We are really excited that this January we’ll be partnering with Independent Venue Week - Monday 25th January – Sunday 31st January 2016.
Independent Venue Week is a 7 day celebration of small music venues around the UK and ‘a nod to the people that own, run and work in them, week in, week out.’ Like us at Stay Up Late and Gig Buddies they like to celebrate the diversity of the wonderful smaller-scale live music scene across the UK. This year, they want to make sure that the amazing line-up of gigs is accessible to a diverse audience.
We are asking organisations interested in replicating Gig Buddies to support people with a learning disability to go out and review gigs during the week.
And…the most creative review will win a £40 record voucher at your local independent music store, or £40 to spend on tickets to gigs at a venue participating in Independent Venue Week!
We will be subsidizing tickets for adults with a learning disability to bring an accompanying person for support (thanks to Arts Council for funding this). Many venues may already offer this as it is general good practice for ensuring disability equality, but as this can be difficult for smaller venues we would love everyone to take this opportunity to enable people to enjoy Independent Venue Week.
In Brighton, the venues taking part in IVW are the awesome Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar and The Hope and Ruin. We love these venues because they already offer guest list for a pair of gig buddies for shows they put on.
The practical stuff:
We can refund a ticket for a helper / personal assistant / accompanying person of a disabled customer going to check out a gig during Independent Venue Week, up to the value of £12.
How to get your refund:
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Let us know the gig that you are planning to attend
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Email Madeline a copy or picture of your ticket or receipt – madeline@stayuplate.org
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Let Madeline know your bank details or the address to send a cheque to.
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Let Madeline know the name of the disabled customer, and organization that are in contact with Gig Buddies that you heard about Independent Venue Week through.
After the gig, the audience member with a learning disability should send Stay Up Late a review of the gig. This could be a bit of writing, a video, a recorded interview, a photo, a picture… The most creative one will win the £40 voucher. Check out our guide to doing reviews here.
Send your reviews to Madeline! They will be judged by some of our gig buddies people, and the winner will be announced in February.
Happy gigging!