Diversity & Accessibility: Open’er Festival Case Study (PL)
- City & country: Gdynia, Poland
- Number of days: 4 days at the venue, 6 days at the camp site
- Site: Gdynia-Kosakowo Airport
- Daily capacity: 80,000
- Established in: 2002
- Keywords: accessibility, inclusion of people with disabilities, gender balance, gender equality, safe space
By Ola Krakowska, New Media & Marketing Manager at Alter Art Festival
We are very proud of Open’er Festival’s values: everyone is important and equal. The festival is a celebration of freedom and friendship, sharing the love of music and those spectacular emotions. From the very beginning, our goal has been to create an event which reflects those values. This is what Open’er Festival wants to be – open to other cultures, possibilities, horizons and perspectives, as well as a friendly place for everyone and a safe space for experiencing positive emotions.
We introduced a number of facilities created for people with various disabilities – adjusting the festival venue to the needs of its participants is our priority. For example:
- People who are blind may enter the festival area with guide dogs.
- There are special parking spots.
- The ATMs in each Food Area and at the campsite are accessible via a paved road.
- Viewing platforms next to the three main stages
- Accessible toilets near each platform
- Volunteers help people with disabilities get to the platforms.
- The theatre has a ramp at the tent entrance and wheelchair space at the front of house.
- Our helpful volunteers are available at the Priority Service Points.
We support diversity and inclusion, and we care for the mental health of our fans. The festival places strong emphasis on ensuring the safety of all attendees, which is why, in 2018, we established a safer space called “Shelter”. It’s a space accessible to anyone who feels threatened by the actions of strangers, acquaintances, or close friends, or who witnessed or experienced inappropriate behaviour or harassment. If you need support in any depressing or difficult situation, you will receive psychological and medical help here.
The festival line-up is the emanation of our beliefs, but we also present it through other sections, which are always important for us – like art at the venue, panels in the Let’s Talk area, NGO zone, and Theatres. We make sure that the main theme of these activities is something currently important to all of us, such as women’s rights in a broad sense. Open’er is committed to maintaining a gender-balanced line-up.
Furthermore, in 2024, we introduced “YOU x Open’er” – a campaign, which features regular festival attendees as “festival artists”, regardless of their gender, age, or disabilities.
Each year we place great emphasis on training of security, volunteers, our partners, and we put great effort into communicating our values: Open’er is a place where everybody is respected.