Making festivals accessible: A report from the Revelland project

Purpose – The Revelland project focused on improving the accessibility of the festival environments and performances to make them more accessible to the Deaf, blind and other disabled attendees.

Design/methodology/approach – The lead author conducted semi-structured interviews with the festival staff concerned with accessibility before and after six participating festivals. During a pilot and then at six festivals in 2024–2025, data were collected using a toolkit comprising an observation form and detailed checklist. Observations focused on user experience and human behaviour, while the checklist covered physical accessibility, signage and accommodations for the physically impaired, blind, Deaf and neurodivergent patrons. Observations were taken at performances that had been adapted to enhance audience accessibility as part of the Revelland project and also at similar performances that had not been enhanced. The checklist was used to look at a wide variety of performance spaces and service areas.

Findings – Barriers to access to all areas of festival operations were enumerated. Accessibility measures were located that removed barriers in information, ticketing, travel support, physical facilities and technological support. Knowledgeable staff were the most important factor in inclusion. Attention to inclusion increased disabled patrons’ sense of belonging.

Practical implications – Festival organisers can improve both physical access to their events and the way that a significant group of patrons perceive their events and feel as attendees.

Originality/value – This is the first in-depth examination of festival accessibility that used the specially developed toolkit, and included comparisons between experiences of “inclusive” and “typical” performances.