The Fair spoke to StandOut Magazine about changes we are making to festivals this season, for the publications latest ‘Festival Focus’ feature.
Trigger warning: The article discusses sexual assault and the work we are doing to keep people safe at festivals.
In the article, which features in StandOut Magazine’s April edition, The Fair’s CEO Nick Morgan explains how we implemented Eventree across all festivals, including El Dorado, Otherlands, Gala, and Lost in the Moment in 2022.
“It was a season of trial and error for both us and suppliers getting used to the system,” said Nick, “By the end of the season, it felt like we had everything nailed down in terms of process, and we are excited to implement the system this year. It’s a great way to communicate with contractors, artists, staff and crew about updated procedures on site – including welfare, appropriate behaviour, reported and escalating inappropriate behaviour, while putting checks in place to ensure people have read those policies.”
Nick continued: “Whilst last year we did a lot of work on our sexual assault and harassment policies and procedures in line with the AIF Safer Spaces Charter, we found that our communications of those procedures on site during the live event need to be considered in greater detail.
“Last year, we worked closely with the comms team across Eastern Electrics, Maiden Voyage and Otherlands to name a few, to ensure procedures were communicated digitally in advance an on site. Yet despite our efforts, there were still audience members who reported instances of inappropriate behaviour from other audience members after the event because they weren’t aware that we had put the procedures in place.
“In response to this, we are revisiting the communications plans for these procedures so we can receive more feedback as soon as situations arise, and proactively deal with reports in line with our policies. We are lucky to work with providers such as TTK Welfare who have experience in this space.”
