Conferenception takes hold early this year... I had an amazing day at the AFO 2024 Conference last weekend, and it was a real privilege to share some accessibility tips with an assembled cohort of some of the UK event's finest. I got to meet some lovely friends who I've only spoken to online, got to catch up with Fiona and Leksi from BAFA as well as meeting the incredible team from TestFest - a testical cancer charity festival who are doing some amazing things. It really w

We are very excited to annouced that Harry Jones and YISKA are joining *The Very Good Solutions Co consultancy! Already running the amazing Bristol based Accessible Events , Harry joins the consultancy with an impressive portfolio of clients and experience. Working across the live events and festival sector, Harry is a well-established consultant working with a varied roster of projects and partners from Team Love to Diverse UK. YISKA joins the roster as an accessibility expe

Last week I got to stand onstage at Festival Congress - the AIF's annual conference with one of the best brains in accessibility, Alex Covell. NB this is an Alex Covell stan post. Attitude Is Everything were invited to be part of the lightning talk session at this year's AIIF conference (well, Alex was - then she kindly asked me to join her) and it was brilliant to be part of an update around "The Four Ts" in festival access. Overunnning by a considerable margin before we eve

Introducing the first look at The Very Good Solutions Co. roster - click the picture below to learn more about the team. You can view our products and services here

I am working with the incredible Continental Drifts to establish a roster of disabled artists to perform at UK events and festivals. We are currently consulting with a wide range of organisations in shaping the application process, so the roster (and it's processes) are co-designed with the community before we start recruitment. We've recevied some great feedback already from the MU's Disabled Musician Network and Next Stage and Future Leaders programmes. The consulation

The new year is here and we're not wasting any time getting our projects and partners up and running this month. We are pleased to announce: We are working with Julie's Bicycle and Vision 2025 to deliver an ACE funded national pilot with 10 local authorities to test improved (and consistent) licensing standards via the Green Events Code of Practice and Attitude is Everything Charter We are supporting Attitude is Everything with the development of their newly revised Char

Last week was filled with tech talk and donut discussions as I continued to my way around the best of UK events conferences. First up was a trip to the beautiful Bath for the annual National Outdoor Events Association Conference and Awards. It was great to be asked by the lovely Al Turner to fill in as a speaker on events technologies, and equally fun to get to talk about AI, XR environments and how Cheltenham is such a great place to work in this area , being a great spot f

Attitude Is Everything Attitude is Everything HQ, The Round House and Kirby the best boy on Thamelink It was a very busy October which somehow got busier the closer I got to November! Cheltenham Literature Festival , The Showman's Show , Inclusive Music Consortium , ATLAS conference in Austria - these things all happened before I popped down to London for a few days at the end of October to facilitate a strategic planning week for Attitude Is Everything , working towards a ve

Wednesday started wet and drippy and it just got worse. Lucky it was then that I had the pleasure of attending the Showman's Show and my first Youth Music Awards as a trustee. The awards were great. I was a judge this year so had already had a sneak at some of the amazing talent on display. All the performances were brilliant, but special shout out to three time winner (!) Eva and my personal fave of the night Yv Shells. I've not really been to an awards show of that scale be

This month work started between a number of Chetlenham organisations which will see 12 undergraduates auditing the cultural spaces of the town using the Donut Toolkit to create a comprehensive map of accessibility and sustainability provisions in place. The video below provides a short overview of the project aims, schedule and outputs. If you or your business would like to be included in the mapping project - or you would like to know about what is going on in Cheltenham - p

Last week I travelled to Bad Gleichenberg, a beautiful spa town in the Styrian region of Austria, to present a research paper and update on the Donut Toolkit and the infrastructure of change that is building in Cheltenham. It was for the ATLAS conference - a fantastic organisation who have been established in order to: Promote the teaching of tourism, leisure and related subjects. Encourage the exchange of staff and students between member institutions. Promote links betwee

Fantastic news to share in that funding has been approved for a project that will form part of the Net Zero Accelerator programme offered by CheltenhamZero - a project of charity Vision 21 Gloucestershire Ltd. and Cheltenham Borough Council. This project secures some serious benefits in particular for local venues and public spaces involved in a town-wide accessibility and sustainability audit, who will receive an enhanced review of their practice in these areas which will

I've now spent so many hours in meetings trying to explain quite how much is going on in and around our town that I thought it might be a good idea to make something to help show how the culture and tech communities in Cheltenham are working together to progress accessible provisions in music, culture and events. Check out the short video below and have a look at some of projects underway in Cheltenham, as well as the organisations who are involved. Something missing? Let us

Does your organisation need support from the neurodivergent community? Last week I was invited down to Westonbirt Arboretum to deliver a workshop on neurodivergence and nature as part of a series of events run by the Barnwood Trust . These events have drawn together representatives from across the Gloucestershire visitor economy as part of a series designed to build understanding, consistency and community across multiple strands of practice regarding sustainability and acce

Uniting the UN Sustainable Development Goals with Doughnut Economics The Sustainable Development Doughnut We are proud to present a new free-to-use toolkit, the Sustainable Development Doughnut . This toolkit allows any idea or project to be assessed quickly and easily against the UN Sustainable Development Goals using an interpreted doughnut economics perspective. This toolkit is designed to be used by various stakeholders, including individuals, businesses, schools, gover

I was so happy to finally annouce this week that I have been appointed as a trustee at the amazing Youth Music 💜 Youth Music is a charity very close to my heart having been involved in various ways in recent years. I’ve loved getting to know the organisation and it’s mission since I met the wonderful Hannah Crompton in 2019, who (in one short afternoon at University of Gloucestershire ) inspired me to get more involved in their work. It is an exciting time for Youth Music

This month has been a whirlwind, and it’s been great to reveal our first sector-leading partnership: to pilot implementation of the national Green Events Code with local authorities with Vision: 2025 Launched at LAEOG’s Event Production Show, the pilot will provide local authorities with a free-to-use, simple toolkit to assess an event’s community, accessibility and environmental sustainability impacts. Work is already underway, and it’s been great talking about the project

I’m not sure how many businesses start on Twitter, but this one certainly did. Following a semi-thoughtless tweet about a new website I found myself on the local BBC radio station talking about setting up a neurodiverse consultancy that focuses on sustainable and accessible business and events practice. The reality is that I’ve been in business for over a year already, providing independent advice and consultation to organisations around the festival and events sector. I’ve w