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 was a brilliant day and was great to jump up with Graham Brown to do a quick update on all things Donut and DATE shaped for Vision2025.
Here's a video of my day out in Derby:
It's been a whirlwind start to the year, with my role at Cheltenham Festivals really pushing me into new territory with programming half of a Jazz Festival (!) and launching our brand new Access To Music conference, which is already starting to loom large in the upcoming scope for May...
I'm also looking at how my own research and network is flourising, with recent meetings with a global network of events organisations, several projects involving the European Commission, an upcoming visit to Berklee College of Music in Boston as well a little bit of something new with the world's most famous music festival. I look forward to covering these in due course, but have much more pressing matters ahead.
This week I will be:
Presenting Cheltenham as a case study for the UK Music LGA event (Monday)
Speaking on the AEME panel at AGF's GEI16 Conference (Tuesday)
Presenting at the Events Production Show with Al Turner @ NOEA (Wednesday)
Chairing a panel on Innovation at the Gloucestershire Business Show (Thursday)
Performing at Hootananny in Brixton (also Thursday)
Sitting in a bath of ice and calming down (Fri > Sun)
I'm so excited to talk about the work at Cheltenham Festivals, The University of Gloucestershire and Cheltenham Borough Council at such prestigious events all so close together. It really feels as if something is starting to change, and that this process is starting to snowball in the most wonderful way.
Exciting times!
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