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The collaboration will include the publishing of a collection of tips and guidelines for festivalgoers to stay safe ahead of and during music festivals
By Molly Long on 13 Jul 2018
Festicket, the world’s largest online community for music festivals, has announced it is teaming up with campaign group Good Night Out in a bid to tackle harassment at music festivals. By working together, the two hope to raise awareness of, and give practical advice on, how to stay safe at music festivals.
The news of the collaboration comes after figures last month revealed one in five UK festivalgoers generally, and almost a third of women more specifically, have experienced unwanted sexual behaviour, harassment or assault at a music festival. After hearing this news, the teams behind Festicket and Good Night Out decided to use their platforms to educate this summer’s revellers on festival safety best practice.
Co-founder and CEO of Festicket, Zack Sabban, says: “We are big festival fans and we always look at ways to help make the festival experience a positive and fun one.
“Unfortunately there are a few individuals that can ruin the festival experience and we want to help eliminate that.”
“[The figures] are shocking, but to us it’s not surprising, and we believe it has to change”
As part of the initiative, Festicket have published a series of guidelines for fans to consider whilst planning their festival experience. The guide includes advice on ensuring you know where your overnight accommodation is and agreeing meeting points with friends and family to ensure you aren’t left alone and feeling vulnerable.
The guide also encourages festivalgoers to become ‘active bystanders’. It says: “Being an active bystander means not standing by or pretending to ignore harmful behaviour when you see it.” The hope is that by being aware of surroundings, bystanders can be ready to check in with neighbours and respond to harassment in an appropriate way, should the occasion arise.
“[The figures] are shocking, but to us it’s not surprising, and we believe it has to change,” explains Bryony Beynon, co-founder and co-director of Good Night Out.
“We are very excited to be working with Festicket to spread our message that planning your festival experience should be simple and hassle-free, and should never involve worrying about sexual harassment or assault.”
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