Access Culture is an Indigo Share: Hot Topic in collaboration with All In, sponsored by pointOne.
The research ran from December 2024 - January 2025, consisting of a survey sent out by 85 UK based cultural organisations.
Access Culture aims to provide creative and cultural organisations with the audience and visitor insight needed to create truly inclusive experiences.
Key findings from Access Culture:
Finding information - Disabled visitors are far more likely to check accessibility in advance, yet 71% struggle to find clear information, often due to unclear websites and missing details.
Booking tickets - Disabled visitors are nine times more likely to struggle with online booking, with most unable to fully communicate their access needs, leading to frustration and exclusion.
Physical accessibility – Seating availability, transport, and physical access remain the biggest barriers, but social, financial, and sensory factors also play a key role in attendance.
Confidence in attending – Confidence is a major barrier, with 39% of disabled visitors unsure their needs will be met, and 38% missing cultural events due to accessibility uncertainty.
Technology use – While technology is widely used, disabled visitors are more likely to use digital tools like mobile ordering and QR codes but may also face challenges with them.
Indigo CEO Katy Raines says:
"Access Culture aims to explore the experiences of disabled audiences engaging with cultural venues across the UK, to support venues in identifying areas for improvement and creating more welcoming spaces for all.
Whilst our findings show that our sector has led the way for inclusion and accessibility in many areas, they have also uncovered some stark and interesting truths about the availability of culture to disabled people and those with access requirements in the UK.
The findings also present a more nuanced picture of inclusion than we expected. Access initiatives such as captioning and in-venue technology are welcomed by many non-disabled as well as disabled audiences; and young people in particular have greater access requirements than perhaps we anticipated.
We have been able to build up this picture by working with the 85 cultural organisations who shared the survey with their audiences and took the time to ensure that record numbers of disabled people were included. We are also so grateful for the support of our sponsors pointOne EPOS, whose funding has enabled us to offer it free to organisations in the UK, and to the team at All In for their help and advice in the survey design and methodology."