South East London arts venue The Albany has been awarded the Gold Standard for accessibility from Attitude is Everything.
Charity Attitude is Everything works specifically to improve access to live music events for people with disabilities, helping venues identify and implement practical changes.
The organisation stresses the business case for making changes to accommodate a UK cohort of potential customers with an estimated spending power of £80 billion a year. It also produces a biennial survey, the State of Access Report.
Suzanne Bull MBE, chief executive officer of Attitude is Everything, said, "The Albany is the first arts centre to reach the Gold Level of the Charter of Best Practice. It joins an elite set of venues and festivals that have shown a continuous and outstanding commitment towards making live music accessible for deaf and disabled people.
"The Albany is a fantastic example of what can be achieved by community organisations and I congratulate everyone involved; in particular they have published clear access information in a variety of formats and they have shown innovative thinking when it comes to access provision and diversity in programming. Importantly, they have demonstrated that a venue doesn’t have to spend lots of money in order to offer an inclusive environment."
The Albany is one of only six venues to achieve the Gold Standard. The others are Band on the Wall, Brighton Centre, Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Roundhouse, The 02 and The Sage Gateshead.