Your mates and ours Laneway Festival have announced they are bringing back their anti-harassment hotline 1800 LANEWAY after its success at last year’s festival – this time in conjunction with the international Good Night Out Campaign.
1800 LANEWAY was launched last year with Camp Cope to raise awareness of harassment at gigs and festivals, and to provide Laneway punters with a means to seek help if they’ve seen or been subject to disrespectful behaviour. Anyone who rings the number can get assistance from an operator on the ground at Laneway.
“Laneway Festival believes that everyone has the right to have fun, feel safe, feel included and enjoy the music,” said Laneway organisers. “Creating a culture of respect is something we strive for, not only for our event but for the Australian music industry as a whole.”
This year, there’s also a text line at 0404 242 555 – so if you’re not in a position to make a phone call, you can still take advantage of the service.
The original 1800 LANEWAY hotline partnership with Camp Cope came following the band’s #ItTakesOne campaign, which sought to fight sexual harassment at gigs. The campaign got support from artists like Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher, Frenzal Rhomb, The Jezabels and others.
Bryony Beynon, co-director of Good Night Out Campaign expressed how important initiatives like this are:
There’s no reason anyone should feel threatened or unsafe while out enjoying music with friends, and it’s proactive and innovative measures like specialist training for staff and reporting via text that make all the difference. Cultural change is not easy, but as a global organisation working in this space we’ve been really impressed by Laneway’s commitment to best practice. We hope it has a positive impact across the Australian festival scene.
