Even though around one in five Australians live with disability, going to or performing at a live gig can still be challenging. 

Venues across the country are facing challenges due to the cost of living crisis, grappling with declining revenue while trying to balance the need for accessibility improvements with reduced budgets.

Despite that, many venues are trying to do what they can even with limited resources. 

Finding easy wins

Lara Whalley is the manager of the Corner Hotel in Melbourne and said the team used significant renovations eight years ago as an opportunity to improve the accessibility of the venue.

"A lot of music venues are in old, quirky buildings, or they're only physically accessible by stairs," she said.

Lara said, as well as looking at the physical barriers they could remove — like installing lifts and making sure steps were ramped — the focus was also on what "easy wins" they could change to make the venue more accessible for everyone.

One simple improvement was ensuring staff have the right training to respond to people's needs respectfully and appropriately.

"Quite often we have younger staff in hospitality roles that are maybe not confident, or maybe not got any kind of lived experience where they are afraid of making a mistake," she said.

"[Or] security staff, because quite often that security person on the front door is the first interaction that somebody has with your venue.

"Like, you might have two people in the toilets and perhaps sometimes those two people are up to no good, but it might just be that somebody actually needs assistance. So being respectful around that."

Another change was the information they provide on their website, which includes details and photos about each area and the services provided, like quiet spaces for those who need a break.

"We get a lot of feedback on our website, like just having the information so that people can plan their journey," Lara said.

Advocates also say that information from venues about what they don't have can be equally useful to people planning a night out.

Technological help

As well as photos, to give people even more information the Corner Hotel and other venues are using virtual tools to allow people to see first-hand the kind of spaces they might interact with.

Another venue using virtual tours is The Station on the Sunshine Coast.

Owner Lauren Hignett said making the multi-use venue as accessible as possible was a personal cause.

"I have a disability and my three children all have disability, so it's sort of uppermost in my mind about what can we do to make the place more accessible," she said.

Lauren said, as well as constantly learning about what other venues and people are doing, The Station has implemented its own accessibility app.

"People can actually get in touch with the venue before coming and plan out their trip, to ask 'Do you offer this?'" she said.

"It's also created a companion website for us where it goes through all different types of accessibility."

As well as a 3D walk-through of the venue and audio guide of the accessibility features, the website provides a sensory guide that describes what people might see, smell, hear and feel at the venue.

"We have a lot of individuals get in touch with us to say, 'This is something I haven't been able to get to before," Lauren said.

Apps aren't the only technology development helping in the space.

Vests fitted with haptic technology, which transmit sounds as vibrations, have been trialled at music festivals and some large-scale gigs.

Lauren said getting haptic vests for The Station was something she was chasing and hoped to make headway on soon.

But for many venues, the tech remains costly and out of reach.

Obstacles

Despite the focus on accessibility at their venues, both Lauren and Lara are mindful that there's still more they and others can be doing.

For example, there are still barriers faced by musicians with a disability that prevent them from literally making it to the stage.  

"They said they didn't want me up on stage because I was a hazard," singer Aimee, an amputee, told ABC iview's Headliners.

Like Aimee, Nathan aka MC Wheels said he'd also missed out on opportunities because of his disability.

Bass player Sarah said it was hard for people to imagine a career in music.

"I've never seen another artist living with disability really make it. It almost feels like you can't be what you can't see," she said.

Headliners sees two bands made up entirely of musicians living with disability, including Aimee, Nathan and Sarah, take the main stage at one of Australia's iconic music festivals — the Mundi Mundi Bash.

The festival installed a ramp for the bands' performances and it has since made permanent for future events.

Lauren said that at The Station there are some outdoor accessible stages, but the main stage wasn't.

She said buying and installing a stage lift is high on the priority list but the cost of doing so makes it impossible.

"For us, it's about making that happen."

Similarly, Lara said they recently discovered how expensive stage lifts were to rent after putting on an inclusive mini-festival.

"There needs to be more support for this because it makes it prohibitive for people to just go, 'Alright, we've got that,'" she said.

"And then also that's the you've got to think about where that fits in the physical space that you're putting it in."

National accessibility plan

Last week, the federal government announced $8.1 million for a new four-year plan to "address barriers for artists, arts workers and audiences with disability".

The funding includes $1.2 million, already announced in this year's budget, specifically for accessibility improvements for live music venues and festivals.

The government's new accessibility plan will also fund a range of programs and initiatives including a pilot employment pathway program, arts and disability services and the creation of a National Arts and Disability Code of Practice or appropriate guidelines.

Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette described the plan as a "significant commitment" and looked forward to being part of delivering the plan.

The Corner Hotel was one of many that received funding in this year's grant program, which it put toward artist fees, infrastructure and accessibility costs.

Stream all episodes of Headliners free on ABC iview or watch Tuesdays 8pm on ABC TV.