Australia and China’s Approaches to Understanding Event Accessibility

Accessibility at events has been increasingly in the spotlight as events are key areas of leisure and social connection for much of modern society. Event managers are critical gatekeepers in implementing accessibility measures, but their perspectives have not often been explored. These perspectives are important to understanding the motivations that push event managers to enhance accessibility and the barriers that prevent such practices; they form an integral part of the accessibility landscape that enables or dissuades potential attendees from participating in events. Therefore, this study explored the rationale behind event managers’ decisions for event accessibility through the lens of social dominance. Interviews with 20 event managers in Australia and China revealed that despite the array of measures undertaken to make events accessible to as broad an audience as possible, social dominance heavily influenced the concerns raised regarding accessibility measures. However, hierarchies could also be challenged through personal experiences and initiatives.