Everyone’s Invited Including People With Disabilities

With Laura Grunfeld

FINDING JOY IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY

We have had a rude awakening. We’ve been told that our work in the event industry is not essential. Not when it comes right down to it. It is time for us to scale back. It’s not just because of this virus or the next one or even the one after that. There is another much larger crisis breathing hot air down our necks. Climate change. Climate change is advancing upon us more rapidly than we thought it would. We need to change the way we live our lives. We need to shift our priorities. COVID-19 taught us that we are able to make major changes quickly. Now we need to apply this lesson as we respond to climate change.

Before COVID-19, many producers and artists had been working to make their events and tours more sustainable. In an article she wrote for the New Yorker Magazine in February, Amanda Petrusich explores how artists are trying to reduce their carbon footprints. We are not surprised to learn that travel is the biggest culprit. All the recycling, compostable tableware, carpooling, vehicles fueled by french fry grease, and donations to environmental agencies, are simply not enough to offset patrons, staff, artists and equipment flying around the world and driving long distances.

We’ve got to find solutions that make a BIG difference. When it is safe to gather again, I would like to see us hold smaller, locally produced events. Focus on local culture. Showcase locally produced music, food, arts and crafts. Hire local production companies and local staff. Hold events in places where there is enough room to socially distance. Coincidently, reducing travel and bringing fewer people together both fits with our efforts to contain contagious viruses as it helps to combat climate change.

With smaller events there should be lower ticket prices. So many more people are experiencing economic hardship. Nearly one-third of all households in the United States are unable to pay rent or mortgage. Let’s offer low-cost or even no-cost events in hometowns around the world. Provide an affordable respite from everyday worries for patrons, and an event that does not require a sizeable contribution to a carbon offset fund for producers.

In the little town of Sheffield, Massachusetts where I live, population 3,257, I volunteer my time signing, striping, and staffing the accessible parking at the local fair. I’m going to estimate our attendance at 700, give or take a couple of hundred. The event is free and we don’t really keep count as people come and go and come back again over the 5-hour period of time we are open. We are a farming community so there are ribbons given to farm animals and the kids that handle them, there is a pie baking contest, a hay ride, local bands perform, an antique car display, locally made crafts and food, a “Count the M&Ms in the jar contest,” and so forth. I thoroughly enjoy this event. It is not the same as being in a crowd of many thousands moving to the same rhythm, listening to our number one favorite band, but it is another way to experience joy.

You may think an event like the Sheffield Fair sounds boring. I’m saying, look to your local culture and your local audience. Create an event for your community. Let’s learn to love living without making such a huge negative impact on the environment. #LoveLivingSimply.

Postscript: I know this is a departure from my usual topic of accessibility for people with disabilities. This is about sustainability for all.

Everyone’s Invited, LLC, founded by Laura Grunfeld, is winner of the gold level “Best Accessibility Program,” for the 2018 and 2019 IFEA/Haas & Wilkerson Pinnacle Awards. Laura writes a regular column helping producers make their events accessible to people with disabilities. She has worked many festivals across the nation and readers can learn more about her event accessibility consulting, training, and production company at www.EveryonesInvited.com and www.linkedin. com/in/lauragrunfeld. Suggest topics or ask questions by writing to Laura@EveryonesInvited.com. © Laura Grunfeld, Everyone’s Invited, LLC, July 2020.

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