On Tuesday, Nov. 12, I hosted a sexual violence prevention and bystander intervention training for Her Campus Northeastern students. The training was created and organized by Calling All Crows, with whom I have been interning since July.
Calling All Crows is a national nonprofit committed to addressing the intersection between the music industry and feminist social justice issues. CAC partners with musicians, tour staff, venues, fans and more to address important causes, including educating about reproductive freedom through the Voice Your Choice campaign and preventing sexual violence within music spaces through the Here For the Music campaign.
The Here For the Music (HFTM) campaign created the training I delivered to Her Campus Northeastern students. The campaign began in 2017, following the start of the #MeToo movement, working to “directly challenge the music industry from the inside.”
Since then, HFTM’s sexual violence prevention and bystander intervention training has reached over 300,000 fans, more than 800 professionals in the industry and over 85 artist partners, including boygenius, Raye Zaragoza, Clairo and many more. Additionally, HFTM is partnered with multiple festivals and music venues, such as Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, NICE, a fest held in Somerville, Massachusetts and House of Blues in Boston.
The training consists of intervention strategies for preventing sexual violence in music spaces and public spaces in general. Additionally, the training combats biases we all have that may encourage or prevent us from intervening in a situation. It addresses biases, including those pertaining to gender and race that prompt us to make assumptions about situations, when, in reality, they may be very different than they appear. This training is given to venue staff, tour staff, musicians themselves and is also available to fans to learn skills and educate themselves on the issue of sexual violence.
The Director of the Here For the Music campaign, Maggie Arthur, commented on the importance of creating safer music spaces: “When someone falls in the crowd, we pick them back up because we as music fans know that everyone deserves to enjoy a great show safely. However, nearly all women and gender expansive individuals report having experienced sexual harassment at a concert and half of men working in the music industry report having witnessed harm without intervening.”
We should all be looking out for one another, in music spaces and public spaces alike. Are you interested in learning more skills to prevent the public health issue of sexual violence? Visit callingallcrows.org for more information about how to get involved, and find the sexual violence prevention and bystander intervention training here!