Feminist Guidebook

A special thank you from QLU to

Atlas, our intersectionality policy advisor from Spring 2023 who took the time to write out this thorough guidebook of what it means to us

to be a queer feminist collective.

“Bright Ideas, We Got Bright Ideas”:

A Queer Feminist Introduction to

Intersectional Event Planning and Management

Acknowledgements

Where do we start? We’d like to thank all those who made this possible.

We are thankful to the ones in our communities, queer or otherwise: the friends, the family members, the classmates, the lovers, the partners, the co-workers, the acquaintances, those we commune with in the circles we attend, and the strangers we met along the way.

We are grateful to those we laughed with, the ones we sang with, danced with, partied with, celebrated with. The ones we cooked with, ate with, discussed with, exchanged with. Those we can recognise and those we can’t name.

We are indebted to those who like us kept QLU alive, from the inside and the outside. We thank them for their patience and understanding throughout the research and writing process, allowing us to move at our own pace. Most importantly, we are indebted to those who before, along with, and surely after us have researched, reflected upon, discussed and written about feminist ways to organise and manage events. This conversation could not have been rendered possible without all these individuals involved in our lives and during the time we served as Intersectionality Policy Advisors.

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Introduction

A Word About Queer Leiden University

Queer Leiden University (QLU) was founded in 2021 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. A feminist collective of queer students, QLU started with a purpose: it came to life in response to the observation that international LGBTQIA+ students felt isolated and lacked support when it comes to issues related to gender identity and sexuality. QLU also appeared in reaction to the rare presence, on and around campus, of resources for trans, nonbinary and otherwise gender-and-sexually-diverse students. Likewise, it came about to remedy the absence of safe(r) spaces to be, and the scarcity of events, activities, and gatherings specifically designed and organised by and for LGBTQIA+ students and other relevant members of the rainbow community.

With those conditions in mind, QLU vowed to insert itself as a robust and dynamic actor in a given institutional landscape. Indeed, QLU joined a number of other active associations and organisations run by and for LGBTQIA+ individuals in The Hague and in Zuid-Holland more generally. These institutions include, amongst others: LUC LGBT+, TheHangout070, OutAcademia, LGBT+ Network, COC, and Papaya Kuir. Operating along such actors, QLU’s mission clearly consists in inciting the development of a diverse network of communities organised around similar principles and ideas of connection, support, understanding, and belonging. As such, QLU’s value proposition is twofold: First, it seeks to constitute a platform and organise events in order to connect LGBTQIA+ community members, students, and young professionals–or else–alike. Second, it aims at supporting community members. To do so, it offers a peer-support group, availability for consultation, and access to critical resources about gender identity, sexual orientation, and health. Likewise, it puts forth a collection of informed voices that travels bottom-up and communicates with the university’s D&I Office.

QLU wishes to contribute to change by focusing on a few societal challenges, thereby rendering its mission political as well as social and cultural. These challenges consist of, but are not limited to: ensuring good health and well-being for all, members of the LGBTQIA+ especially; providing quality education and learning opportunities on many topics organised around politics and culture; contributing to equality through the championing of diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as the right to self-determination; and reducing inequalities through the empowerment of minority groups and individuals.

Our Values

As a queer feminist collective, QLU adheres to a set of values. This means we aim at respecting certain principles in our mission and endeavours. But before delving into what these values and principles are, we wish to discuss the adjectives we use to account for our politics. That is, why do we call ourselves a queer feminist collective?

In academic terms, we could write the following: feminism may perhaps be loosely understood as a complex set of ideologies and theories, as well as a collection of sociopolitical movements, that seek to achieve total equality for all. Simply put, feminism refers both to a mode of thinking and to a mode of action whose aim is to ultimately make everyone equal. Feminist theories and practices may organise mainly around women’s conditions, resources, rights, and freedoms, but feminism is not only a women’s issue. We believe, coming from a queer tradition, that our enterprise is worth calling feminist for it echoes bigger such projects which seek to transform society and liberate not only women, but all those who suffer under cisheteropatriarchal capitalism and the systems of power and powerlessness that it entertains. By all those, we mean women, men, LGBTQIA+ people and other gender and sexual minorities, people of colour, immigrants, disabled folks, marginalised communities, and everybody else who wishes they lived in otherwise worlds. Indeed, the “overarching goal is to create spaces and opportunities to reveal lived realities of power inequalities and difference, and provide [resources] that can be deployed in working towards addressing these engrained inequalities'' (Jenkins, Narayanaswamy & Sweetman 2019, 415).

Our affinity with the term queer comes primarily with the fact that QLU was founded by a person who proudly uses the label as an identity marker, and operates since then through the actions of queer individuals. Queer originated in the 1990s with the rise in Western academia of Queer Theory and in US activism of Queer Nation. Nowadays, it is often used as a synonym for LGBT. That is, it is often employed as an adjective that wants to say it all and avoid one the long list of letters which, stuck together like the carriages of a rainbow train, make up the ever-expansive alphabet mafia of LGBTQIA+. Nonetheless, the term queer is not just a new all-encompassing label for old identity boxes like gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans. Queer has the potential to advocate for more inclusive communities built around fluid identities, but it also carries “the promise of new meanings, new ways of thinking and acting politically” within militant activism, culture and academia (Duggan 2001, 215). Indeed, queer can be “understood as a describer of ‘what is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant’” and vows to criticise and deconstruct the many processes of White cisheterosexual capitalism (Halperin 1997, 62, in Vitry 2020, 941). But it also tasks itself with proposing alternatives to neo-liberal and homo-nationalist strategies in mainstream gay politics–strategies which cater way too often to the normative and assimilationist desires of Western, white, able-bodied and middle-class homosexuals. As such, queer organises not only around non-cis genders and/or heterosexual identities, but through a shared dissent from the hegemonic and essentialist understandings of sex, gender and sexuality—and through a shared questioning of power and identity more broadly. Queer rejects dominant conceptualisations and meanings, and wishes to destabilise theoretical knowledge through constant critical questioning and radical (re)negotiation. More importantly, it demands a collective political project across identity barriers and through shared alterity so that we can unite and conduct oppositional and confrontational actions (Duggan 2001). If the term queer is a highly contested one which can be used as a noun, adjective, verb and even declined as an adverb, it is its polysemic nature which makes it interesting and powerful. Here, we use it as much an identity marker as we do a radical mode of action and organising which propels us forward. We use queer feminist as a qualifier, then, to rally with certain ways of doing, thinking, feeling, being, and loving that are transformative and liberating.

If we choose to talk extensively about our values and principles–and we hope you understand that now–it is because queer feminism is deeply embedded in QLU’s projects, practices, and policies. This means queer feminist ideas do not only influence what we do but most importantly how and why we do it. As such, the analytical frameworks we use, the literature we read, the resources we consult, and the methodologies we choose, all possess the potential to help us conduct research that is queer feminist, that is, geared to advancing political goals of social justice. This kind of research pays particular attention to questions of equality, power, and ethics, both in theory and action, and it calls for self-reflection. It is through this continual exercise of self-awareness, of thinking about our own position(s), in relation to our research project and participants, to our environment(s) and to others, that we were truly able to understand the values and principles we wanted our actions to reflect. At QLU, we work in ways that, if not advance, at least make claims to the following goals: Change, Care, Community, Awareness, Joy, and Futurity.

Change: We pay particular attention to change as a desirable process for all of us. By change, we mean action geared towards emotional growth and personal development through capacity-building, the cultivation of agency, and empowerment, but most importantly, we mean institutional and systemic transformation, in order to bring about better conditions and equality and justice for all.

Care: We value care and engage with care practices in a dynamic way. By care practices, we mean direct action, mutual aid, and community service. We mean leaning on each other, supporting one another emotionally, eating together, feeding each other, sharing material resources and information (Levin et al. 2020). By care practices, we refer to actions that animate our sense of vitality. Actions that sustain life and add value in the face of the consuming effects of labour. Actions that activate a sense of community in spite of the individualism that rules our society. Actions that nurture our sexual, bodily, and mental well-being amidst targeted attacks on our identities, health and integrity. Actions that help us heal and reconnect with ourselves, one another and our surroundings in the face of alienation and isolation. By such practices, we also mean creating opportunities for sociocultural connection, grounding, and relationship, in the form of ceremonies, get-togethers, and events of all kinds (Ansloos et al. 2021, 94-95). Engaging in care practices implies turning to ourselves and others with consideration, kindness, and tenderness. It implies practising empathy and being open to entertaining new ways of being, existing, feeling, and loving.

Community: Engaging in practices of care activates a sense of belonging in togetherness. It organises the collective into communities of support and of resource-exchange. By meeting up, hanging out, interacting with each other, exchanging with one another, sharing moments of repeated intimacy, we can build communities and cultivate self-created and self-maintained networks established around common identities, needs and desires. By community, we mean those friends we can name, those peers with familiar faces, and those queers and allies we don’t (yet) know in the spaces we attend.

Awareness: We strongly consider efforts of awareness. This means we engage in processes of critical (self-)reflection about who we are and who we want to be. About our identities and what we embody. About what we do and how we choose to do it. About what and how we think. About the space we occupy and about how we relate to others. About what we need and what we want. And about the effects of our decisions and actions. By doing such, we work towards making a better sense of our positionality, and towards acknowledging our material conditions when it comes to power and privilege–or lack thereof. We work towards better understanding ourselves and others and the reality of their lives. But we also work towards truly understanding oppression–that is, its nature, how it works, and what we can and should do to combat it.

Joy: We strive for moments of euphoria, joy, and ecstasy. We work towards our personal and collective well-being, and towards the fulfilment of our needs, demands, and fantasies. We desire instances where we celebrate, smile, and laugh. Spaces where we can authentically be ourselves. Spaces where we can dress, speak, move, act, and present freely. Spaces where we truly respect and cherish our differences. Spaces where our hearts are full, our bodies loved, and our souls understood.

Futurity: We engage in projects that are transformative and liberatory, in that we imagine and discuss what otherwise worlds and ways may yield alternatives towards both a better there/here and then/now. We question and consider the current conditions under cisheteropatriarchal capitalism, only to better imagine the reconstructed social realities and worlds that have the potential to generate prosperous and sustainable futures for minorities (Chen & cárdenas 2019, 472). As we may struggle with the disabling forces of anxiety and fear amidst the repeated threats to values, liberty, and life, we must bear in mind that not everything is lost. We must engage in the powerful exercise of imagination and ponder about individual and collective possibilities, but most importantly, we must do so in revolutionary ways. We must imagine the very possibility of queer futures. This exercise of imagination, both reviving and empowering, allows us to invoke and materialise the great realm of future possibilities. It makes available plenty of open-ended narratives through which we can produce alternative ways of thinking, being, and doing—through which we can engage in futurity. As the late José Esteban Muñoz explains in Cruising Utopia (2009), we must conceptualise queerness not merely as an essence or identity, but as a mode of feeling, of being, of hoping, of acting–queerness as a transformative kinetic force that catalyses change. In that sense, queerness becomes a tool to summon a desirable future, a way for us all to imagine a liberating then and there, and an invitation to critique the present, envision alternatives, and enact future worlds of political possibility, cultural transformation, and social belonging.

Motivating the Project

As Intersectionality Policy Advisors, we were tasked with writing a queer feminist guidebook to event organising and management. This project came about as the result of an informed reflection at QLU. As QLU intervened in the organisational landscape of The Hague and beyond, we noted the seeming lack of queer and/or feminist actors and spaces as well as the absence of queer community events in and around the facilities of Leiden University as an academic institution. As such, we started operating in ways that could and would remedy such an unfortunate situation. By that, we mean that QLU started proposing activities that would cater to queer and other marginalised youths like students and young professionals. In what is now its second year of activity, QLU has gained honourable experience in designing, organising, and managing events while serving an agenda that is feminist-infused, queer-led, community-based, and intersectional. We Intersectionality Policy Advisors have from February 2023 on attended to assisting event managers at QLU. And we have done so to ensure that the principles of intersectionality would closely inform our practices as a collective. As our adventure with QLU comes to an end, we offer here what could come close to being a queer feminist introductory guidebook for any individual or non-professional institution– cultural collectives, sociopolitical groups, student bodies, etc–interested in designing, planning, managing and organising events while respecting principles of intersectional feminism and attending to aspects like diversity, inclusion, equity, accessibility, safety, and sustainability in their practices. The section that follows introduces the different parts that constitute this guidebook.

Introducing the Project

So far, we have introduced you to the history, mission and values of QLU as a queer feminist collective. We have also accounted for our project by explaining our reasoning and motivating our initiative. Now, we wish to provide you with an idea of what to expect throughout the following pages in terms of content. Our production is laid out in three subsequent parts.

First, we discuss methodology. That is, we introduce you to event design, planning, management and organising, and to the tenets of intersectionality theory. We follow, in the spirit of feminism, with grounding our identities, reflecting on our roles, and situating our work. And we then continue by accounting for our chosen research methods and proposed framework.

Second, we present and discuss that same framework, which we call IDEASS. IDEASS is an acronym whose constituents represent, we argue, six key aspects that event committees should consider in their design, planning, management, and organising process. These aspects are, namely: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, Safety, and Sustainability. By carefully attending to and meeting such conditions, we argue that intersectionality and queer feminist politics can move beyond theoretical consideration and be effectively infused in practice.

Third, we apply our proposed IDEASS framework to event design, planning, management, and organising in order to move towards intersectional community spaces. This last section discusses queer feminist perspectives on the matter and how to approach eventing as an intersectional praxis. We then follow by offering a set of ten recommendations. These, which we humbly cast as, if not useful material, then at least food for thought, will hopefully inform and guide you in improving your practices as community organisers, event managers, space curators, meeting facilitators, policy advisors or similarly relevant actors.

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Methods

Notes on Event Planning and Management

Eventing is not rocket science. Yet, we still like to think of it as a complex practice. Indeed, event planning and management are processes that require consideration, attention, rigour, evaluation, and critical thinking.

So what do we mean by event planning and management? A distinction is often made between these two terms. While the former commonly refers to the mere design and preparation of an event, the latter is understood as the wider coordination of all aspects that need implementing so that the event can happen successfully. Accordingly, it seems that event planning may be the preliminary stage of event management. In reality, however, things are a bit more nuanced and not so binary. It is true that those who operate on an event project as planners and managers focus on different things, but the entire process that goes into this activity is complex. More people are mobilised, not only to plan or manage, but to contribute to the larger process of event organising: event designers, producers, coordinators, organisers, volunteers and so on. These people often operate in a team, like at QLU, where a few members constitute the body of our Event Committee. Though these members have distinct roles and duties, they have surely cooperated and collaborated with one another to complete all that needed implementing to make our events happen.

We hopefully made it clear now that what goes into event planning, management, or organising requires dedication. You will need to follow certain steps, draft checklists, and put together an event plan, through which you can successfully take into account every aspect of the event. Though the scope and complexity of the chosen plan vary depending on the nature of the event, the fundamental logics and challenges remain similar. This implies for instance establishing the event’s type and objectives, setting up a team composed of an event committee, determining a budget, choosing a date and venue, selecting the performers, speakers, and attendees, implementing a marketing and advertising strategy, considering sponsorships and partnerships, and executing the event. As such, the process demands that we create organisational timelines, use softwares perhaps, take care of logistics, and track progress in order to effectively secure the resources needed to make the event a success (Jennifer Bridges/ProjectManager). These tasks pose fundamental questions that will inform decision-making processes within the teams responsible for the choice of the event’s nature and the subsequent execution of the event plan and strategy. This is where we step in as Intersectionality Policy Advisors at QLU. We carefully assess what kinds of questions need to be asked, how to ask them, what to ask them about, to whomst, where, and when. We spent some time earlier talking about how queer feminist theories and practices inform our projects. And we discussed our values for that matter. In fact, we pay attention to the potential ways in which we could infuse feminist principles into QLU’s event planning, management, and organising strategies. Our chosen avenue is that of intersectionality theory to ensure that we first ask the right questions and then engage in practices and processes that respect what we stand for. In what follows, we introduce you to intersectionality both as a concept and praxis.

Intersectionality Theory

The concept of intersectionality was developed by US legal scholar and critical race theorist Kimberlé W. Crenshaw in 1989. Crenshaw argued that anti-discrimination laws tend to adopt a single-axis analysis of either race or gender-based discrimination, and that treating these two identity factors as mutually-exclusive ignores how they engage with each other to influence the unique experience(s) of Black women in the US. As such, she explained that both anti-racist politics and traditional feminist theory often overlooked the experiences of women of colour because they failed to acknowledge the overlapping systems of oppression they face. Intersectionality emphasises that individuals' experiences of discrimination are not solely determined by a single aspect of their identity, such as gender or race, but rather by the intersections and interactions of multiple social categories. For example, a woman of colour may encounter distinct challenges and face forms of discrimination that are different from those experienced by a White woman or a man of colour.

Intersectional feminism aims to highlight the complex ways in which power structures, social hierarchies, and discrimination operate. It recognises that different individuals may experience various levels of privilege and oppression simultaneously. And it calls for an inclusive and nuanced approach to feminist activism and social justice. Since the late 1980s then, intersectionality has proven to be a useful methodology to assess the ways in which multiple and different aspects of our identities can be simultaneously embodied, giving rise, therefore, to unique lived realities. As such, intersectionality theory demands that we consider the relationship between power and identity. It helps us conceptualise the connections between different systems of oppression and people’s sociopolitical locations in hierarchies of power and privilege. It urges us to take into consideration how our multiple and intersecting identities–such as gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, class, nationality, citizenship, linguistic practices, communication abilities, age, physical (dis)ability, mental health, neurodiversity, relationship status, employment type, education background, housing situation, geographical location, political affiliation, and body size–interact in complex ways to influence our respective experiences in society. Intersectionality provides us with an equity framework with which to view the interconnections between social systems and power within community members’ lived experiences. It encourages us to develop awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions of how to address systemic barriers and multicultural issues that interfere with those very experiences (Singh, Appling & Trepal 2020, 265-66). Traditional methods of event planning, management, and organising often fail to account for their contributors’ and atteendees’ multiple, intersecting systems of oppression. That is, they omit their different needs and desires, as well as the complex relations one may have with the many power dynamics that rule our environments. We propose intersectionality theory to engage in practices that will create spaces that welcome all. And we choose it to develop events and activities that are both effective and appropriate, without generalising each community members’ individual experience into a collective and monolithic group experience.

Intersectionality asks that we consider conceptualising our own identities in a critical way. By paying attention to the intersecting aspects of identity and power, intersectionality provides a more comprehensive understanding of inequality and helps advocate for social change that addresses the diverse experiences and needs of marginalised groups. It demands that we assess and understand the power, resources, and privilege we have or lack. It encourages us to engage with a process of self-reflection so that we can access organic knowledge about ourselves and the kinds of relations we have with structures of oppression. Intersectionality theory commands us to evaluate our positionality–or simply put, to know where we stand in society.

Grounding our Identities, Reflecting on our Roles and Situating our Work

The author of this guidebook currently serves as one of the two intersectionality policy advisors under the guise of QLU. A member of the LGBTQIA+ community, they self-identify as a neuroqueer nonbinary transfemme. They are White, of Mediterranean heritage and of French citizenship. They are in their early twenties and reside in Amsterdam at the time of writing. They hold a university degree in the field of the humanities and social sciences from Leiden University, and will soon return, after a two-year hiatus during which they worked full-time in the nonprofit and corporate sectors, to studying. Furthermore, the author is able-bodied, secular, middle class and precarious. They are an active community member by their identity, presence, relationships, and engagement through their position at QLU and their wider actions, both individual and collective. They rally with anti-oppressive, decolonial, feminist, intersectional, and queer practices. And they acknowledge that though their commitments are diverse, their biases are many–hence this exercise through which they attempt to ground their identity. As such, they reflect on their privileges and the limitations of their positionality as community member, as intersectionality policy advisor, as former student and young professional, as marginalised individuals, and as someone who has been trained by Western academia (Ansloos et al. 2021, 84).

The author and researcher paid significant attention to what they understood their role(s) to be–if they even have any. They acknowledge the potential power, privilege, status, and duties their current position conferes them. Yet, they view their role as that of a community member who has answered the call made by QLU while in need of so-called intersectionality policy advisors. They understand their position as no better than any other. And they work with humility towards ensuring QLU’s practices reflect certain values–feminist values which we talked about earlier–and respect the tenets of intersectionality theory. They conceive their role as being responsible–in tandem with someone else–for orienting QLU’s actions towards change and continuing projects of social justice that serve our communities and their members. Their work, they hope, reflects just that.

What they work on here–a queer feminist introduction to intersectional event planning and management–aims at advancing shared community goals of social justice, collective care and healing, transformation, and liberation. Even if they take pride in their ambitions and achievements, they like to bear in mind that what they do is a community project which involves the (in)direct participation of many. Their commitment is to remain accountable, aware, grateful, and to conduct research that contributes to knowledge creation and circulation in innovative ways. The subject of this document, and the many questions the topic of this project raises for that matter, is one which has received growing attention in the last few years. Indeed, recent sociopolitical developments have reignited discussions of the topics and realities of diversity, equity, and inclusion across several spheres of society. As such, more organisations, institutions, and collectives have asserted their commitment to questions of social justice, responsibility, and change. As a community member who also is a privileged agent within QLU, they conceptualise their work as an attempt to account for the current innovative practices that we have encountered, learnt about, and implemented regarding queer feminist pedagogies in event planning and management. That is, they here gather in a reflexive and informed way, refreshing perspectives and best practices that honour our principles and simultaneously drive change, engage in/with care, build community, raise awareness, suffuse euphoria, and make claims to futurity.

Methodology and Proposed Framework

The present research aligns with our commitments to feminist pedagogy and critical methodology. This means we continuously examined our biases and watched out for assumptions in order to better inform our inquiries and findings, hence the exercise of reflexivity that we offered earlier on positionality, whereby the author-researcher’s grounded their identity, reflected on their role, and situated their work.

This project was to initially be carried out by both intersectionality policy advisors operating within QLU. And they sought to conduct loosely structured interviews with members of a small number of relevant local organisations, associations, and collectives which we believed had honourable experience with queer feminist strategies in event planning, organising and management. By such means, the author-researchers intended to ask questions about the chosen organisations’ values and visions, and to inquire into their members’ practices and methods, as a way to gain valuable information into the current trends that propel their organisational actions. Unfortunately, a number of unexpected factors–such as problems with organisation, time management, coordination, and other unfortunate personal circumstances–led to a revision in the nature, scale and scope of the present project. What was meant to be a participatory project in the form of a practical guidebook has become something else. Namely, an essay written by one of the two members and which stands as a queer feminist introduction to intersectional event planning and management–the other advisor is now focusing instead on writing a piece about QLU’s relationship and engagement with decolonial thought. Nonetheless, the author-researcher sought a deep understanding of the topic under study, rather than generalisations, through the conducting of extensive research. They conducted critical analysis of available material and literary resources, and used a reflexive attitude throughout, informed by both their identity as a member of local LGBTQIA+ communities and their role within an active queer feminist collective, namely QLU. As such, they organise their findings along six themes which they reckon event planners, managers, and organisers should pay considerable attention to if they want to engage in queer feminist practices. These themes, which together they choose to introduce as the acronym IDEASS, are the following: Inclusion; Diversity; Equity; Accessibility; Safety; and Sustainability.

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Bright Ideas? We Got Bright IDEASS

Inclusion

Inclusion refers to the process and practice of actively and continuously ensuring that people feel included, or in other words, that they feel a sense of belonging. It is about ensuring that they feel valued, appreciated, accepted, and celebrated, rather than tolerated. Inclusion is the choice to create cultures that embrace diversity. Inclusion then is not merely about making sure that certain groups of people are present. It’s about how they engage, about the power they wield, the resources they have access to, and how they use them. Inclusion is a reflection on the specific patterns of exclusion that marginalised groups face, and an active commitment to engaging in inclusive practices so that all can fully be empowered. Endorsing inclusion in strategies of event design, planning, management, and organising means making sure that the resulting project creates experiences that are supportive of everyone who could and would attend. It is about removing barriers so that all participants feel empowered to engage fully and truthfully.

Diversity

Simply put, diversity refers to the quality of having many constituents. It is about the presence of multiple types of people, elements or perspectives in a given occurrence, process or environment. More specifically, diversity implies the understanding that we make not one homogenous, but a diverse set of individuals and groups that inhabit different geographical and social locations and who pursue different goals and agendas. Diversity is about caring for intersectionality and considering the wide range of identities around us: age, (dis)ability, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, cultural background, linguistic competencies, personal and professional background, geographical location, socioeconomic class, religion etc. It is about the incorporation of under-represented groups in instances of decision-making, participation, and leadership. In event organising, diversity calls for reflecting on who is involved in situations of decision-making, processes of event design, and practices of event management. It implies paying considerable attention to making sure that a diverse range of team members, participants, and other agents are represented in the actual event and its organisation.

Equity

Equity refers to the process of ensuring that practices are impartial, fair, and that they provide equal possible outcomes. Equity as an objective strives for the implementation of specific measures that take into account each individual’s and group’s needs and demands. As such, equity is about treating everyone according to their different needs so that they feel empowered and enabled to participate and contribute fully. Equity is not to be conflated with equality. Equality means that all have equal rights, responsibilities, access to resources, and the same opportunities regardless of their identity, capacity, and circumstances. Far from being the reality today, equality seems more like a promising vision or a project underway. It is indeed an end goal. But how do we get there? Equity, which means “fairness of treatment for all [...] according to their respective needs, may be one way to get there. Equity may imply treatment that is either equal or different, but which is nonetheless considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, resources, obligations, and opportunities.” (Source) Considering equity in event design, planning, management, and organising means ensuring that everyone is and feels supported accordingly throughout the event process and during the event itself. It is about making sure that all those involved get their different needs met to fully participate–as team members, performers, and attendees.

Accessability

Accessibility refers to “the practice of making information, activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many people as possible” (Source). It is about identifying and responding to conditions which limit or block access, so that we can provide equitable opportunity, regardless of a person’s or group’s abilities or circumstances. Accessibility demands that we reject universalism and leave behind a one-size-fits-all approach. And it asks that we consider the many conditions that may affect one’s capacity and ability to access resources. If accessibility calls mainly for paying attention to spatial arrangements, feminist accessibility considers both physical elements present in material environments and the power-imbued social realities that they create in determining access. Accessibility is then a socio-spatial phenomenon (Hamraie 2013). Attending to accessibility in event design, planning, management, and organising means focusing on considering different needs, both spatially and socially. It is about addressing the presence of systemic conditions–exclusionary urban planning and architectural design, asymmetrical power structures and discriminatory attitudes, financial struggles, etc–to ensure the presence and full participation of all.

Safety

Safety may be loosely understood as the absence of harm, abuse, stress, violence, danger and risk. But while most definitions of safety emphasise its physical nature and link it to an issue of bodily or material security, safety is best accounted for through a multidimensional approach: one which considers not only its physical, but also the psychological, affective, sociocultural, political, experimental, and otherwise aspects (Spaaij & Schulenkorf 2014). Discussions of safety often mention the concept of safe space as a strategy to temporarily keep marginalised people free from harassment. The provision of safety is critical, and calls not for a response to “a static and predefined category of ‘unsafe’” through the curation of a guarded or secure environment. Instead, it invites us to actively and continuously negotiate with the complexities, paradoxes, and tensions involved in practices of safe space-making. In that sense, safety is an intentional and modest attempt to create spaces where we can practise social justice, encourage social difference(s), build solidarities, de/reconstruct spatial power dynamics, challenge the status quo, and practise intersectional feminist activism (The Roestone Collective 2014). Safety is then a crucial component of event design, planning, management, and organising, for team members, performers, and participants should feel at ease to participate and interact with others in positive ways. Nonetheless, safety is a collective and messy practice of cultivating a safe space. It is about “grappling with comfort, discomfort, and the structural power relations that shape experiences. Safer spaces shape who feels welcome or unwelcome, and empower those who use them, but can never guarantee safety or comfort” (Lohman 2022, 16).

Sustainability

In its most basic sense, sustainability refers to the ability to carry on or support a process over time while thinking about the future implications of that very process. Sustainability as a development strategy is usually broken down into three distinct but intersecting pillars: economic activity, environmental conservation, and social change. Sustainability is a topic we have heard about a lot in the last decades, in relation to the pressing issue of climate change especially. It demands that we fundamentally restructure economic, social, political and spatial relations so that we can continue living on this planet in a non-detrimental manner. Sustainability, when taken up through a feminist lens, calls for the development and application of practices that are based on solidarity and reciprocity. That is, practices that cultivate equal relationships between humans, non-humans, and the ecosystem, and which push for cooperation among and within societies (MacGregor 2003). In the context of event organising, sustainability can help us rethink our strategies, so that we can minimise all potential negative impacts on the environment, leave a beneficial legacy for our community, and empower all those involved in the process (Del Olmo Herrero 2021).

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Queer Feminist Ideas: Towards Intersectional Community Spaces

A Queer Feminist Approach to Event Planning and Management

Events are spaces to meet and (re)connect with members of a given community in the aim of collectively partaking in certain activities. We discussed, throughout the earlier sections of this document, some of the principles that are dear to us, some of the values we have, and some of the visions we cast for our events. Implementing feminist thinking in our practices and processes of event design, planning, management, and organising is about staying informed of the goals of liberation, and about questioning our chosen way(s) to get there. It’s about understanding and applying intersectionality to our commitments, about queering our ways of reflecting and doing, and about making claims toward decolonial futures. It’s a dynamic and collective practice oriented towards the production of spaces and moments that let us briefly enjoy the taste of better conditions and futures for us all. Taking a feminist approach to event design, planning, management, and organising is about understanding the relationship between minorities and public space(s), as well as considering the rise of hate crimes and discrimination in recent years, in order to respond by offering appropriate opportunities and creating environments that are more inclusive, welcoming of diversity, and hospitable for all members of society (Azzouz & Catterall 2021). It is about coveting change and adopting innovative strategies to serve our goals and the needs of each member of our communities so that we can move closer to what we want to see in the world.

A queer feminist approach to event design, planning, management, and organising takes the form of queering. Queering here refers to a series of practices whereby something can be queered. Whereby, that is, something can be destabilised in its very nature. These practices question assumptions and “interrogate the norms that give shape to [mainstream] organizational spaces and processes” (Vitry 2020, 935). Furthermore, these practices invite us to engage in innovative processes—or radical ways of thinking, being and doing—that reject the cisheteropatriarchal assumptions and straightening practices handed to us by neoliberal capitalism. The aim here is to ultimately refuse to impose such regulating effects that can silence, oppress, alienate or exclude minorities. Queering invites us to ask ourselves how we can organise collectives that do not reproduce capitalist or neoliberal tendencies and how we can use our differences to build more inclusive communities. It asks us to recognise the fact that organisations themselves, like academia, for-profit companies, and other institutions that make up Western societies, can be complicit with neoliberal capitalism through the way they organise space and time. And it invites us to think about developing queer modes of organising and space-making that foster collective resistance against hegemonic regimes. Queering means exploring how lived experience can be affected by ideology, structures of power, and cultural norms, and recognising how these factors influence our bodies, thoughts and actions, in order to do things differently. If space is a site for organising and “the ‘field of action’ where bodily encounters occur” (Vitry 2020, 939) and where bodies are expected to conform and act a certain way, then how do we queer both space and organising? Queering space could take the form of an accumulation of bodies that upset the normative expectations of the space. For instance, the presence of a significant number of queer people in a so-called straight space can have a queering effect. Queering space is an act of resistance whereby individuals or groups actively refuse to erase their difference(s) and conform by being visible, in order to reclaim spaces and make them more welcoming (Vitry 2020, 943). Nevertheless, the process of queering space, which can ultimately turn a straight space into a queer space, can also produce new norms, leading to the exclusion of some bodies. Self-proclaimed queer spaces can for instance reproduce and incite whiteness or able-bodiedness. For that matter, it is important to bear in mind that queer(ed) spaces exist “alongside, and within, other capitalist normative spaces” and that the curation of queer spaces results in tensions that need to be navigated thoughtfully. If we conceptualise queer(ed) spaces as spaces where bodies are free not to conform and resist power dynamics, queering organising may take the form of letting organisers and team members to “turn energy, time, and resources freely” and according to their respective needs, desires, and capacities (Vitry 2020, 945). That is, queering organising invites us to let ourselves/others do things differently and to ultimately let loose to open up the field of possible action. It allows us to move at our own pace in our work, to fail at meeting deadlines and goals, and to change directions to find other radical paths for collective action.

All that goes into the processes which lead to the event are ultimately about practising a form of community care. Indeed, events are something done by us, for us, and about us. Events are important moments of exchange and powerful vessels of change. They’re enclaves of euphoria, socialisation, and networking, and most importantly, an act of communal resistance. We engage in community care by attempting to connect with one another, and as such prioritise our own growth, both personally and collectively. Event organising is about believing in our own capacity to transform what we have into opportunities for all: opportunities for healing, joy, and resilience. It’s about galvanising ourselves and honouring each person’s lived reality. We see ourselves as agents within a larger movement for self-determination: a movement which turns mundane places into colourful zones where identities dissolve and crystallise–where we can lose or find ourselves. We understand events as temporary pockets in timespace, as glimmers of hope, as safe havens for persecuted fugitives, and as miniature home worlds for the misunderstood aliens among us (Reynolds, in Wark 2023). Eventually, it’s about diversity, inclusion, equity, accessibility, safety, and sustainability.

Application of IDEASS

So how do we apply our feminist ideas to our work? How do we truthfully and effectively implement the tenets of intersectionality in our praxis? And how do we practise inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, safety, and sustainability throughout the entirety of the processes of event design, planning, management, and organising–as well as during and after the event?

We initially thought about cutting this section according to the constant of time. That is, we first considered dividing our final contribution to the body of this guidebook in three parts: before, during, and after the event. So what changed our mind(s)? Upon further reflection and consideration for our values and principles, we concluded that such a partition could be counter-productive, or in contradiction to parts of our philosophy. Indeed, time is a social construct and a regulating logic of capitalism, cisheteropatriarchy, and colonialism. Needless to say that the same goes for space. Together, these two systems–time and space–make up the many sites where and when power structures perversely play out. We understand time as non-linear, complex, and tricky. Time as porous, fleeting, and with ellipses. Time as contracting, expanding, and perhaps solidifying. We reject the tripartite lay out of before, during, and after (past/present/future) because it animates, just like morning, afternoon and evening, the suffocating and chrononormative rhythm that society imposes on us: family time, school time, straight time, the nine-to-five workday five days a week, daylight time–normative time which tries so hard to dictate the way we should live our lives (Freeman 2010). Instead, we subscribe to other kinds of times: crip time, mad time, queer time, night time, and/or decolonial time. As such, we choose not to compartmentalise according to normative understandings of time. Likewise, we do not structure following the six tenets which form the acronym we proposed (IDEASS) because these are practices that overlap, call for one another, work in cooperation, and which cannot be separated when applied and effected. Had we done so, we would have needed to constantly jump back and forth between those parts: event design, planning, management, and organising are dynamic processes which involve instances where things must be re-considered, re-evaluated, changed, adapted, re-applied, or left out of the equation based on internal matters, external factors, and unfoldings which involve a combination of both or neither. Instead, we chose to arrange what follows into a looser way, into a less rigid structure: into something laid out as a mosaique from which to pick from, add to, consider entirely, re-organise, or ignore completely. The practical recommendations we present below aim not at providing you with a one-size-fits-all model, but aim rather at offering perspectives which to consider and adapt to the situation at hand.

Casting a vision

Casting a vision is a crucial step in the process of designing, planning, managing, and organising an event as it provides a clear direction, purpose, and inspiration for the entirety of the project. A well-defined vision acts as a guiding light. It shapes the goals, objectives, and overall experience of the event that you choose to organise. It serves as a blueprint that aligns the efforts of your team, partners, and stakeholders towards a common goal. A strong vision allows for strategic decision-making, ensuring that every aspect of the event, from the venue selection to the content creation, is in harmony with the desired outcome. Furthermore, casting a vision instils a sense of purpose and motivation within the team, fostering enthusiasm and dedication throughout the process. It helps generate excitement among attendees, partners, and participants, as they can clearly understand and connect with your event's purpose. Ultimately, a well-cast vision not only shapes the event itself but also lays the foundation for its success by setting the direction and expectations for a memorable and impactful experience.

If you think about it, what we have spent much of our time doing throughout this guidebook has been about casting a vision. We presented our guiding values and principles, discussed our overall goals and objectives, and motivated our project in light of our engagements within a bigger feminist movement for social transformation and liberation. And in doing so, we made space for imagination and creativity. Communicating your vision with all those involved is crucial.

Diversifying your team

Diversifying your team is a vital step towards fostering change, inclusivity, and overall success. By embracing diversity, your event committee can tap into a wide range of identities, perspectives, experiences, and talents, and this can significantly enhance the planning process and event outcomes. A diverse team can bring fresh ideas, unique cultural insights, and alternative approaches to problem-solving. This in turn enables your committee, team, or wider organisation to connect with a broader audience and create more inclusive and impactful events. Moreover, a diverse event planning team demonstrates a commitment to equal opportunity, thereby promoting an inclusive work environment that values and respects individuals from all backgrounds. It encourages collaboration, empathy, and understanding among team members, resulting in enhanced creativity and a greater ability to address the diverse needs and preferences of event attendees. As such, diversifying your team is a strategic decision that not only strengthens its capabilities but also reflects your organisation's commitment to embracing diversity and promoting positive change.

The more diverse your team is, the more diversity you will find in the potential partners, speakers, artists, performers, attendees, practices, and content topics involved in and featured at your event. A diverse team brings together individuals with a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and networks, thereby expanding your organisation's reach and connections. When planning an event, such a team can use their unique experiences and networks to identify and broaden collaboration with other actors. This could include reaching out to speakers, performers and artists coming from underrepresented communities, collaborating with minority-owned venues, or teaming up with other organisations that promote social change. Similarly, having a diverse team or event committee means you will be more likely to seek out and invite speakers, artists, or performers from various backgrounds, cultures, and expertise areas. This allows for a broader range of perspectives and practices to be shared with event attendees, thereby creating a more enriching experience. The inclusion of diverse speakers, performers and artists can offer multiple contributions and as such can enhance the event's educational and entertainment value. Moreover, a diverse team pays particular attention to the importance of representing a wide array of content topics and practices at the event. They are more likely to recognize and prioritise themes and subjects that resonate with diverse audiences, catering to different interests, and thereby promoting inclusivity. By embracing diversity within the team, the planning process becomes more inclusive, ensuring that a diverse range of voices and content topics are featured, thus attracting a more diverse audience. To sum up, a diverse team and event committee serves as a catalyst for discovering and engaging with a broader range of partners, speakers, artists, performers, attendees, practices and content topics. Your event will only be more inclusive, representative, and appealing, thereby attracting diverse participants and fostering a sense of belonging for all attendees.

Cultivating awareness

Cultivating awareness within your team, event committee, or organisation (and beyond those) is of paramount importance as it creates a culture of understanding, empathy, and inclusivity. Building awareness begins by engaging in self-reflection about our privileges, the power we hold or lack, the resources we have access to and the ones we cannot use, as well as about what we want, what we can or should do, and how to do it. It’s about making sense of our positions in society and of our roles within the team, organisation or process. We can then continue to cultivate awareness by seeking relevant information and researching relevant topics like that of intersectionality. This process also demands that we foster open and transparent communication within the team, and incite difficult, uncomfortable, but necessary conversations. Self-awareness incites personal growth, and enables team members to collaborate more effectively, make informed decisions, and tailor their contributions to align with the event's purpose. Beyond the team, cultivating awareness involves promoting inclusivity and diversity among all stakeholders, including partners, speakers, performers, artists, and attendees. By actively engaging in dialogue and education, both internally and externally, about cultural sensitivities, relational competencies and social responsibility, you can create a team and event environment that values the diversity of participants and respects their perspectives, experiences, and needs. Cultivating awareness also extends to staying in touch with trends, emerging technologies, and best practices, ensuring that your team remains adaptable and innovative in a dynamic environment. Ultimately, by cultivating awareness, you not only enhance the effectiveness and inclusivity of your event but also contribute to a larger culture of change in your community by spreading it.

For instance, QLU organised on March 3, 2023 an event at LUC (Den Haag) in order to raise money for the victims of the earthquakes that took place from February 6, 2023 onwards along the current Turkish-Syrian border. The event went quite well, and we succeeded in our fundraising task. However, we were contacted after the event by an attendee about something that bothered them. By calling our initiative “Relief Concert for Turkey & Syria,” we failed to hold space for Kurdish communities affected by the disaster across the area. Indeed, Kurdistan as a nation dwells in Western Asia and spreads across the territories of present-day Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. The Kurdish have been persecuted for centuries, barred from practising their culture and religion and from speaking their language, and suffer at the hands of the four states named above, which are autonomous, sovereign, and internationally recognised. Through our language choice, and by omitting them in our initiative, we reproduced exclusionary tendencies and engaged in violent erasure, making us complicit with colonial politics. Understanding of our mistake(s), we received the attendee and tried, along with all institutional actors in the organisation of the event, to hold space for them to share their thoughts, discontent and recommendations. After considering such new elements, we conducted research outside normative trends and posted on our social media to inform our community about the situation, as a way to raise awareness about the matter, and about the specific ways Kurdish folks in the region had been affected by the earthquakes and the struggle they have been in receiving aid. If we choose to discuss this, it is to exemplify what cultivating awareness can look like. In this situation, our team members had to engage in self-reflection about their privilege as residents in Western Europe, unaffected by the earthquakes. And they had to make sense of their positions in society as non-Kurds through difficult but necessary conversations. Open collaboration between the organisation and the attendee, suffused with informed reflection and education, only resulted in better understanding of the disaster and of its implications, which allowed us to foster more inclusion and awareness. As such, cultivating awareness is complicated, and not without tensions, but it is a necessary task in queer feminist practices and decolonial pedagogies.

Proposing diverse and inclusive activities

Proposing a wide array of activities in your eventing strategy is of great importance as it enhances attendee engagement, caters to diverse interests, and ensures a vibrant and inclusive event experience. Offering a diverse range of activities provides options and opportunities for participants to explore, learn, and connect with different practices. This creates a dynamic and inclusive environment where attendees can find activities that align with their preferences, abilities, and cultural backgrounds. What we mean here is not that you need to include as many activities as possible in a single event. This risks diluting your content and could make things overwhelming, consuming and counter-productive. Rather, consider alternating between different activities if you organise events periodically like we do at QLU. You can propose sports events, panel discussions, art exhibitions, creative fairs, performance, fund-raising and charity, food degustation, support groups, open mics, karaoke nights, dance parties, networking events etc. But make sure that beyond the mere diversity in your activities, you think of making them inclusive and accessible. To do so, several considerations are essential. First, ensure that the activities are accessible by providing appropriate facilities, ramps, and pathways for individuals with mobility challenges. Consider offering a variety of formats for activities, such as visual, auditory, or tactile options, to cater to diverse sensory needs. Incorporate elements of universal design to make activities accessible to individuals with disabilities or special needs. Provide clear and concise instructions, visual aids, and communication channels to ensure that all participants can understand and engage in the activities. If you plan sports activities, think for instance about not structuring teams around identity factors like gender. For panel discussions, make sure to include diverse speakers and presenters. For culinary events, think of dietary requirements. Consider designing a strong online component as well (the Covid-19 pandemic is still ongoing at the time of writing) and so on. Additionally, actively seek feedback from attendees and incorporate their suggestions for activity offerings, ensuring a sense of ownership and inclusivity. By proposing a wide array of activities and making them accessible, your team, event committee or organisation can foster an environment where everyone can participate, feel valued, and have a fulfilling and inclusive event experience.

Making your space accessible

Ensuring accessibility in event design, planning, management, and organising is of utmost importance as it promotes inclusivity, equal participation, and a positive experience for all involved. Accessibility means removing both material and symbolic barriers, and is about providing accommodations that enable individuals with disabilities or diverse needs to fully engage in and enjoy the event. Making a space accessible requires practical considerations that pay attention to physical, sensory, cognitive, and economic considerations.

To make your space physically accessible, we suggest ensuring that the chosen venue is wheelchair accessible, and that it has ramps, elevators, and accessible parking spaces. Provide clear signage to guide attendees in finding the venue or the designated space where the event takes place. If applicable, consider marking seating areas for individuals with mobility challenges. Most importantly, make sure that entrances and other pathways are wide enough to accommodate different mobility aids.

To make your space sensorily accessible, you can provide assistive listening systems for individuals with hearing impairments, earplugs, ensure adequate lighting levels, and offer quiet areas for individuals who may need a break from noise and stimulation. These are also known as chill spots or decompression rooms. If needed, make information accessible by offering materials in multiple formats such as Braille, large print, or electronic versions. Accessibility is also about using clear and simple language in event communications to facilitate understanding. Think as well about smells.

To make your space cognitively accessible, you can provide quiet spaces, minimise clutter, and ensure that event schedules and instructions are clear, well-organised, communicated in advance, and present visually around the venue. Consider offering trained staff or volunteers who can provide assistance and support to attendees with diverse needs as well. Additionally, consider dietary restrictions and allergies if foods and drinks are involved, offering a variety of options to accommodate different dietary needs.

To make your space economically accessible, think about considering and proposing free or cheap activities, and working with initiatives to offer the possibility where applicable and if needed. This includes for instance guest list spots for the most vulnerable if a participatory fee applies.

Attending to accessibility calls for consulting adequate resources and with relevant actors–like guidebooks, community-based organisations, or individuals with disabilities, who are the real experts on the matter—to gather insights and receive guidance in making your event accessible. Actively seek feedback from attendees to identify points for improvement, and continually refine your accessibility efforts. Remember, accessibility is an ongoing commitment. Regularly evaluate and update your strategies, learn from best practices, and ensure that accessibility remains a core focus in all aspects and processes of event design, planning, management, and organising. By prioritising accessibility, you create an environment where all individuals can fully participate, feel valued, and enjoy a truly inclusive event experience.

Practising safety

Practising safety is no easy task, inasmuch as the very concept of safety is a contested one. Yet, paying attention to safety is crucial so that we can create a space animated by mutual respect, and where there is zero tolerance for discrimination, harm, or harassment. As such, the aim of practising safety is to ultimately curate a ‘safe space.’ We use the verb ‘practising’ for we believe safety is simultaneously a matter of personal presence (being or feeling safe) and of community action (doing or exercising safety) (Lohman 2022, 5). It is, then, a process of space-making (McCartan & Nash 2022). Safety is an intended condition put forth by organisers and a shared goal for attendees. It is a dynamic act of collective participation rather than a question of personal consumption (Lohman 2022, 7). For that matter, we need to start by asking ourselves a few questions. What does a safe space entail? Or, how best to conceptualise it? Safe spaces are contextual sites. They are context-dependent products of particular situations. Therefore, they call for different measures and considerations with regards to notions of safety, which are produced both materially and socially. It is crucial then that we understand what our space intends to do and that we adopt a reflexive approach in order to tailor our strategies of event design, planning, management, and organising. That is, we need to question what/who we seek safety from, and what/who do we seek safety for. This implies asking when, where, and why, as well as how. In fact, safe spaces are complex instances which cannot be conceptualised through static and a-contextual understandings of what is safe on the one hand, and unsafe on the other. Rather, safety demands constant (re)negotiation of the present conditions of time and space, as well as continued (re)evaluation of power dynamics (The Roestone Collective 2014, 1346). Safe spaces are hard to create and maintain, because they are paradoxical, multidimensional, and ever-incomplete.

By paradoxical, we mean that they call for insisting on identity categories of social differences like gender identity, race, or sexuality, and that they ultimately reproduce unwanted binaries like those of safe vs. unsafe, inclusive vs. exclusive, separatist vs. integrated, comfortable vs. uncomfortable and so on (The Roestone Collective 2014, 1352). These binaries are porous, however, in that their constituents constantly shift side based on the context at hand. What is safe for a given situation will not be for the other. Who needs to be included in one instance will be excluded in another. And who gets to be comfortable in one space will be intentionally uncomfortable in another.

By multidimensional, we mean that the cultivation of safe spaces asks that we pay particular attention to different aspects of safety. That is: physical, psychological or affective, sociocultural, political, and experimental dimensions. “The physical dimension of safe space refers to a place that provides safety from physical harm and is accessible and accommodating. Strategies to create such a space include, for example, the provision of a secure and/or guarded environment, appropriate rules that protect participants […], and adequate facilities and access for people with physical disabilities. The psychological/affective dimension of safe space refers to protection from psychological or emotional harm. This dimension is typically concerned with the establishment of trust, a sense of engagement, and a common identity within the confines of an activity” (Spaaij & Schulenkorf 2014, 634). The sociocultural dimension of safe space refers to a desired goal of familiarity, whereby the participants that exist within that very space can engage in practices and form relations all the while feeling comfortable, supported and included regardless—or rather considering—of their social locations and identities. This dimension of safe space echoes the notion of cultural safety which promotes environments where meaningful interactions can happen through trust, mutual respect, support and acceptance. The political dimension of safe space refers to the possibility of engaging in open dialogue while respecting political differences. It is about leading constructive discussions around ideology and views and about collaborative learning around differences of opinions. These four dimensions indicate that safe spaces are sites where individuals can freely participate and express their identities while celebrating their respective differences without fear of physical or psychological danger, censure, exclusion or exploitation. Yet, safe spaces are not to be understood as devoid of stress, tensions, risk, conflict, and discomfort if we want to incite creativity, critical thinking, reflexivity and discovery, all of which are crucial conditions for social change to happen. As such, safe spaces also have an experimental dimension, which refers to the potential tensions and creative risks that need to be maintained and negotiated in order to make way for the transformative and innovative potential of cultural practices (Spaaij & Schulenkorf 2014, 634-35). These dimensions are of course not rigidly separated: they interact with one another and operate together. Likewise, they overlap and shift according to context, just like the porous binaries were discussed earlier in the section.

By ever-incomplete, we mean that safe spaces are always never completely safe from potential harm: they can never be free of risk. They are sites of tension, where different actors interact, and where constant (re)negotiation occurs. As such, if the entire aim of so-called safe spaces is to try to offer a sense of safety, it can never be guaranteed. In that vein, we should always strive for what some refer to as ‘safe(r) spaces.’ That is, sites that are continuously in progress within community settings and where space is shaped, regulated, and contested by active, ever-changing, and reflexive practices by organisers through policy measures and security arrangements, as well by performers and attendees (Lohman 2022, 2-3).

As event organisers, it is expected from you that you provide security and safety to your team members, performers, and attendees. If you chose to organise your event in a venue, choose wisely, and prioritise institutions that minority individuals often visit. Licensed venues are usually equipped with safety protocols and security staff, but minorities may view such staff “as part of unwelcome authoritarian practices of regulation” (Lohman 2022, 9). They may have experienced harassment from security staff in the past and may therefore not trust them in ensuring that the space they are about to enter is safe enough for them. We therefore suggest that you make sure that venue and security staff are trained accordingly. For instance, QLU promotes the implementation of the ‘Ask for Angela’ campaign, where participants who feel unsafe or uncomfortable can go up to bar staff who, trained to respond to instances of sexual harassment or assault, can help the victim escape the situation. You can also choose to resort to community members as volunteers trained appropriately as bouncers or awareness teams/floor angels. These volunteers, easily identifiable and who share the space’s political values and community norms, can uncover and challenge existing power structures and approaches in a way that reassures team members, performers and attendees in knowing they won’t be subjected to unnecessary and violent encounters at the door (Lohman 2022, 10). In that vein, it is also crucial that you design policies and community guidelines that communicate your engagement towards safety and security, consent and privacy, as well as your commitment to diversity and inclusion, explaining to your participants that your event demands to be free from the many forms of unwanted behaviour like violence, harassment, discrimination, and prejudice. Likewise, your policy should ask that suspicious behaviour be reported to staff and organisers through specific canals, and explain that anyone engaging in such undesirable actions will be held accountable through a set of appropriate procedures like removal from the premises. Such information should be communicated to participants in advance on social media, upon entry by door staff, as well as throughout your space by ways of posters placarded around the venue. As such, safety becomes a matter of collective responsibility and constant (re)negotiation that demands the conscious participation of all those present at the event, and where anyone—staff, organisers, performers, and participants alike—may take on the responsibility to intervene and maintain safety by challenging others’ behaviours (Lohman 2022, 14).

Lastly, we offer a reminder that a safe space is never guaranteed, and that it can—and will—manifest itself differently each and every time. There is no one-size-fits-all, and therefore no definite or generic recipe for the creation of such spaces. Sometimes, your intentions will not overcome certain occurrences like mishaps or wrongdoings. Even so, it is important to learn from our mistakes and shortcomings. Safe(r) spaces are complex and dynamic sites where social differences should be carefully negotiated, where oppression should be effectively challenged, and where (dis)comfort should be critically cultivated.

Adopting inclusive strategies of communication

Communicating with your team members, community, or target audience is a big part of event design, planning, management or organising. For that matter, adopting diverse and inclusive strategies of communication during the process and beyond is important. This is true when promoting your event especially, as to ensure that you reach a broader audience and make all feel welcomed and represented, thereby fostering certain principles.

First, consider language and tone, as to make your message understandable to all. Think of using simple sentences and clear wording, and try to use inclusive language that is gender-neutral, respectful, and that avoids stereotypes or biases. Likewise, pay attention to the cultural and linguistic diversity of your target audience and adapt communication accordingly. To do so, engage and collaborate with as many actors and stakeholders as possible, which brings us to the following point.

Second, we suggest that you seek input from diverse communities and individuals during the entire event process to ensure their perspectives are represented. This entails collaborating with community organisations or affinity groups to co-create and disseminate event information, as well as actively listening to feedback and concerns from participants in order to adjust communication strategies accordingly. However, you should not expect minority groups and marginalised individuals to teach you about inclusive language and preferred terminology (Joo et al. 2022, 8-9).

Third, be mindful of accessibility considerations when communicating. Try providing multiple communication channels to cater to different preferences and accessibility needs, such as written, visual, and audio formats, and make sure that all digital content, including websites and social media posts, adheres to web accessibility standards. Incorporate for example features such as alt-text for images, to make content accessible to individuals with visual impairments. If need be, offer accommodations during the event itself, such as sign language interpretation or closed captioning, in the case of live presentations or use of videos. When advertising your event, disseminating information and other promotional material, think of different ways of doing so. This brings us to our next point.

Fourth, use multiple platforms and juggle between a variety of communication channels, such as email newsletters, social media (WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc), websites, and traditional means like physical posters, to reach a diverse audience. Don’t forget to tailor your message and content to fit the specific platform while maintaining consistency and inclusivity. When doing so, be careful with your imagery, and include clear information about directions (for instance, with a map and textual instructions) on how to get to the event easily (The University of British Columbia Equity and Inclusion Office).

As such, and fifth, be wary of the stakes that come with visual representation. When designing social media posts and posters, and promotional materials in general, think about utilising imagery that is inclusive, diverse, and representative. This means for instance ensuring that a variety of racial, ethnic, age, and gender identities are featured to reflect the diversity of the intended audience.

Lastly, show that your organisation is committed to diversity, accessibility and inclusion in communications through educational content. For that matter, you can—and should—consider publishing a diversity statement, a code of conduct, accessibility guidelines, the potential limitations of your event, and options for financial support if applicable. Think of providing a point of contact as well, so that one can reach out for clarification on any point about the organisation or requests for accommodations during the occurrence of your event. This will let your attendees know that you value and practice transparency and accountability in your initiatives (Joo et al 2022, 8-9). And don’t forget: be creative and have fun with your communication choices!

By implementing these communication strategies, you can create welcoming spaces for your team constituents, community, and audience, thereby encouraging participation from underrepresented groups, fostering a strong sense of belonging, and ensuring that everybody feels valued and respected throughout the event organising process and experience.

Setting goals and measuring progress

Setting goals is necessary in the context of your event strategy, inasmuch as it provides your team with a clear direction, measurable targets, and a framework for assessing progress and success. To set effective goals, start by defining the overarching objectives of your event: why and how are you organising this event? This could include goals such as ensuring diverse representation among attendees, speakers, and partners, promoting accessibility, or creating a welcoming and inclusive environment. Break down these broader goals into specific, actionable targets, such as percentage increases in diverse representation or implementing accessibility measures. Ensure that your goals are realistic, achievable, and aligned with the values and mission of your organisation. To measure progress towards these goals, you can establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that align with your objectives. These could include tracking attendee demographics, conducting post-event surveys to assess inclusivity perceptions, or evaluating accessibility compliance. Collect quantitative data, through attendee surveys or registration information, as well as qualitative feedback to gain a comprehensive understanding of progress and areas for improvement. Regularly analyse and review the data to identify trends, strengths, and areas that require further attention. Additionally, engaging with all the different stakeholders and seeking their input through diverse occasions can provide valuable insights and help assess your progress. Collaborate with your team and all those involved to gather different perspectives and ensure a comprehensive evaluation of your efforts. Remember that it is normal and desirable, and therefore essential, to review and reassess your goals and progress regularly. As you gather feedback, learn from best practices, and adapt to changing circumstances, adjust your goals accordingly. Celebrate milestones and achievements, but also remain open to constructive criticism and ongoing improvement. By setting clear goals, establishing relevant metrics, and regularly measuring progress, you can ensure that your efforts are purposeful, measurable, and continuously evolving.

Implementing feedback mechanisms

Implementing feedback mechanisms in the context of event organising is crucial for continuous improvement and to ensure a positive team and attendee experience. Feedback serves as a valuable source of diverse insights, allowing you to gauge the success of your event, identify areas for growth, and make informed decisions for future planning. By actively seeking feedback from attendees, participants, speakers, artists, performers, and partners, you gain a deeper understanding of their perspectives, preferences, and concerns. The information obtained can be used to refine event logistics, programming, and overall engagement strategies. The implementation and effective use of feedback mechanisms not only provides a platform for all involved to voice their opinions but also demonstrates your commitment to their satisfaction, thereby fostering a sense of trust and loyalty. Moreover, feedback allows you to measure the impact of your event, evaluate its effectiveness in achieving your goals, and make data-driven adjustments for future iterations. It also provides an opportunity to acknowledge and address any issues or concerns promptly, mitigating potential reputational risks. Feedback is about failure, change, and growth.. Ultimately, by implementing feedback mechanisms, you create an inclusive culture that promotes continuous learning, growth, accountability and the delivery of exceptional event experiences.

It is important to bear in mind that feedback is not something to be only given or received at the end of the event, or after it has taken place. Indeed, cultivating a culture that values feedback starts before the occurrence of the event. By this, we mean that it is necessary to set expectations early on by communicating with your team, participants, and attendees that feedback will be actively sought after, as well as how so. Clearly communicate the channels through which feedback can be provided, and make sure there are many of them. You should, as such, offer multiple opportunities for feedback transmission throughout the event. This can include on-site feedback stations, interactive activities, or dedicated sessions for attendees to reflect and share their thoughts. Encourage real-time feedback to capture immediate impressions and suggestions for improvement, through for example quick and regular check-ins. We invite you to only consider post-event strategies. For instance, send out concise surveys after the event to gather detailed feedback. Ensure that the survey is well-designed, accessible, and that it covers key aspects of the event, including content, logistics, and overall experience. Use a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions to gather both specific data and narrative feedback, and leave room for additional remarks. You can also send adapted follow-up emails to attendees, thanking them for their participation and encouraging them to provide feedback. Include a direct link to the feedback survey or provide contact information for further discussions or suggestions. This can be done through online platforms like your website or social media accounts. Create dedicated feedback sections and monitor and respond to feedback in a timely and constructive manner. Indeed, pay attention to the timing of feedback collection. Allow participants enough time to reflect on their experience while keeping their memory fresh. We suggest that you send reminders periodically to increase response rates and capture feedback from those who may have missed earlier opportunities. Once your feedback is collected, you should analyse the data and identify common themes, trends, and actionable insights. Share the findings with your team, the event committee, and all involved, as to inform future processes of event design, planning, management, and organising and make necessary improvements. Remember that feedback should be viewed as a continuous process rather than a single occurrence. It is a commitment to including as many perspectives as possible or necessary. Continuously seek feedback, learn from it, and adapt your event strategies accordingly. By implementing feedback mechanisms at various stages of the event and acting upon the insights received, you can continuously reflect on your practices, improve the quality of your projects and enhance the impact of your overall initiative.

Sustaining your project

Sustainability is a crucial factor in event design, planning, management, and organising strategies, and sustaining your project can help reduce its potentially significant impact on the environment, local communities, and on the wider economy. Incorporating sustainable practices not only helps minimise such influences, but also aligns your project with the principles of ethical and responsible eventing. Implementing sustainable strategies starts with setting clear sustainability goals and integrating them into all aspects of your process. In order to attend to sustainability, you can consider first to limit environmental impact. Opt for instance for eco-friendly venues that prioritise energy efficiency and waste management systems. Encourage sustainable transportation options for attendees, such as public options or free parking, and implement recycling, composting, and using reusable materials if applicable. Second, it is important that you make sure that your event leaves a beneficial legacy for your community and all involved. This entails for instance collaborating with local actors, groups and institutions to support the local economy. Incorporate community engagement initiatives, such as volunteering or partnerships, and consider the cultural and social aspects of the host community, integrating their values and traditions into the event experience. Lastly, it is crucial that you pay attention to economic factors. Refuse engaging in green-washing and in capitalist activities like for-profit initiatives. Instead, think about alternative modes of economic activities: cost minimising, effective resource allocation, and financial viability for all stakeholders involved. Eventually, sustaining your event is about empowering all involved. You can do so by fostering inclusive practices and ensuring accessibility for individuals with disabilities or diverse needs, by providing fair and ethical working conditions for event staff and participants, and by educating participants about sustainability and inspiring them to adopt sustainable practices beyond the event. By incorporating sustainable strategies into your practices, your event can contribute positively to environmental conservation, community development, economic well-being, ethical principles and social empowerment.

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Conclusion

Event design, planning, management, and organising is no easy task, but it is both doable and desirable. As a queer feminist collective, it is important to us at QLU to infuse theories of social justice into our practices. We began this project to offer a resource for those who, like us, start from scratch with only a vision for the future. In the introduction, we discussed the advent of QLU as a grassroot organisation, and presented the values that propel our actions, namely: change, care, community, awareness, joy, and futurity. We then motivated the project and introduced it accordingly to account for its relevance. In the second part, we briefly talked about event planning and management as a complex praxis which requires organisation and critical thinking, amongst other things. And we followed by presenting Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality theory to demonstrate its usefulness vis-a-vis our work. Following that, the author-researcher engaged in a thoughtful exercise of identity-grounding, thereby reflecting on their role(s) and situating the present work within a broader landscape of queer feminist community organising. Then, we presented the chosen methodology, and proposed our chosen framework. This framework, which we put forth in the third part in the form of the acronym IDEASS, encapsulates the six tenets which, we argue, event organisers should consider in their strategies if they want to pay homage to queer feminist theories. These tenets are namely: inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility, safety, and sustainability. After providing concise definitions for each concept, we moved to the fourth and last part of our project. There, we argued for a queer feminist approach to event planning and management in the form of queering, and subsequently explained how to put this into practice. For that matter, we chose to offer a set of ten recommendations to orient your strategy. We suggest, then, that you potentially consider the following points of action: casting a vision; diversifying your team; cultivating awareness; proposing diverse and inclusive activities; curating a space that is accessible; practising safety; adopting inclusive strategies of communication; setting goals and measuring progress; implementing feedback mechanisms; and sustaining your project. These form not a kitchen recipe to follow. Rather, it is up to you to use them as you please: adapt them, remove some, add others, apply them all, or ignore them altogether, but do so critically.

If you have made it this far, we thank you immensely for considering our work and recommendations, and are pleased to know that other individuals and organisations–like you–are keen on organising events in a queer feminist manner. We are grateful for all those who want to make the mountain taller by considering what we believe are best practices for event organising.

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