Sixty British music festivals have made a public statement condemning sexual violence at their events. The founders of weekenders including Rob Da Bank's Bestival in Devon, Wiltshire-based indie festival End of the Road, Manchester's Parklife, and hedonistic Cambridgeshire bash Secret Garden Party have come together to promise that they'll put victims first when incidents get reported and work to educate attendees about the importance of consent.
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"We want people to know that if you are a victim or a witness you will be backed up," Secret Garden Party founder Freddie Fellowes told Broadly. "We are all united in the fact we have to look after our audiences and declare that sexual harassment is unacceptable behaviour."The new campaign, called Safer Spaces, is run by trade organization the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF). It's been developed with the help of Rape Crisis England & Wales, as well as consent campaign groups Girls Against, Safe Gigs For Women and the White Ribbon Campaign.Each of the 60 festivals involved has signed a Charter of Best Practice restating their commitment to providing confidential welfare services, specialised training for staff and volunteers, and support for victims who report incidents. Twenty-eight of the festivals will also be blacking out their websites on Monday, removing their usual content and ticket services, to broadcast the messages "Zero Tolerance to Sexual Assault," "Hands Off Unless Consent" and "Don't Be a Bystander."The move comes after years of pressure for festivals to be more vocal about the sexual violence that happens on site. In 2015, when Broadly reported on the ongoing sexual assault problem at events, organizers seemed scared to admit the problem even existed. Despite this, over the past few years there have been incidents at festivals across the UK. In 2016, police reported two women were raped at Reading Festival, in 2015 there was an incident at Secret Garden Party, and there were reported sexual assaults Essex's V Festival in 2015 and 2016—including one by a security guard.Read the full story at Broadly.