Inspiring performance since 1911. Over one hundred years of music, speech, drama and dance.

Policy on Festival attendance and safeguarding

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1   Organisation, purpose and function

Glasgow Music Festival is a limited company, registered in Scotland, number SC509953. It is a not‐for‐profit company that promotes interest and participation in performing arts and has no paid employees. Everyone involved in the activities of the company, including the company’s officers and members, is a volunteer. In this policy on Festival attendance and safeguarding, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the company; “the Festival” means the event.

We undertake all tasks and enter into all arrangements that are concerned or connected with organising and running the Festival and, from time to time, we may hold other events. The Festival, and any other events, are held for the benefit of performers or participants individually and collectively.

At the annual Festival, amateur performers appear in public and are encouraged to develop skills through receiving advice and encouragement from a team of professional adjudicators. We aim to make these performance opportunities open to everyone.

2   The Festival

The Festival comprises a programme of public performances held over several days at a number of venues in Glasgow including The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and the Renfield Centre. When performers arrive at the Festival, some may be directed to areas for preparation and assembly prior to entering a performance area; in other cases, performers may be directed to a performance area either with no opportunity for preparation and assembly, or with use of an area for assembly only for a short time immediately prior to their performance. Opportunity for preparation and assembly is dependent on requirements and facilities available. Performances are grouped into events, usually referred to as ‘classes’. At the conclusion of a class, all performers receive an appraisal from an experienced professional adjudicator; many performers also compete for places and awards. No Festival performer is required to take part in any competition. Following a class, performers may return to preparation and assembly areas before revisiting a performance area or leaving the building.

Audience tickets for each Festival session may be purchased in advance and/or at the venue on the day of the performance. Programmes detailing all Festival events and listing performers are on sale at the venues.

3   Attending the Festival

We aim to provide a safe environment for everyone attending the Festival. All events are open to the public, and people of all ages attend and participate. At all times, responsibility for care and supervision of children attending the Festival in any capacity rests with their parents/carers or with other adults to whom their parents/carers have entrusted this responsibility. Festival personnel are charged with the smooth running of events and will not, under any circumstances, act in loco parentis. Similarly, responsibility for vulnerable adults attending the Festival rests with their carers who should make any arrangements necessary for them to be accompanied when attending the Festival.

An individual or group may need a facility or consideration that would not normally be required by, or apply to, a majority of participants. We seek to meet these needs wherever practicable, but can only do so if such requirements are notified to us sufficiently in advance to allow us to make the necessary arrangements. In certain circumstances it may be that we cannot make suitable arrangements on the desired occasion and, in these cases, we will advise the notifier accordingly. Anyone with such requirements should contact the Festival Secretary to discuss and agree arrangements.

4   Festival personnel

Our personnel on duty at the Festival comprise voluntary organisers and stewards. Volunteers are recruited and refereed by the Stewarding Administrator or other voluntary organisers. We keep a record of each volunteer’s contact details and issue a short Job Description to each steward when they sign in at the Festival. We provide all personnel with lanyards and badges so they can be identified at the Festival. We keep a record of organisers and stewards on duty at each Festival session.

5   Guidance for entry Sponsors

We do not normally have contact with parents/carers of children or vulnerable adults before a festival, other than in circumstances where the parent/carer is also the entry Sponsor. It is the responsibility of the entry Sponsor to obtain any necessary consent for the attendance of a child or vulnerable adult at the Festival, and many schools and established groups have procedures in place to do this as a matter of routine.

Where a child or vulnerable adult is to attend the Festival, other than as a member of an organised group using an established consent procedure, the Sponsor must ensure that the child’s or vulnerable adult’s parent/carer has been made aware of the nature of the Festival and, in particular, the responsibility of that parent/carer to make arrangements they deem necessary for the child or vulnerable adult to be adequately supervised and supported at all times during attendance at the Festival. While these arrangements are important for the welfare of children and vulnerable adults attending the Festival, it is also in the interests of the Sponsor that arrangements for supervision of children and vulnerable adults are specific and clear.

We believe that taking part in the Festival is a positive experience for the overwhelming majority of participants and, through our policies and practices, aim to make it so. There may, however, be individual circumstances where a particular person or group is unlikely to benefit. Sponsors should take account of such circumstances when deciding whether or not an individual or group should perform and, if in doubt, are invited to contact the Festival Secretary and discuss concerns prior to making a decision.

We publish this policy on our website and direct people to it in the Festival Syllabus, the Regulations and in event Notifications for each performing group or individual performer sent in advance of the Festival to the Sponsor of every entry. The Syllabus, Regulations and Notifications also include key information, taken from this policy, about responsibility for supervision of children and vulnerable adults. Sponsors who wish advice about any aspect of this policy, and/or believe further help is required to enable them to communicate information contained in this policy to parents/carers, should contact the Festival Secretary for assistance. Copies of this policy may also be obtained from the Festival Secretary.

6   Photography, video and audio recording, and press photography

Members of the audience are not permitted to take photographs or to make any type of video or audio recording in performance areas. An official photographer works in some performance areas. Appointed press photography will be permitted in designated areas by prior arrangement. Permission to photograph individual performers should always be obtained in advance of any photograph being taken by the official photographer or a press photographer. Where an individual child or vulnerable adult is performing as part of a group and a parent/carer does not want that child or vulnerable adult to be included in any group photograph, they are responsible for ensuring that the child or vulnerable adult is removed from the group while the photograph is being taken.

7   Concerns and complaints

Anyone with a concern about the well being of festival attendees should raise it timeously with the Festival Secretary or Duty Manager. Where appropriate, an opportunity will be made to discuss the concern in private. All concerns raised will be taken seriously and recorded.

Anyone with a concern or complaint about the conduct of an organiser or steward should raise it with the Festival Secretary and/or the Chairman. Where appropriate, an opportunity will be made to hear the concern or complaint in private. All concerns raised will be taken seriously and recorded.

8   Additional contact details

The Company Secretary is also the nominated Festival Safeguarding Officer and may be contacted using the contact details on this policy or directly by sending an email to cosec@glasgowmusicfestival.org.

24th August 2020

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