Background Image: Monica Silvestre
Ahead of this year’s TheTicketingBusiness Forum – which is less than two weeks away! – we spoke to Phil Lofthouse, Tech Lead at All In, a new UK arts access scheme for D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people at Arts Council England.
What have you been focused on/working on in the last six months?
Phil Lofthouse: I have been very much focused on introducing All In to the sector!
In November 2023, the All In website went live, giving the creative and cultural sector their first look at the new UK-wide access scheme for D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people.
Led by Arts Council England, the All In team are working closely with Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Wales, and Creative Scotland to introduce an access scheme that will improve the experience of creative and cultural events from booking a ticket to attending on the day.
We are currently developing the first UK accessibility standards for creativity and culture, and we will provide training and support to help the sector meet these standards.
What are your expectations and wishes for 2024?
PL: It may not come as much of a surprise, but my biggest wish for 2024 is that more arts and cultural organisations are able to offer better access and welcome more disabled audience members to their events.
To help achieve this, our big projects for 2024 are developing and testing All In’s accessibility standards, as well as starting work to develop our digital membership system, which will make it easier for disabled people to book tickets and share their access requirements with creative and cultural organisations, who have subscribed to All In.
What’s the next challenge for you and your team?
PL: Our current challenge is to raise awareness of All In and bring the creative and cultural sector on the development journey with us. So far, we’re delighted by the warm reception from the sector, and look forward to updating them further as we move towards our pilot phase at the end of the year.
If you see me at the Ticket Business Forum, feel free to grab me to hear more about this exciting new development for the arts in the UK.
What are you evaluating for future adoption?
PL: All In is procurement central at the moment, as we’re bringing on board our development partners for the various strands of the project.
We’re carrying out evaluation for both digital and offline elements of the project simultaneously. It’s interesting seeing where there’s crossover and we can borrow digital mythologies in an offline context and vice versa. (Spoiler: there’s more crossover than you might think).
What’s exciting in ticketing/entertainment eCommerce right now?
PL: I’m quite excited by the new tech coming online to help improve event accessibility for blind and D/deaf audience members. There is currently a lot of innovation going on around how subtitles and audio descriptions can be served to audience members, which will allow access to be better built into the creative process.
Explore the future of ticketing with Phil Lofthouse and hundreds of industry leaders at #TBF24 at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, from April 16-17. BOOK TODAY.
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