Photo: Simply Emma
Accessible Festivals has introduced a new project to distribute free concert tickets to people with disabilities.
The Dan Grover Memorial Ticket Grant Program gives tickets to the most prominent music festivals such as Austin City Limits, Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, BottleRock Napa Valley, Rolling Loud NY, Stagecoach, and more.
The project is led by Accessible Festivals founder Austin Whitney. It is motivated by his own encounter as a person with a disability who enjoys going to concerts.
A car accident in 2007 left Houston paralyzed from the waist down. After the accident, he fell into depression and anxiety. That same year, he attended the annual Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, which assisted his adjustment to his disability.
“Ultimately, my business life is all about working to improve festivals for people with disabilities and working promoters to reduce their liabilities and improve their businesses for all things ADA [American with Disabilities Act],” Whitney said in an interview with Billboard.
“At the end of the day, the mission of the company is very tied to a social purpose which is making helping people with disabilities find and attend music festivals which can be transformative events.”
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Accessible Festivals: A Cause
The project’s name is taken from Dan Grover, an accessibility consultant for the live music industry who spearheaded ADA compliance operations with live music shows such as Electric Forest, Outside Lands, Lockn’, Life is Beautiful, and more.
“Dan dealt with a lot of adversity in his life,” Whitney shared with Billboard.
“One of his colleagues sent me an Excel sheet that he had, where he basically took notes on every concert he went to in his life. He would write down where it was, who the band was and what the venue was. And then his accessibility notes on it, going back to 1979. He absolutely fell in love with it and became an advocate for accessibility within the industry.”
Every included festival has made accessibility one of the events’ priorities, alongside well-constructed ADA Compliance programs coherent with Accessible Festival recommendations.
For further information about Accessible Festivals and the Dan Grover Memorial Ticket Grant Program, click here to visit their website.
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