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