In the past 10–15 years, many music festivals have been slowly making concerts more accessible. This has been in part due to dedicated work by groups like Attitude is Everything, Drake Music, Drake Music Scotland, ParaOrchestra, and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, as well as leadership from disabled artists and campaigners. But many traditional festivals, especially those outside of larger cities, are behind in such efforts. If you are a small festival in a mountainous region, who do you learn from?
The Sounds of the Dolomites (I Suoni delle Dolomiti) is a festival based in the Dolomite mountains of north-eastern Italy, surrounding Trento. This year, the organisation is proactively addressing the accessibility of various concerts across the season. I spoke with Selene Setti and Roberto Genovese to learn more about the festival, how it grew, what has driven it to address accessibility, as well as what they learnt in the process.
The festival was founded by artistic directors Paolo Manfrini and Chiara Bassetti in 1995. The desire was to bring music to the Dolomite region and in turn to improve tourism within the province. The festival stands out due to its diversity of genres, as well as the geographical spread of concerts throughout the valleys of the region, bringing music to various rural communities.
In my discussion with Setti and Genovese, I was struck by how the festival is already deeply embedded in its location and community. The concerts are entirely free, and are distributed around the region, meaning geography and price are not a barrier. The interaction with the natural environment is particularly special, Setti enthusing: “Playing Bach in a theatre is one thing, but playing Bach in the Dolomites is completely different.”
With the festival already prioritising embeddedness in the local community, it is not surprising that questions around accessibility for disabled audiences, D/deaf audiences, and others who have issues with mobility, have become an important area of consideration for the festival.
As a festival situated in a mountainous region of Italy, access is already a complex affair – with audiences sometimes needing to climb a hill to a church for a concert, or to traverse a route from one town in one valley to a town in the next valley over.
Setti highlights that, given their circumstances, there are few festivals to look to as direct models when it comes to access. Thus the festival has taken positive small steps, instead of big daring jumps. The Oriente-Occident dance festival in nearby Rovereto has been one important model, with the organisation taking steps to make their dance events more accessible, including utilising tactile audio Subpac systems for D/deaf audiences.
Similar systems will be used for Sounds of the Dolomites, with Setti highlighting the festival’s partnership with accessibility consultants Re-moove, who are able to assist with practical considerations. This includes chaperoning individuals who may need mobility support, and making sure the accessible events are not too remotely located (while retaining genuine connection to the natural world).
When introduced to the festival, I was particularly drawn to the distribution of accessible events. Having personally worked with and advised organisations producing accessible events, one commonly encounters a single event in the middle of a larger programme. Often accessibility is tied to family concerts – forgetting disabled audiences are still disabled after they turn 18. The Sounds of the Dolomites, on the other hand, have an excellent mix of accessible concerts, reflecting the variety and overall tone and identity of the festival. This includes performances from violinist and composer Iva Bittová, Baroque ensemble No String Attached, singer-songwriter Frida Bollani Magoni, and jazz trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso with pianist Julian Oliver Mazzariello.
I was curious to find out what their hopes for the festival were, now they are exploring accessibility more deeply, as well as what lessons had been learnt in the process. When talking about programming I was pleased to see a genuine openness to the potential of more disabled performers taking an active part in the festival in future.
Similarly, when discussing the tactile audio Subpacs, and other ways of making events accessible, at no point did Setti and Genovese give the impression of a tick-box exercise, but were simply open to dialogue and adaptation as needed. This reflects the nature of the festival from its inception. When your annual audience is a mix of dedicated locals and tourists, you cannot afford to just focus on one element only. Both sides of the audience need to be maintained. This means working closely with the local community, as well as being as open and accessible for tourists new to the Dolomite region.
We round off the discussion contemplating how Italian audiences and festivals might respond to their work, given the currently limited work being done in this field. Setti is optimistic, but realistic, stating: “We have to start slowly and build positively. This is the best way to develop as a festival, then we can work more on communication. But we have to start carefully.”
Setti maintains it is an important area of work which needs to be developed. Her feeling is that allowing this work to develop over 3–4 years would be a benefit for other festivals in Italy, allowing them to adapt to the needs of their own localities, regions, and audiences.
Personally, I am optimistic about the festival. Having spent a large amount of my professional life approaching organisations, trying to encourage them to improve their current work for disabled audiences, performers, and composers, I often come across two common problems. The first being an organisation feeling frozen by not knowing how to do everything immediately, or too worried that costs associated with improvements in accessibility would make events financially unviable. The second being the assumption one event will suffice, because measures to improve accessibility supposedly alienate traditional clientele. The result can be an event that feels like a token and disconnected element of a festival.
However, these are not problems for Sounds of the Dolomites. The festival is accepting that these things take time to master. They are aware it is a process, which they will develop and improve as they continue to expand this area of work. As a festival they wish to be accessible to the community they serve, and this genuinely includes disabled audiences. The festival is a broad mix of jazz, folk, popular and classical music, and these musical idioms are reflected in their accessible concerts, meaning a disabled audience member’s experience is not so different from anyone else’s.
For organisations, performers, and festivals wishing to improve accessibility, Sounds of the Dolomites look like a solid model. A demonstration that “slow but positive” can be truly beneficial, and a lesson for others to learn from.
If you are free between August and September and find yourself in Trentino, or are wanting an excuse to visit the valleys and hills of north-eastern Italy, the Sounds of the Dolomites seems like a wonderful festival – a welcoming wealth and variety of music accompanied by the wild sounds of the mountains.
See our complete listings for I Suoni delle Dolomiti 2023.
This article was sponsored by I Suoni delle Dolomiti.
