Diversity Day 2024: Awareness work meets festival organization
2024-05-27 The lunatic festival, which has been running for 20 years, deals with these topics. The lunatic is a music, art and culture festival for all people who are enthusiastic about social issues and interaction. The festival is planned every year by a changing team of Leuphana students and will take place in 2024 on May 31 and June 1. This year, there was a small team that focused on inclusion, sustainability and awareness (ISA).
Dear ISA team, what does awareness mean to you in the lunatic team?
The lunatic festival understands awareness to mean conscious interaction with one another and an effort to think about social power structures when working together. Awareness starts very visibly with us in the form of awareness teams on the site and extends to other offers of support right through to our booking.
Why is awareness important?
Awareness work is specifically aimed at people who experience structural discrimination due to various power relations. We are aware that discriminatory social structures do not disappear overnight. However, with the space we open up at our festival, we want to create awareness of these structures and thus encourage reflection and a conscious approach to these structures.
In your opinion, what is often forgotten in awareness work?
In my opinion, awareness is still too often seen as an offer explicitly for visitors. However, awareness is not only aimed at visitors, but also at all those who make the festival possible with their work. One example from recent years in the awareness context is the growing awareness of the awareness staff's own limitations.
What can everyone do to make themselves aware and inclusive?
One very simple thing that everyone can do is to ask if they are unsure. Simply asking when you are unsure about the "right" behavior already shows that you are thinking about it. So, for example, if I potentially come up against another person's boundaries and I'm not sure, asking is usually a good first step.
We personally feel that it is not difficult to be inclusive at a low threshold. We believe it is important to think about people with disabilities and their needs in the first place. Examples of this would be Barrier-free toilets are not only accessible for wheelchair users, but also for families (parents who accompany their children to the toilet), people who are claustrophobic, people who are stronger, etc. This example shows how a single thing can cover a broad group of people.
What can other organizers learn from your work?
What we are quite proud of is definitely that we have sign language interpreters this year. We've also had a lot of positive feedback about our childcare.
How do you communicate the ISA topics?
On the one hand, we communicate via our various social media channels, as well as with stickers and posters. On the other hand, there will be posters and notices at our festival itself, through which we try to bring the topics to people's attention. We have also established contacts with organizations such as Lebenshilfe.
Who can be an awareness person at the festival?
Anyone who wants to help create a safer environment can become an awareness person. For the size of our festival, it is an advantage to have already gained experience. This is possible at the university at various events. A basic requirement is the motivation to stand up for those affected and the ability to empathize with other people in order to be there for others in stressful situations.
It is also important to have an understanding of the power structures that we want to tackle with our work. This understanding can be learned in any case. To this end, there are often educational opportunities in various places (ActAware, lectures at the university and, of course, self-education through online research).
What did you learn about awareness at Leuphana before working at the festival?
Before the festival work, I had already done awareness work myself at various events. I started out at private events and smaller university events until last year, when I was part of the awareness team at a larger festival for the first time. Through this practical work, regular workshops and the exchange in cooperation with various people, I have developed a growing awareness of the structural problems that we are trying to tackle with our work.
Thank you!
Leuphana University is taking part in the nationwide "Diversity Day" for the eighth time. This year's Diversity Day at Leuphana will focus on the topic of "Awareness". Awareness refers to being aware of and paying attention to situations in which other people's boundaries are or have been crossed. On Diversity Day, there will be program items on this topic throughout the day at Leuphana.