Skiddle has partnered with Safe Gigs for Women in an effort to combat sexual harassment and assault at live music events.
The partnership, which has been announced on International Women’s Day (Thursday), will see Skiddle aiming to reduce the number of cases of sexual harassment at gigs, club nights and music festivals by taking part in a series of campaigns, awareness raising events and fundraising activities with Safe Gigs for Women.
Safe gigs for women is an initiative established by regular gig goers with the aim of creating a safer environment for women at gigs. Their aims are to work with gig goers to spread the word that it is not okay to grope, threaten or harass others.
They encourage victims to speak out, and supporters to advocate that this behaviour will not be tolerated.
The group also works with venues to ensure they take reports of sexual harassment and other threats to women seriously. It also gets bands on board to recognise standards, talk about their work and get their audiences recognising and spreading what is acceptable.
Ben Sebborn, co-founder and director of Skiddle, said: “We are delighted to be the first ticketing outlet to work with Safe Gigs For Women, and it is no coincidence that we are launching this partnership on International Women’s Day.
“Live music events should be an inclusive, enjoyable and memorable experience and everyone should have the opportunity to attend without feeling threatened or harassed. The fact many women do have to put up with unwanted and uninvited attention is inexcusable and as an industry we need to work together to stop this.
“Skiddle have been selling tickets for live music events for almost two decades and we have a huge passion for what we do. The partnership with Safe Gigs For Women shows our solidarity for the cause and our determination to use our platform and our events to inform and change behaviour. We hope by working together we can ensure all live music events are safer and more welcoming spaces in the future.”
Skiddle is a primary ticket outlet and events guide that deals with event bookings, registrations, promotion and online ticket sales.
Whilst Safe Gigs For Women are established in their work with gig-goers, venues and artists such as Frank Turner and Enter Shikari, this partnership is the first of its kind with a ticketing outlet – often the first port of call for customers wanting to attend a gig, club night or festival.
Sarah Claudine, from Safe Gigs For Women, said: “We are incredibly excited by the opportunities that a partnership with Skiddle can offer our organisation. By working with a ticketing platform of their size, we hope to increase the reach of our message right across the UK, to events of all sizes.
“We want everyone to attend events knowing that they have a right to be respected, and anyone who violates or abuses that is not welcome and their actions will not be tolerated. Safe Gigs for Women has always adopted a ‘pre-emptive’ stance, tackling negative attitudes and behaviours before they have the chance to escalate, and it is our hope that a partnership with Skiddle will allow us to achieve that on a larger scale than ever before.”
Image: Skiddle