Shawna Potter’s Creating Safer Spaces TEI Workshop highlighted the importance of fighting against harassment. Its main goal is to make venues a safer place for concert goers, artists, and stage crew. Safer Scenes is not specifically for women, though it has resources for women, it is also for men and Tour Press Force was glad to see men in audience.
Tour Press Force really liked how Potter interacted with the audience and molded her workshop to how we are involved in the music industry, for example, some of us were photographers, one boy wanted to start up a band, and one girl was a coordinator for a venue. She gave us the example of being a photographer and how simply taking a photograph of someone who is harassing is a huge statement.
Potter addressed the importance of listening to the victim and asking what they want to do. Often we come in like a knight in shining armor, but it could potentially make the entire situation worse. She mentioned security guard harassment as well. Sometimes guards don’t listen so she advised talking to their superiors and making sure to get all of their details. Potter said that if people don’t do anything about harassment, keep going up the hierarchy until someone does make a difference.
Overall, it was an excellent workshop and it really taught the audience about the importance of addressing harassment.
You can find the Safer Scenes website here: https://saferscene.wordpress.com as well as resources for harassment support and online privacy.
Check out the preview interview we did with Shawna Potter at the Vans Warped Tour 2017 stop in Phoenix, AZ.
Shawna Potter is an advocate, an activist, and an educator. She currently sings for feminist punk band, War On Women, runs the Safer Spaces Campaign for the Baltimore chapter of Hollaback!, which she founded, and repairs amplifiers and other musical equipment for Big Crunch Amp Repair, where she is also the manager. She is ordained to perform wedding ceremonies and watches too much TV.
