There are plenty of great accessible festivals happening this summer. Here are a few to pencil into your diary.
Latitude Festival
– Henham Park, Suffolk, 12-16 July
Latitude has become one of the largest festivals around and returns this year with a packed schedule of top contemporary musical artists as well as comedy, cabaret, film and theatre areas.
British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation is provided for a range of pre-arranged and upon-request performances. The service extends to online information about the festival on the Latitude Festival YouTube channel.
Latitude offers an access scheme that includes the following facilities: wheelchair accessible viewing platform, accessible car parking and drop off pass, free of charge PA ticket, accessible toilet facilities and accessible camping.
MugStock
– Mugdock Country Park, Nr Glasgow, 27-30 July
MugStock is a music festival for all ages and promises music and merriment – in one of Scotland’s most beautiful public spaces – located just 10 miles north of Glasgow.
The festival features a diverse range of music in a variety of indoor and outdoor venues, including a cute 50 seat theatre. MugStock is a small festival with the largest crowd likely to be around a thousand people. Rather than designate special viewing areas they prefer to promote a ‘common decency’ policy wherein the audience looks out for one another. At busier times stewards will provide assistance to anybody requiring help getting a decent view.
Priority parking is available for Blue Badge holders at the (accessible) visitor centre car park, close to all festival events and Mugdock Country Park can loan mobility equipment and wheelchairs free of charge. It is advisable to book this in advance. Accessible toilets are available at the visitor centre.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
– Edinburgh, 3-27 August
Every year thousands of performers take to hundreds of stages all over Edinburgh to present shows for every taste. From big names in the world of entertainment to unknown artists looking for their ‘big break’, the festival caters for everyone and includes theatre, comedy, dance, circus, cabaret, children’s shows, musicals, opera, music, spoken word, exhibitions and events.
The Fringe box office has staff in place to specifically handle access enquiries and ticket bookings. The Access Tickets service is available to anyone who requires specific accessibility information for each venue or extra assistance when at a venue, perhaps with specific seating requirements or wheelchair access.
The service also handles bookings for specific accessibility services such as a hearing loop, audio description headsets, captioning units or seating in relation to the location of a BSL interpreter. Complimentary personal assistant tickets to attend a performance are also available.
Just So Festival
– Rode Hall, Cheshire, 17-19 August
The Just So Festival is an annual weekend-long camping festival for children and their families. The festival provides a magical experience where art, music and literature are embedded and entwined in a beautiful and wondrous landscape. The programme includes a broad range of musical, theatrical, and visual performances, workshops and installations within a safe, natural and magical setting. Families discover and delight in the spectacular within the woodland environment.
Festival organisers are working with both local and national groups to put different options for accessing performances, including BSL, Makaton and captioning. Each stage and performance area is described for access purposes on the festival website.
Bluedot Festival
– Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, 19-22 July
Billed as an intergalactic festival of music, science, arts, culture and the exploration of space, the award-winning festival of discovery takes place at the grounds of deep space observatory, Jodrell Bank. Set against a backdrop of the iconic Lovell Telescope, Bluedot combines music with a ground-breaking programme of live science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks.
The site is divided into three areas. The first is within the grounds of Jodrell Bank and has hard standing pathways throughout. The Main Arena is grass and is generally very fl at, although the land has some small mounds and dips. The third area is the existing arboretum and gardens and has a hard standing main path but some activities will only be accessed via grass.
Visitors with specific access requirements are encouraged to fi ll out the access application form on the website.
Detailed access information about parking, camping, facilities and pre-bookable services such as the two-for-one (PA) ticket scheme (and documentation) are available on the website.
Boomtown
– Matterley Estate, nr Winchester, 9-12 August
The festival has developed along the principles of combining music with theatre, interactive set design, freedom and escapism, to people of all ages and backgrounds and to those who may not have previously experienced the depths and variety of what a festival can achieve.
Boomtown is a greenfi eld site and routes between stages are usually grass. If the ground conditions are muddy, electric wheelchairs will quickly run out of juice so the organisers advise you bring a back-up manual wheelchair that can be pushed if necessary. The Boomtown site has a lot of hills. (GAMA’s ‘buggy route’ is designed to help navigate the steeper slopes around the site.)
The festival runs a free carer/PA ticket scheme for people receiving disability benefi ts. A long and detailed list of FAQs can be found on the festival website.
Reading Festival
– Richfield Avenue, Reading, 24-26 August
Since there’s no Glastonbury Festival this year, the focus will be very much on the already renowned Reading Festival, for fans of rock and indie music.
The festival runs an access scheme designed for disabled people. Once you have purchased your ticket you’ll need to complete and submit an access requirements application outlining your requirements at the event. Along with this, they ask you to provide supporting documentation.
The Access Scheme allows you to apply for: an accessible car parking and drop off pass, wheelchair accessible viewing platform, PA ticket (at no extra charge), accessible toilet facilities and accessible camping.
Leeds Festival
– Bramham Park, Leeds, 24-26 August
This is the (northern) twin festival of the Reading Festival so the line-up of top rock and indie acts will be pretty much identical.
The organisers run the same disabled access scheme as they do for the Reading Festival.
Once you have purchased your ticket you’ll need to complete and submit an access requirements application outlining your requirements at the event. Along with this, they ask you to provide supporting documentation.
The Access Scheme allows you to apply for: an accessible car parking and drop off pass, wheelchair accessible viewing platform, PA ticket (at no extra charge), accessible toilet facilities and accessible camping.
Greenbelt Festival
– Boughton House, Northamptonshire, 24-27 August
Greenbelt is a festival based on the belief that things often kept apart can and should be held together. Things like artistry and activism, spirituality and politics, faith and justice. It is a festival where these things belong together and where all are welcome.
Greenbelt have been working with charity, Attitude Is Everything, since 2011 and have developed a host of best practice policies, including an established inclusive volunteer scheme. Mental health support is provided at The Haven in the Festival Village, and facilities such as British Sign Language interpretation is also standard year-on-year.
The festival has designated the area closest to the Festival Village entrance for disabled camping. (In fact, they have two separate areas for disabled camping – one for tents, and one for caravans, motorhomes and trailer tents.) There is no access by vehicle to the campsites but there will be trolleys and taxi-buggies, as well as volunteers, to help you get your stuff to the campsite from your vehicles.
Bingley Music Live
– Bradford, 31 August and 1-2 September
Now in its 12th year, Bingley Music Live is one of Yorkshire’s most celebrated festivals and will once again host some of the biggest names in contemporary music across two stages.
The Bradford Council-run festival, taking place in Bingley’s Myrtle Park offers an adult changing places toilet, a stage viewing platform and innovative use of dedicated event buddies to give a personal service in event bars and catering.
The festival is held on a Greenfield site and as such there are sections with uneven ground and steep gradients. There is limited Blue Badge parking and a drop-off point as well as a separate entrance for disabled visitors to reduce the queuing time and where PA’s will be issued with a wristband allowing access to the disabled viewing areas. Accessible toilets are available.
More detail on ticketing arrangements and accessible camping can be found on the festival website.
www.bingleymusiclive.com
Heb Celt Festival
-Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, 18-21st July
The combination of wild scenery and one of the best family-friendly festivals in the UK is a great reason for visiting the Isle of Lewis. The festival aims to gather a variety of music around the world as well as the finest Celtic music.
The main arena is greenfield site. There are some paths, and trackway is used to give you smoother access to the viewing area within the main stage but it can be challenging to move around if you’re a wheelchair user or have mobility impairments. Accessible toilets are provided near to the disabled viewing entrance area.
The festival offers disabled ticket holders in receipt of disability benefits one free ticket for a personal assistant.
