A new campaign aiming to improve the access for disabled people at gigs has been lent support by the likes of The Cure, Alt-J, Franz Ferdinand and more.
Music Without Barriers' online campaign wants to encourage more venues to sign up to their Charter of Best Practice, which promotes four key principles - that improving access to live music events doesn't have to be expensive, that it's important deaf and blind gig-goers have access to information before events, that there is a business case for improving access, and finally to dismantle the assumption that all disabled people use wheelchairs.
Over 90 venues and festivals have signed up to the charter, the most recent of which being East London's Village Underground.
Attitude is Everything, the disability charity that is leading the campaign, enlisted their spokesperson Blaine Harrison, the frontman of Mystery Jets, to make a statement on Music Without Barriers. "The work Attitude is Everything do is close to my heart, because I strongly feel that everyone should be able to experience live music," said Harrison.
"Whether it’s watching a friend’s band at a local venue or watching Radiohead from the disabled platform at Glastonbury, gigs should be accessible to everyone. I would like to see more venues taking stock of what they can do to accommodate a more diverse audience.
"It is also really important that as many artists as possible get involved to show their support to this great campaign. The barriers are there to be broken down," added Harrison, who was born with spina bifida.
As well as the aforementioned, other artists who have lent their support to the campaign include Frank Turner, Anna Calvi, Toy, Slow Club, Enter Shikari, Tom Odell, Summer Camp, and Jimi Goodwin.
