Netherlands
Marianne Dijkshoorn
ESNS: 2023
Welkom Toegankelijkheid & Evenementen
Marianne Dijkshoorn unwittingly made the first accessible festival in the Netherlands a reality in 2008, because she was unable to attend that festival due to her disability. She has difficulty walking. She started her own consultancy (Welkom Toegankelijkheid & Evenementen) in 2014 and advises event venues and festival organisers about hospitality and accessibility for people with physical, visual, auditory, and mental disabilities. She bundled her knowledge about accessibility at events in the book 'Maak je event toegankelijk voor iedereen’ (Dutch). This translates to ‘Make your event accessible for everyone' Her largest project to date was advising on the accessibility of the live event and the broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020/2021 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She did this together with Ronald Ligtenburg of Possibilize. Her last international project was the inclusion parcours at the Best Event Awards world 2022.