Awareness concept
What does awareness mean for Bonanza?
Awareness comes from the English and means mindfulness, attentiveness or consciousness. It is about creating awareness of discrimination, border crossings and assaults that are expressed in different ways and can hurt people physically or psychologically.
Behaviors and thought patterns that are anchored in people through social power relations need to be questioned. Only through this awareness can responsible action be activated.
Awareness is therefore above all an attitude that we carry and convey.
Bonanzafest is tender to all: everyone is invited to show up, listen, be inspired and learn from each other. The festival follows a Braver Space Policy. In a Braver Space, everyone commits to accountability and growth through self-reflection. Also to consent/consensus, respect and inclusion of all.
What does that mean?
Listen to each other
Learn from each other
Respect each other
Help each other
See each other
Treat each other like you like to be treated yourself!
How do we implement awareness at Bonanzafest?
During our planning phase, we spent a lot of time incorporating as many aspects of mindfulness as possible into our concept. The location has been chosen to be as barrier-free as possible. Our curation also takes into account our mindfulness values on different levels.
The awareness team has several tasks aimed at creating a positive and respectful environment:
- Entry regulation and briefing: the team informs guests of their role and responsibilities, gives briefings and ensures a smooth flow at entry points
- Unconditional support and care: We are there for people who need support due to triggers or incidents during the event. This can range from emotional support to escorting them to a safe place.
- Setting up a safer space: The safer space offers a retreat for people who need time out or are in an uncomfortable situation. Everyone should be able to feel safe and comfortable here. Our Safer Space is furnished with attention to detail and is not accessible to anyone other than our teams and the people concerned.
- Intervention in the event of abusive behavior: The awareness team intervenes in the event of assaultive, discriminatory or borderline behavior. We do not make decisions over the head of the person concerned! We actively involve those affected and focus on their needs, not our "moral authority".
- Exclusion of persons: If necessary, people can be excluded from the event, either temporarily or permanently, to ensure everyone's safety.
- Sensitization and education: The awareness team sensitizes participants to different needs, discrimination and hierarchies. It promotes an awareness of respectful cooperation.
- Facilitating criticism and feedback: With our awareness team, we want to be able to offer space for constructive criticism of group dynamics, individuals and the event as a whole. Anonymous feedback is also possible
- Linguistic sensitivity: The awareness team pays attention to language barriers, genders the language and respects individual pronouns.
- Decision-making: In certain situations, the awareness team can decide whether official bodies such as emergency services need to be called in.
Wherever people meet, consciously or unconsciously, there is unfortunately always discriminatory or even abusive behavior. The suffering is not only in the cross-border situation itself, but also in the way it is dealt with: much remains uncommented and without consequences, which can reinforce a feeling of insecurity and fear. The term awareness refers to an awareness of these structures. Our awareness team will symbolize this at the festival.
All visitors, artists and team members agree to follow basic rules for respectful and sensitive interaction. Not all discriminatory, abusive behavior stems from a malicious intention, but it can still be hurtful. If you are not aware of this and are unsure how you should react if something happens, we have come up with a few agreements to dispel some of this uncertainty:
The following applies to our guests
- If you are not sure whether your behavior is okay, ask beforehand. Showing uncertainty is very welcome!
- If you experience a discriminatory or transgressive situation of any kind during the festival and would like support, do not hesitate to contact the Awareness Team
- It is important for us to emphasize that visitors can contact us with any kind of concern. For us, there is no such thing as "not bad enough". We do not judge the person or their problems. Everyone is welcome. We are here for you.
- We reserve the right to warn or expel discriminatory, abusive people from the site and the event.
- If you have the feeling that another person needs help, ask if and how you can support them. But also be aware of your own boundaries. Take care of each other! <3
- Don't try to determine someone's (social) gender based on their appearance. If a person says their name and pronouns and you are irritated - don't correct them, but accept that they know best.
- All toilets on the festival site are open to everyone. Generally refrain from pointing people to "their" toilet.
- Marginalized groups are not responsible for educating other people. There are organizations that provide good information material, book tips and link recommendations. Or take a look at QueerLesen in the foyer during Bonanzafest, for example!
- People make mistakes. If people use discriminatory language or ways of thinking, for example, please point this out to them with constructive criticism. If others direct criticism at you, we would like to ask you to be open to it and listen.
- Photos and videos will be taken during our festival for promotional purposes. When publishing these, we ensure that personal rights are respected. If you want to take and publish photos and videos yourself, we would like to ask you to observe these as well and, if necessary, to ask the persons depicted whether this is okay for them.
After the festival:
- If you still need support with a situation that has occurred after the festival or want to tell us something, please feel free to contact us. If necessary, we can also put you in touch with professional support organizations.
- We are also very happy to receive feedback, as this area is always a process that everyone shapes together. So feel free to write to us if you have noticed something that is missing, is annoying or was good: awareness@bonanzafest.de.