YOUROPE dedicated a two-day seminar to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at festivals – with the kind support of YOUROPE member MaMA Music & Convention. The training event in Paris in October 2024 was in line with what’s at the heart of YOUROPE – The European Festival Association: knowledge transfer. Using best practice examples and input from experts to teach all those interested how to run their events smarter, safer, greener and more inclusive is what YOUROPE does in several workshops and seminars throughout the year – so festivals can become fit for the future.

Most of these training events are open to everyone, not only to YOUROPE’s 134 members. In Paris, the association welcomed 33 participants from 11 countries to their first seminar on DEI at festivals. Some represented festivals, others organizations working with festivals, yet others organizations from the wider cultural sector that wanted to broaden their horizons.

This report summarizes the seminar’s most important takeaways and learnings. Feel free to read through this and implement anything suitable you find at your own event/in your own organization. In this report, you will learn:

• about YOUROPE’s Diversity & Inclusion Toolset
• how to write awareness concepts, codes of conduct etc.
• about the Roskilde Festival case: how to have an impact beyond the festival days
• how to build more diverse teams
• why DEI matters
• what bias is and why we need to be aware of our own biases
• what privilege and microinequities are
• creative ways to make festivals more accessible
• about the Cooltural Festival case: accessibility in all areas
• what discrimination is and how different forms can intersect
• how to be a better ally