Making festivals experiential for everyone.
Winterthurer Musikfestwochen 2026: Accessibility, holistically conceived. For the second time already, accessify.live makes the festival experience accessible to even more of the 60000+ visitors. From Kirchplatz via Steinberggasse to the Theater-Café Roulotte, the web-based solution brings live event audio for everyone, a direct audio path for hearing aid users and real-time transcription directly to your own smartphone. Access via QR code, no app, no registration and no additional hardware for the audience.
“I was at the Winterthurer Musikfestwochen on Wednesday evening. I found the access link on the festival website without any problem. I'm genuinely impressed by how fast and reliably both the music stream and the transcript worked.”
Festival visitor
Feedback from survey at Winterthurer Musikfestwochen 2026 in cooperation with EnableMe, August 2026.
One simple user journey
The audience scans a QR code on site and selects the channel they need: real-time audio for hearing aids or real-time transcription.
Scan
A QR code at the stage, venue or entrance leads straight to the live channels. No app to install, no account to create.
Choose
Pick the channel you need: live event audio, a clean path for hearing aids, or real-time transcription of songs, moderations and announcements.
Listen & read
Follow the concert or moderation live on your own smartphone.
Built for large and small stages.
Main stage "Steinberggasse"
Live event audio straight from the mixing desk, clean and undistorted, ideal for guests with hearing aids.
Theater-Café "Roulotte"
Real-time transcription makes spoken content additionally readable, even in noisy surroundings.
“Live music should be accessible to more people.”
Lotta Widmer
Co-Managing Director, Winterthurer Musikfestwochen · Sustainability lead
Describe the Musikfestwochen in three sentences.
The Winterthurer Musikfestwochen are a 12-day festival in the heart of Winterthur's old town, 9 days of which are free. This is made possible thanks to over 1200 volunteers who contribute more than 31000 hours of voluntary work. Across 14 stages, over 120 programme items can be seen, delighting more than 60000 visitors.
Which accessibility offerings do the Musikfestwochen provide in general?
We try to be a festival for many. We currently implement the following measures: accessible grounds with accessible stands and toilets, information on accessibility, cultural companions, awareness team, sign-language interpretation of concerts, accessify.live, sunflower lanyards, relaxed performances, information in plain language, and more. An overview is available at musikfestwochen.ch/zugang.
What added value did the Musikfestwochen expect from accessify.live?
That live music becomes accessible to more people. We hope to be able to offer a concert experience to more people. If we can enable people with hearing impairments to access music, that is a great added value for us.
How did setup and operation go, and how was it promoted?
Setup is actually quite simple and requires little effort. During the event we advertise across the entire site with QR codes that point to the offering. The offering is also available on our website under «Zugänglichkeit», where people with disabilities can find out which offers are available to them at the festival.
What was the audience response to accessify.live?
Very good. We actually received a lot of positive feedback, particularly at the two interpreted concerts, as there were probably more people with hearing impairments on the festival grounds on those two evenings. It was beautiful to see how this measure provided additional support.
What can be passed on to other live events regarding accessify.live?
Accompanying communication is essential so the target audience learns about the offering at all. It takes time to build this communication; a one-off communication effort is not enough. It also helps if the measure is not implemented in isolation but embedded among other accessibility measures.
Music for all.
accessify.live turns accessibility from a requirement into a visible, usable and measurable part of the festival. No app. No hardware. No barriers.