Skiddle, the UK’s biggest and busiest event guide and ticketing outlet, has today announced that it will be partnering with Safe Gigs For Women; working together to combat sexual harassment and assault at live music events.
The partnership will see Skiddle championing and supporting Safe Gigs For Women; 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.
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.
Ben Sebborn, Co-Founder and Director of Skiddle, commented on the launch of the partnership:
“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.”
Sarah Claudine from Safe Gigs For Women, commented:
“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.”
About Skiddle
Cofounders Ben Sebborn and Richard Dyer started Skiddle in 2001 initially as a what’s on guide. Both gig promoters and big ravers, their passion for music events in the north of England and beyond formed the business’ bedrock, quickly expanding across the UK and further a field. In 2006 Skiddle started selling tickets, and in the decade since have become one of the UK’s most loved ticketing services. Skiddle sell for all the big names, but they are also committed to helping promoters grow boutique offerings, from intimate gigs and clubnights, through to grassroots festivals.
Skiddle is now the biggest and busiest events guide in the UK. We have sold over four million tickets to 2 million happy customers and raised over £150,000 for charity.
About 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:
Gig goers
Work with gig goers to spread the word that it is not okay to grope, threaten or harass others. Encourage victims to speak out, and supporters to advocate that this behaviour will not be tolerated
Venues
Work with venues to ensure they take reports of sexual harassment and other threats to women seriously. We will work with venues to create a standard in the industry for safe venues. We will then campaign to get the standard adopted nationwide.
Bands
Getting bands on board to recognise our standards, talk about our work and get their audiences recognising and spreading what is acceptable.
