Tramlines Festival has been officially recognised by Attitude is Everything with a Bronze Award for its work that encourages and enables people with disabilities to enjoy the festival.

The Arts Council supported body, Attitude Is Everything, endorses events and festivals that improve Deaf and disabled peoples’ access to live music, and this award recognises that Tramlines fulfils its Charter of Best Practice in a number of ways.

This includes making free passes available for carers, and the provision of clear and accessible information, disabled toilets and a disabled viewing platform. Tramlines joins festivals such as Leeds Festival, Field Day, T in the Park and Y Not Festival in receiving this award.

Tramlines has also worked closely over the years with Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind (SRSB) which was the festival’s official charity partner in 2015. SRSB has helped Tramlines to keep the website clear and optimised for screen readers.

Timm Cleasby, operations director at Tramlines, said: “Achieving this Bronze Award from Attitude is Everything is a huge step for Tramlines as accessibility is something that our attendees have asked us to improve on in past years. In 2018, we made disabled access a real priority with lots of big changes to our infrastructure.

“These changes really paid off and it’s great to have the recognition from Attitude is Everything. We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy our festival and we will keep pushing to improve further in 2019.”

Tramlines works in conjunction with SRSB and a Sheffield Live Community Radio sight impaired volunteer, to create an annual audio guide to the festival aimed at visually impaired people which is broadcast through the SRSB website and Sheffield Talking News service.

Tramlines has also worked with Under the Stars, a Sheffield-based disability arts organisation. The Stars Band, a group of musicians with a range of learning disabilities who developed their skills at Under the Stars, performed for Tramlines at the Sheffield O2 Academy in 2016.