Accessible Festivals has revealed a new project to hand out free concert tickets to people with disabilities.
The Dan Grover Memorial Ticket Grant Program offers tickets to the biggest music festivals like Austin City Limits, Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, BottleRock Napa Valley, Rolling Loud NY, Stagecoach, and more.
The project is led by the founder of Accessible Festivals, Austin Whitney. It is motivated by his own encounter as someone who likes attending concerts as a disabled person.
A car accident in 2007 resulted in Houston’s paralyzation from the waist down. After the accident, he dove into depression and anxiety. That same year, he attended the yearly Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California – this helped him adjust to the hardships of someone with disabilities.
“Ultimately, my business life is all about working to improve festivals for people with disabilities and working promoters to reduce their liabilities and improve their businesses for all things ADA [American with Disabilities Act],” Whitney said in an interview with Billboard.
“At the end of the day, the mission of the company is very tied to a social purpose which is making helping people with disabilities find and attend music festivals which can be transformative events.”
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Accessible Festivals’ Grant Name
The project’s name is taken from Dan Grover, an accessibility consultant for the live music industry who spearheaded ADA compliance operations with live music shows such as Electric Forest, Outside Lands, Lockn’, Life is Beautiful, and more.
“Dan dealt with a lot of adversity in his life,” Whitney shared with Billboard.
“One of his colleagues sent me an Excel sheet that he had, where he basically took notes on every concert he went to in his life. He would write down where it was, who the band was and what the venue was. And then his accessibility notes on it, going back to 1979. He absolutely fell in love with it and became an advocate for accessibility within the industry.”
Every included festival has made accessibility one of the events’ priorities, alongside well-constructed ADA Compliance programs coherent with Accessible Festival recommendations.
For further information about Accessible Festivals and the Dan Grover Memorial Ticket Grant Program, click here to visit their website.
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