This Sunday evening, an important event is taking place in our city.

Through a brilliant partnership with Mayor Muriel Bowser's Office of Nightlife & Culture, the DC-based nonprofit record label This Could Go Boom! and one of DC's most beloved music venues Dangerously Delicious Pies DC are hosting the "Safer Scenes Workshop for Musical Venues" to provide training to nightclub staff, bar managers, and music professionals.

The goal of the workshop is to proactively address harassment and develop comprehensive policies sensitive to the specific needs of those who experience gender-based violence. 

How did the Safer Scenes Workshop for Musical Venues come about?

Last September, a heckler popped up at a showcase being hosted by This Could Go Boom! (TCGB), whose mission is to "curate, create, publish, promote and distribute the music works of under-represented, gender diverse artists." Although the situation was resolved without fanfare thanks to the action of alert music fans, according to TCGB co-founder Ara Casey, "in this age of mindfulness and activism something took root."

“It was a blip really, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What if the patron was angry. What if it escalated?” thought Casey.

That’s when TCGB reached out to Shawna Potter, who literally wrote the book on the topic. 

Potter is the author of Making Spaces Safer: A Guide To Giving Harassment The Boot Wherever You Work Play Or Gather, as well as founder of Hollaback Baltimore, an organization created to end street harassment powered by a network of local activists around the world, and frontperson of punk band War On Women.  As a leading voice in the conversation about Safer Spaces, TCGB was thrilled when she said she could lead the workshop.

“Harassment happens,” says Potter, “so it’s best to be prepared when it does and let patrons know you care about everyone in your space."

Why Venues Need to Buy In

TCGB found a perfect partner in Dangerously Delicious Pies DC (aka Pie Shop), co-owned by Sandra Basanti, who agreed to host the workshop. 

According to Basanti, "from a business standpoint — and from the standpoint of someone lucky enough to be involved in this incredible and resilient community — and as a woman, venue operator, contributor, artist, or supporter — we are all in this together for one common goal."

With the Pie Shop on board, everything fell into place and the team identified venues in the DMV area to invite to the workshop to be part of the conversation and solution.

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What is on the agenda for the workshop?
The workshop will cover harassment intervention, how to avoid victim-blaming, responding in the moment, grounding someone in crisis and implementing measures to ensure that patrons, talent and staff feel safe, welcome and relaxed in live music spaces. Although the focus is gender-based harassment, the skills taught apply to ALL identity-based harassment. Participants will receive a packet of tools and resources to help them keep their spaces safer.

After the workshop, a show!

Following the workshop will be live performances open to everyone featuring Cinema Hearts, Northern Virginia Magazine’s Best Local Band (2017), and Margot MacDonald, three-time winner of the Washington Area Music Association’s “Artist of the Year” award.  

The organizers of the workshop felt that there was no better way to end this important conversation than inviting artists and patrons to gather in a space that was mindfully created and designated as SAFE for all.

For more information about the workshop or show, see below. 

For additional information about the workshop and its partners, click the links below:

• Safer Scenes Workshop for Musical Venues on Sunday, July 14th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at Dangerously Delicious Pies DC
• This Could Go Boom! 
• Dangerously Delicious Pies DC
• Mayor Muriel Bowser's Offices of Nightlife & Culture and 202Creates
• Shawna Potter
• Cinema Hearts
• Margot MacDonald