A free online conference on Wednesday 24 November from 10.30am-4pm brings together events organisers including Disabled people to talk about the future of inclusive events in the age of Covid-19. The event, using Zoom Webinars, is organised by Together! 2012 CIC as part of the Together! 2021 Disability History Month Festival and hosted by their resident event organisers Dr Ju Gosling FRSA and Robin Surgeoner MBE. Speakers include the Association of Festival Organisers, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, Events Industry Forum, Hackney Carnival, Mahogany Carnival Design and Queer House Party, as well as researchers Dr Adrian Leguina and Dr Richard Misek.

Dr Ju Gosling says: “We believe that despite Covid-19 there is a bright future for the events industry, with a unique opportunity to embed inclusion as we re-organise and move forward in response. No one has all of the answers, but together we can find solutions. The move online has created a wide range of new digital events, often gaining new audiences for established brands, who are now continuing with digital delivery as well. It has also blended live and online delivery properly for the first time. Most importantly, it has extended events beyond geographical boundaries directly into people’s homes. If we work together, this offers Disabled artists, arts workers and audience members a range of new opportunities for the future, regardless of where we live, or our health conditions and caring responsibilities.

The 10th annual Together! Disability History Month Festival is taking place from 11 November to 9 December and will be online for the second year running. The Festival brings together Disabled artists from East London, the UK and beyond for an inclusive audience, with all events being free and having BSL interpretation and live captions. Together! 2012 CIC is based in the main Host Borough of Newham and led by locally based Disabled artists. The Together! 2021 Disability History Month Festival is supported by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Community Fund.

For further details and tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/finding-solutions-together-delivering-inclusive-events-despite-covid-19-tickets-199672775647