Queer Spirit Facilitator Guidance Notes

This is for all people at the festival who will be leading workshops, rituals and ceremonies and are in addition to the general terms and conditions that are agreed by all people attending the festival.

Arrival and departure

You are welcome to arrive on site the day before the festival opens if you wish to, or any time on Thursday afternoon before the gates open to the public. Departure should be by 3pm on Monday afternoon, unless you are staying on to help packdown, when all hands are welcome!

Workshop timings

Apart from some hour-long practice classes, all workshops have a two-hour slot: this is designed to give you a 90-100 minute session, with enough time to tidy up before the next facilitator arrives and for your participants to get to their next event without rushing. We don’t want to spoil anything by strict clockwatching, but it’s up to you to start your session when shown in the programme, and to wind it up cleanly and clearly well before your two hours is up. It’s also up to you to leave your space clean and tidy for the next group.

Workshop numbers

It’s in the nature of festival events that while most sessions will attract manageable numbers, some will be a bit thin on the ground while others will be oversubscribed for the size of the venue or how many people you can comfortably handle. From our experience, having too many people is most likely for events in the temple, though it might arise in other venues.

It’s a good idea if you or a helper can be present a bit before your event starts so you can work out how to handle numbers if it looks as if you might have too many people. It’s up to you and your helper(s) to sort this out if it arises; just be careful to be fair and inclusive. You may decide that first-come first-serve is the most appropriate way, or you may ask if some people are willing not to be included this time round – just be sensitive, clear and friendly!

It’s also up to you to decide what you do about people who come to your event after it has started. If it’s important to the process that latecomers may interrupt the flow and trust in your group, you might make this clear by closing the entrance after you’ve started, or putting up a friendly notice. On the other hand, if you’re happy to welcome latecomers then feel free to keep the boundary open and inviting.

Inclusivity

Everyone attending the festival is special, and will have their own special needs and preferences. Some will have been to many festivals and feel quite comfortable in group activities, for some it will be their first time and they may be a bit reticent about joining in. They may feel that because there are ‘conventional’ societal expectations of them or issues with them – as queers of whatever variety whether gay, lesbian, female, male, trans, differently abled, neurodivergent, too old, too young, too shy, too loud – their own individual issues around ‘fitting in’. It’s an important part of a facilitator’s responsibility to help make your space a welcoming and inclusive one, and to watch out for ways to make participants feel as comfortable and as safe as possible.

We’re sure that facilitators will have thought carefully about many of these issues, so please excuse us as we mention a handful of specific things that have arisen in previous festivals.

Communication

When you’re introducing your session, be as clear and concise as possible, to help everyone understand what the subject is, what you plan to do, and how you plan to use the time. Make sure everyone can hear you, and if you’re demonstrating something that they can all see clearly. Watch for signs that people may be having problems seeing and hearing, and do what’s necessary to include them. Be aware that there are many people within our communities who are neurodivergent, and can sometimes understand the world in very literal ways, which means that aspects of language that are more abstract like metaphor, symbolism and sarcasm do not work so well for them. They also sometimes need extra time to process suggestions and instructions, so keep this in mind. Throughout your session speak clearly, explain and repeat as needed, don’t waffle. And don’t say more than you need to – trust the silence.

Accessibility and particular needs

It’s important that your session is set up in way that is as accessible as possible to everyone. It can be useful as the start of your session to ask if anyone has any access needs they would like the group to be aware of, and let participants know that they can raise specific needs at any time, maybe with a specific sign like raising their hand.

Inclusivity

Queer Spirit was been born out of the need for inclusive safer spaces for LGBTQ+ people. Whilst gender and sexuality are part of our identities, there are multiple layers of ourselves spanning different aspects of diversity. As a facilitator you are responsible for holding your session’s space and making sure that your workshop is as safe a place as possible. This can sometimes be a considerable challenge. With people attending the festival coming from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, a space can at the same time feel safe for some whilst being experienced as completely unsafe by others.

It can help to be particularly aware of relative minorities in your group – people of colour, older people, people who seem to be shy and are keeping to the edges, anyone who seems to be on their own and a bit uncomfortable. Make sure they don’t get left out.

We encourage you to challenge any language or behaviour that may contribute to participants feeling invalidated, discriminated, harassed, disrespected or unsafe. We acknowledge that the experience of being challenged or ‘called out’ can be difficult, so it is important that any challenge – including being challenged yourself – is handled sensitively.

Gendered language

There will be a vast array of people attending Queer Spirit who have a whole variety of different gender identities. The best way to find out how a person identifies and the kind of gender language they use for themselves is simply to ask ‘how do you identify?’ or ‘what pronouns do you use?’. If you don’t know what they prefer the best default position is to employ gender neutral pronouns such as they/them/their/theirs, or to leave out references to gender altogether. Note that ‘guys’ is not a gender-neutral term in any circumstances, especially in a setting like Queer Spirit!

If your workshop involves a round of names it can be useful to invite people to state their pronouns if they so wish.

Consent

Consent is a topic that we take really seriously at Queer Spirit, one that we expect that you share. Consent is particularly important in workshops that involve touch or energy exchange, and we trust that you will address this with your participants before these kinds of activities begin.

Consent, and the trust and confidentiality it creates, depends on clear information about what is being suggested or proposed in an activity, with time and space offered for clarification, requests, suggestions and responses. You cannot assume group consent – it needs to be active and participatory, and ideally you need to receive a clear response from the whole group once you have explained how consent will operate in your session. Especially in sessions which involve some degree of intimacy, we suggest you allow five minutes or so to explain and address the way consent will work in your workshop.

We encourage you to remind participants at the end of your session that the activities that have taken place during the workshop have occurred in the context of that workshop, and that simply because a person was happy to share some kind of exchange in the workshop does not assume they will be happy to do so again. You might also want to remind them about confidentiality, and that they may well be more open and vulnerable than usual.

Couple work

Many workshops involve participants working together in pairs. You should be aware that making decisions about who to work with in a workshop pair can be quite a difficult, even traumatic, experience, especially for anyone who is new to such an event, or has come on their own, or who has particular issues around gender, age, appearance or whatever.

It usually isn’t enough to assume that when you want your participants to find a pair partner you can just say ‘Now find someone to work with’. If this is your only instruction, most people will gravitate towards someone they know, someone they feel comfortable with, or maybe someone they fancy, and that will almost inevitably leave some ‘outsiders’.

Group facilitators have different ways of addressing this issue, especially if they want to encourage participants to step outside their comfort zone and work with someone they may not know. You can count people off in a circle with one-two one-two, though as some people are already next to a friend you may still have the same issue. You can use slips of paper numbered 1 and 2, or different coloured slips, or playing cards. However you do it, be aware of couple work issues around comfort and inclusivity.

Finally there may be an odd number of participants, so you or your assistant can probably join in to make up a pair.

Trigger warnings

We have an enormous variety of workshops and talks spanning a broad range of topics, some of which may be perceived as more sensitive or ‘triggering’ than others. Depending on the type of workshop you are offering, it may be useful to some participants to hear about any aspect of your workshop that you think might potentially be difficult for them to experience.

It isn’t possible to predict all the kinds of topics people may find challenging, but topics we encourage you to offer appropriate ‘trigger warnings’ about include mental health, violence and aggression, rape and sexual abuse, death and dying, and nakedness.

Support from the rest of the team

We hope that your workshop will be enjoyed by everyone involved, as we expect you do too. If, however if you or one of your participants needs any extra support, we have several support systems in place. There is a 24-hour Welfare and Access team who can provide emotional and practical support, as well as first aid. They can also point you in the direction of magical and energetic welfare if this is needed.

If you notice during your workshop that anything is damaged, broken, or not working properly, please let us know. You can go to the Info Point to report it, or tell one of the stewards and they will find the appropriate person to fix it.