Here Are 10 Practical Things You Can Do To Make Your Venue A Safer Place

We know we have an issue with gender imbalance and safety and inclusivity for women and LGBTQI+ people in the music industry. There's no use debating whether the issue exists because it does, so the thing to do now is discuss solutions on how we can finally make the music industry a more inviting and equal place for our minorities.

That's why SLAM's Helen Marcou, DJ Brooke Powers, LISTEN and Cool Room's Elly Scrine, High Tension frontwoman Karina Utomo, CBD Hospitality's Melinda Barber and LISTEN advocate Katie Pearson, led by facilitator Jenny Valentish, got together on the Creating Safe And Inclusive Spaces panel at Face The Music to discussion solutions to the problem. 

Here are some genuinely practical things you can do to make each and every venue in Australia a safe and inclusive space. 

1. "It's not just about whether you feel physically safe, but whether you feel safe enough to be confident enough to enter the music industry." - Katie

2. "The structural things Cool Room does [includes having] all-gender bathrooms, signs up around [the club] that detail our policy, safety and inclusivity officers — we'll be identifiable and there to speak to anyone who feels unsafe in any way. Another structural thing we've done is implemented a text line, we have the number on all our social media and at the club, in case you don't feel safe to approach us or speak to a security guard." - Elly

3. "For trans people and gender non-conforming people to go out anywhere — venue, gig, club, whatever — the bathroom situation is always very scary and very stressful ... This is why I'm pissed off, I played a huge queer party last night and they didn't have gender-neutral bathrooms. More and more parties, Cool Room, other queer nights are starting to get around for safety for trans and gender non-conforming people and it includes having gender-neutral bathroom options." - Brooke

4. "Safety and inclusivity is also about addressing who you book to play. If we have all cis white straight people DJing, those are the people who are gonna be coming ... [this extends to] who we have in our photo shoots and who we have in our team. If you only have those people working in your venue, that's what you're going to appeal to. When someone approaches us, we will speak to them. The first thing we'll do is hear them and believe them, because we're coming from a culture of women and gender non-conforming people of not feeling believed or heard, having their trauma minimised or trivialised." - Elly

5. "Security guards do this 17-day course, they complete the course, they get the license, but there's no refresher. They can hold those licenses until they die. The topics they cover in the course are not relevant to the everchanging world of late-night venues and music festivals and peoples' genders ... I'm gonna suggest to the industry that guards do at least a five-day refresher course every two years." - Melinda

6. "In terms of the best practice guide [that the Vic Sexual Harassment taskforce is creating], that should be on bands' worksheets. You also talk to the booker - if we have an incident, who do we speak to, who's in charge? Bands and artists can take greater responsibility in making sure that they know what to do when these things happen and how to avoid any incidents like that from happening." - Karina

7. "As a promoter, I absolutely enforce strict rules on venues to make sure they have addressed a number of issues - toilets, female guards ... basically a projection of warmth and safety from the guards. Brief the guards every time [you have a queer party], not just once to one company, you need to brief them every time that this is a very diverse crowd." - Katie 

8. "[Security guards today] — this is their career. It's not like the '80s and '90s when it was their casual job. These guys have families to support and they're being paid the same they were 20 years ago because the industry won't recognise that we need to pay these guards better, therefore these event organisers need to pay more for guards. You pay for what you get." - Melinda

9. "The big issue we found from the patrons through research, was that they felt the role of the security guard was to protect the venue and not the patrons. Ultimately that's the change we're looking for. Brief your guards every single time, create the culture at the beginning." - Helen

10. "Work very closely with your chosen security provider months out [from the festival you're holding], talk with them about the problems you've had in the past, use specific guards with specific training in specific areas, get the [security] girls on board, they're often the mediators that will stop the trouble." - Melinda