Accessibility Statement

Sensitive Materials LLC is committed to ensuring NextToStage is accessible to people with disabilities. We are working toward conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA — the standard most commonly cited in accessibility litigation and generally recognized as a reasonable baseline for web accessibility.

A real, multi-pass accessibility effort has been completed against the live public site (nexttostage.com), combining automated scanning, hand-verified contrast math, and direct accessibility-tree inspection — not a single pass, and not assumed compliance.

What was found and fixed:

• A site-wide color token (the muted text color used in labels and secondary content) failed WCAG AA contrast against the site's dark backgrounds. Fixed and verified with real contrast-ratio calculations, with comfortable margin.
• Missing a primary landmark region, and 18 elements not contained within any semantic landmark — both fixed by restructuring the page's core layout, verified by a live re-scan showing zero remaining instances.
• The page's viewport configuration was blocking pinch-to-zoom entirely — removed, restoring the ability to zoom for anyone who needs it.
• A systemic contrast issue across roughly a dozen decorative preview illustrations on the marketing page, where dimming effects (used to visually distinguish “current” from “secondary” content) were strong enough to push already-muted text below readable contrast in over a dozen distinct places. Each was fixed individually — computed against its real background, not a single blanket adjustment — to preserve the intended visual hierarchy rather than flattening it. Verified against the live rendered page, not just the source code.
• Two pre-existing, unrelated accessibility defects were found during scanning and fixed: a mobile navigation button with no accessible name, and a password field on an internal demo page with no associated label. Both verified directly against the browser's accessibility tree — the same information a screen reader actually consumes — confirming the correct name and state are exposed.

Verification methodology, for transparency: automated scanning (axe-core, the industry-standard engine used by most professional accessibility tools) across multiple routes and viewport sizes; hand-calculated WCAG contrast ratios for every color/background combination found, computed directly rather than estimated; and direct accessibility-tree inspection confirming what a screen reader would actually announce for the two structural fixes. The current result: zero automated violations across the routes and viewports tested.

What this does not yet cover, stated plainly rather than implied: automated tools cannot reliably evaluate contrast on backgrounds using gradients or overlapping transparency, so a portion of the marketing page’s decorative visuals are marked “needs review” by the scanner and are covered instead by the hand-verified contrast table, not by the scanner itself. This effort has focused on the public-facing site; the authenticated application views (used by event staff during a live show) have not yet had the same dedicated pass, including real manual keyboard-only and screen-reader walkthroughs — both are the honest next steps, not optional extras.

The Service may link to or embed content from third-party services (such as payment processors) that are outside our direct control. We encourage third-party providers to meet accessibility standards, but cannot guarantee the accessibility of content we do not control.

Accessibility is an ongoing effort, not a one-time fix. We plan to periodically review the Service against WCAG 2.1 AA as new features are built, and to prioritize fixes based on real user feedback and audit findings.

We want to hear from you if you encounter an accessibility barrier using NextToStage. Please contact us with details about the issue, the page or feature involved, and the assistive technology you were using, if any:

Mr.King@nexttostage.com

We aim to respond to accessibility feedback within three (3) business days and will work to address genuine barriers as quickly as reasonably possible.

If you are unable to resolve an accessibility concern with us directly, you may have the right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice or pursue other remedies available under applicable law. We would strongly prefer the chance to address any concern directly first.