Lukas Hornby (CAMP) and Kris Yoshie (SLOW LABEL:Earth Pieces) two disabled artists working in music who naturally and strategically are exploring access and sustainability together in their work and practices.
What follows is a reflection on this process surfacing solutions and shaping next steps.