Concerts are supposed to be a fun space for everyone. However, for people with disabilities, accessibility of these events often isn't well communicated or executed, leaving people out of the fun.
That's why local braille clothing company Aille Design got involved with this year's Cobblestone Live Music & Arts Festival, happening on July 14th and 15th in Downtown Buffalo. This year's festival includes several accessibility features, including a screen-reader friendly schedule, detailed descriptions of parking and accessibility features, sign language interpreters and a new accessibility hotline.
Founder and CEO Alexa Jovanovic says she started Aille Design when she was in fashion school, in hopes of bringing more awareness to access issues impacting people who are blind or low vision.
"I myself don't identify as having a disability. And Aille design really started because of that lack of disability awareness in the fashion industry," said Jovanovic. "I went to university to study fashion. And in my first couple of years, we had a lot of courses about diversity and inclusion and accessibility, and primarily around the fact that those elements were non existent in fashion. So that's kind of how I became more aware and involved in the community, I really wanted to be a part of that change."
Aille Design's Director of Operations Jake Walsh says that after moving the business to Buffalo last year, they connected with 26 Productions, one of the organizers of Cobblestone, at a vendor market.
"Then a few months ago, when they were started their full fledged, you know, planning for the Cobblestone Live Music and Arts Festival which is also run by 26 Productions, they reached out to us and asked, you know, we've come to know you and you seem to be very tied into the disability community, we're looking to increase our ADA efforts for the festival this year, like, could you help us figure this out, essentially," said Walsh.
Aille Design officially came on as a sponsor of, and helped plan, the accessible features for the festival. Jovanovic and Walsh said part of Aille Design's process for developing their clothing was working very closely with blind and low vision individuals and organizations in a co-design process. For Cobblestone, they were able to adapt their co-design process to planning a festival, working closely with local organizations such as Deaf Access Services (DAS) and Visually Impaired Advancement (VIA).
"We helped them [Cobblestone Live] put out surveys to the community to get feedback on what type of accessibility features were the most important, the ones that we should make sure to have included," said Walsh. "And that led to some really creative ideas that we're implementing this year that we're excited to, you know, be able to talk more about. And this was certainly the biggest kind of presence that ADA focus and features have had with the festival. And it's something that we only want to continue growing in the years to come."
Walsh said through that process, they realized that some of these accessibility features are simple things that just often get overlooked.
"One that I think is really interesting is that for people who might use screen readers, a lot of websites are not always easy for those screen readers to kind of digest and give out, relevant festival information. So, on the actual schedule tab of the website, you have the kind of standard graphic version of the festival lineup, but then there's also a downloadable PDF that you can use, which has all the information for the the bands that are playing and the times that are playing that is screenreader accessible," said Walsh. "So you know, just that little, it's super easy to just add a little document that can be downloaded that provides that additional kind of context for someone who might be using the screen reader."
Jovanovic says that it is important the disability community be involved in any sort of planning for a large event or festival.
"I would say that the co-design process is absolutely crucial to any sort of planning, you want to include everyone who could possibly be attending your event, disability or not. So why not include individuals with disabilities from the very start?" said Jovanovic. "And really just emphasizing never assuming the needs of others, everyone's lived experiences are so unique and different. So it's really important to get that first person kind of feedback on what someone is and isn't looking for. Or if you can only implement so many changes in one year, what should those top priorities be?"
Jovanovic and Walsh, who both identify as non-disabled, said that other festival planners, especially those who are non-disabled, need to know that these aren't difficult changes to make or plan for.
"I didn't talk to too many other festival organizers. But I think that there's kind of this unspoken thought that some people believe taking on this additional responsibility and focus might be a pain or, you know, it's something that they just don't want to spend the time and the money on. But a lot of the solutions that we were able to come up with, are very easy to implement, and very low cost. So it's really it's not a lot of additional work to do these features that can benefit so many people and really make the festival more inclusive," said Walsh.
"Now, the ADA hotline, that's a free Whatsapp group we were able to set up quite easily. Making sure that the viewing areas are staged properly, like, you're going to have the viewing area either way, it's very easy to just make sure that it's in a proper location. You know, there's certain things that are just very easy to do that can have a huge impact. So you know, why not do that?" added Walsh.
The new ADA hotline will allow anyone with a disability to easily reach volunteers through Whatsapp, who Walsh says can assist attendees with getting from one stage to another, finding the restrooms, getting out of the crowd, or any other needs they may have.
Attendees do not have to provide proof of disability to access these services, they only need to visit the ADA line when entering the festival to get a wrist band for themselves and a companion.
For more information on all of Cobblestone Live's accessibility features, visit cobblestonelive.com. For more information on Aille Design, visit ailledesign.com.
