Introduction
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Attitude is Everything began as a pilot project in September 2000 as a response to Deaf and disabled people’s desire for fair treatment at music venues, clubs and festivals. We set out to address an apparent lack of awareness in the music industry of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and its obligations.
We challenged the status quo with two creations. The Attitude is Everything Charter of Best Practice encourages live venue promoters to publicly show their commitment to improving access. Club Attitude is held in fully accessible venues and features a mixture of live performers (both disabled and non disabled), attracting guest slots from artists including Mystery Jets, Foals, Art Brut and DJ sets from Alan McGee, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly and DJ Void.
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Our many successes to date include working with Festival Republic, signing the majority of Academy Music Group’s venues to the Charter and working with Channelfly to improve access at The Great Escape.
“I started to work in partnership with them when they were a small project because they gave me practical solutions to real challenges. Attitude now run an information tent, and recruit Deaf and disabled stewards for Festival Republic events including Glastonbury, Latitude, Reading and Leeds Festivals. I’m so delighted that they are now an independent charity”, Melvin Benn, Festival Republic.
On 1 April 2008 Attitude is Everything became its own registered charity. This change process was generously funded by the Arts Council England.
The Attitude is Everything Charter of Best Practice:
Our groundbreaking Charter of Best Practice has so far attracted the support of music venues, clubs and festivals as varied as Brixton Academy to Big Green Gathering. Charter venues make a commitment to reach the Bronze, Silver and Gold benchmarks of achievement set out for each stage of the award, promising to improve access and raise staff awareness. We provide full support and training to each venue through every stage. Sign up today!
Undercover Reporting… Mystery Shopping:
Our dedicated team of volunteer mystery disabled and Deaf clubbers and gig-goers get their tickets and travel expenses paid and in return, they continually assess the accessibility and overall experience at not only the Charter venues, but also any local music venues, clubs and festivals of their choice. This is vital for identifying each venue’s strengths and areas for improvement. Our mystery shoppers are at the heart of the action.
Enhance Your Skills… Disability Equality Training:
We offer bespoke Disability Equality Training for managers, staff and volunteers. It assists participants to implement the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), to understand how legislation relates to the services they provide for audiences as well as artists and to create a system which enables knowledge to be disseminated to future employees. Our training is
delivered by Deaf and disabled trainers who are passionate about music. Our training features real case studies from our mystery shoppers.
Access all Areas… Access Auditing:
Our service determines which physical or sensory improvements and changes in policy would be most beneficial to both venue and customer. We work with each venue to devise practical strategies to tackle access issues. There are two levels to this service:
- Level 1: we complete an Access Survey, based on mystery shopping reports and verbal recommendations give to the club, venue or festival.
- Level 2: we complete a full Access Audit carried out by an NRAC credited auditor.
After Dark… Club Attitude:
The ethos of our club nights is simple – to hold great club/gig nights at venues with good access and to proactively programme Deaf and disabled artists amongst regular bills of exciting, inventive and groundbreaking music. Club Attitude is funded by the PRS Foundation and Festival Republic.
We creatively experiment with access facilities, developing live sign language interpretation of the lyrics and audio description for those with sensory impairments.
How to Make Disabled Friends & Influence Deaf People… Marketing to Deaf and Disabled Audiences:
We assist the music industry to make their promotional material accessible and available in a range of formats, as well as assisting them to build Deaf and disabled audiences. We also assist venues to market music industry events that are
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accessible and appeal to our user-base and networks. With our help, venues can market themselves in a way that means Deaf and disabled customers can make an informed choice on which events to attend.
Speak up… Representation on Disability Issues:
AiE make regular contributions to industry events and seminars, both presenting the moral and commercial case for improving awareness and accessibility as well as speaking on issues that concern and affect Deaf and disabled people within the music industry.
Previously we have presented at the ILMC (International Live Music Conference), The Events Show at Olympia, Liberty: The Next Stage - Best Festival Practice, and the Events Seminar and Conference, Buckingham Chilterns University.
Securing our future…The Cultural Olympiad and 2012:
Attitude’s work with Independent Street Arts Network (ISAN) and the Liberty Festival means that the company is ready to assist with making the Cultural Oympiad and 2012 inclusive. During 2008 / 09, we will be partnering with ISAN to improve access to 3 large-scale arts events and then writing a “toolkit” that can be used by any small or large-scale festival using greenfield or site-specific areas.
"Music should be enjoyed by everyone who is willing to listen" Jack Osbourne.
"I support Attitude is 100% because they believe what we all believe - Rock 'n' Roll is for everybody. Where's the tune!" Alan McGee, Poptones / Death Disco.
"Nobody should be left out" Steve Hewitt and Brian Molko, Placebo.
"Surely there can be no progress for the human species, unless we mow down the artificial barriers which divide us" Mary Anne Hobbs, Radio One.
"Everyone needs to see the fun!" Mike Skinner, The Streets
I am happy to support Attitude is Everything because physically impaired youngsters should be able to join their aesthetically impaired peers in debauched evenings of binge dancing, where one can witness first hand the bang, wallop, screech, crash, bang, thump, thump of musical entertainment!” Robert Wyatt, AiE Patron
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