Diversity & Accessibility: Roskilde Festival Case Study (DK)

• Name: Roskilde Festival
• City & Country: Denmark, Roskilde
• Number of days: 8
• Daily capacity: 130,000: 80,000 full festival, 20,000 daily, 30,000 volunteers
• Site: Dyreskuepladsen, Roskilde
• Established in: 1971
• Keywords: Diversity in booking, accessibility, camping, safer spaces

By Mika Christoffersen, Head of DEI at Roskilde Festival

Roskilde Festival is a non-profit festival held on the first weekend in July that has been happening since 1971 in Roskilde, Denmark. A big part of Roskilde are its volunteers: each year 30,000 people volunteer to create Roskilde Festival, and about 2000 of those are a part of planning, booking, building and creating the festival year-round. At Roskilde Festival, about 200 artists perform on 8 stages, and in addition to music, arts and activism are a large part of the programme. All proceeds are donated to youth initiatives and projects that support the wellbeing and thriving of young people.

Safety and wellbeing

A large focus at Roskilde Festival is the safety and wellbeing of the attendants (everyone from guests to volunteers and partners included). So, in addition to security and traditional safety measures, a lot of infrastructure and teams are dedicated to making everyone feeling safe. This includes:

• A team of trained social workers who are on call 24/7 patrolling the festival grounds in white vests. They handle phycological first aid, crisis situations and the aftermath of crisis situations.
• A team of psychologists whose services volunteers can access, during and after the festival.
• A mental wellbeing team available to artists dealing with stage fright, burnout etc.
• Several ‘safer space’ areas staffed with crisis-educated volunteers, where guests can access help without having to go through an authority figure.
• Reporting publicly on the safety at the festival and what actions are being taken to improve it each year.

Diversity

Diversity, both in the line-up and among the attending guests, has also been a focus for many years. A large part of having a diverse group of guests is of course the representation at the festival, not just on stage, but also in the media, backstage, among bookers and curators. 

Another important part of diversity is inclusion, and that means feeling safe and welcome. A lot of the safety and wellbeing measures feed into this, as diversity is not only about barriers to entry, but about dismantling the reservations a person not used to attending might have.
Some of the measures implemented to improve diversity are:

• A volunteer team of curators for art, activism and music.
• Recruiting curators in a ‘blindfolded’ recruitment process, to limit the bias of the recruiters and increase diversity.
• Publishing a diversity and equity action plan (read more on the DE action plan here).
• Having a code of conduct focused on safety and wellbeing (read more on the code here).
• Having clear ways of reporting and getting help.
• Focusing on representation on the stages, but also in media coverage and recruitment.
• Having all up-and-coming music artists booked by a team of young volunteer curators.

Accessibility

Accessibility, both for guests, but also for volunteers, has been an important part of the community at Roskilde for a very long time. Dismantling the physical barriers to attendance is a big focus when your festival takes place on a field, so creating camping facilities for people with disabilities is a crucial part of accessibility. In addition to the physical barriers, Roskilde also works on dismantling psychological barriers (such as safety and lack of information), organisational barriers (roles, flexible rules, recruitment processes) and social barriers (feeling welcome, being included) (read more on the ‘4 paths of accessibility’ here).

At Roskilde Festival, a lot of the more common accessibility measures are in place, such as being able to bring an assistant for free if needed, bringing service animals, quiet areas, and ramps in front of stages etc. Some of the more unique accessibility measures include: 

• A special volunteering / engagement programme for volunteers with disability or special needs.
• A special disability camping area with extra accommodations and access. People camping there can also bring their non-disabled friends. It is possible to bring a car if needed, and there is access to power and hosts providing help 24/7.
• Running a Facebook group about accessibility for attendees to find community and ask questions.
• Having a special team of volunteers only focused on improving accessibility.
• Working with partners and organisations with disabled youth, so they can attend as a group or with their needs being supported.
• Hosting a yearly tour regarding accessibility for interested partners.
• Offering a hotline during the festival for answering accessibility questions.
• Offering a special senior role for volunteering seniors with a limited amount of hours.