Live music is a significant part of Victoria’s culture – and Music Victoria has identified an opportunity to help music venues increase the accessibility of their spaces. With support from City of Melbourne and City of Yarra, Music Victoria led the Accessible Music Venues project, to assist venues to build their knowledge and identify ways to improve their onsite and online accessibility.
The live music industry has an estimated $3.5B value and contributes to Melbourne’s thriving night-time economy. State government has also “placed creativity at the heart of Victoria’s recovery and prosperity”. Working with access consultants and advisors Morwenna Collett, Amanda Lawrie-Jones and Olivia Muscat, the project assessed the online and on-site accessibility of live music venues across these precincts, with the goal of helping venues identify areas for improvement and investment.
The project’s ultimate goal was to provide Deaf and Disabled audiences, artists and staff more equitable access to Melbourne’s live music industry. The project worked with 31 City of Melbourne and City of Yarra music venues online and 7 venues on-site, the project provided specialised training and recommendations to each participant.
This project helped venues identify:
The project emphasises that "access starts online", advocating for digital accessibility as well as physical. By focusing on ‘achievable accessibility’, this project aimed to demonstrate that solutions to access barriers exist and many can be implemented with budget, heritage or building constraints.
