Attitude is Everything launch
Attitude Is Everything, the charity funded by the Arts Council to help promote accessibility for Deaf and disabled people to live music venues, clubs and festivals throughout the UK, have announced significant improvement in access since they launched as a pilot project eight years ago.
To mark this milestone, Attitude Is Everything are holding a launch event on Wednesday July 9th at the AKA Bar in Central London to celebrate the achievements and further spread the word. Headliners are confirmed as The Mules and they are joined by a mix of disabled and non disabled artists including Ally Craig, and Bidgie Reef, with DJ sets from Alan McGee, Queens of Noize, Blaine Harrison from the Mystery Jets, Ad Hoc and Blind Bling. The launch marks a year of activity for Attitude Is Everything with subsequent presence at the Liberty Festival in London and with a major gig set to take place in early 2009.
When Attitude Is Everything launched as a pilot project in 2000, the accessibility of live music venues throughout the UK was disheartening. Despite the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, access was still relatively poor for Deaf and disabled music fans. Attitude Is Everything challenged the status quo with two creations. Their Charter Of Best Practice encourages live venue promoters to publicly show their commitment to improving access and Club Attitude is held in fully accessible venues and features a mix of live performers (both disabled and non-disabled), attracting guest slots from artists including Mystery Jets, Art Brut, Foals, and DJ sets from Stevie Chick and DJ Void.
Their many success stories include working with Festival Republic, signing the majority of AMG venues to the Charter, working with Channelfly to improve the access at The Great Escape and working with Glastonbury. CEO of Festival Republic, Melvin Benn said “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, Lattitude, Reading and Leeds Festivals.”
The importance of the drive toward equal accessibility highlighted by the work of Attitude Is Everything has attracted high profile patrons for the charity, who continue to help raise awareness. Those patrons include respected musician Robert Wyatt, former Creation Records founder and industry figurehead Alan McGee, Blaine Harrison, Mat Fraser and Susan Hedges. Robert Wyatt said of the charity, ‘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!’
Attitude is Everything improves Deaf and disabled people�s access to live music by implementing a Charter of Best Practice in music venues, clubs and festivals across the UK. For more information, please see www.attitudeiseverything.org.uk
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