Osheaga and Veld are both this weekend—stay safe!!
A few summers ago, I was dancing under the beer tent at a music festival in Southwestern Ontario when a security guard appeared in front of me, arms outstretched. I stopped dancing and looked around; my friends were nearby but not close enough to see what was going on. The guard approached me slowly until he was an inch from my face. Then he wrapped his arms around me tightly, pressing his body against mine. I patted him on the back, stunned, and pulled away.
That seems to be particularly true at concerts, where the audiences tend to be very male-dominated. “I worked in rap but I know that at rock shows too, the crowds can be aggressive,” says Erin Lowers, summit director for Manifesto, a community and cultural festival in Toronto. “Women are a small minority in a lot of those spaces and it’s just easier to get away with. Nobody’s ever policed it.”
Can new safer spaces policies make a difference? As part of creating safer spaces for attendees and artists alike, festivals across Canada are beginning to publish safer spaces policies to identify community issues and offer resources to anyone in distress. However, it’s important to note that festival staff can’t ever really guarantee a completely safe space, Fogel says. But, “policies have the potential to make a long-term difference. It will take some trial and error, but it’s a big step.”
Festival organizers like Manifesto’s Lowers understand that approaching security can be anxiety-inducing for a lot of people, which makes training staff in bystander intervention and having active listeners strategically placed in the audience particularly valuable. Festival audiences can help too; if you notice someone in distress and you either can’t or aren’t comfortable with notifying someone else, you can try Good Night Out Vancouver’s bystander intervention tips. One important thing to remember: Keep your focus on the person in distress. “Give them that opportunity to take a moment, find their voice and take their power back,” says Lawrence.
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