Monday 30 October 2017

Ask For Angela - a Minotaur Sound endorsed safety campaign

We take a break from our cheeky Beast interviews to address the very serious issue of keeping our Minotaur Sound guests and patrons safe as much as possible at all of our club nights.

Which is why the crew at Minotaur Sound firmly subscribe to the 'Ask For Angela' safety campaign that was launched by Lincolnshire County Council in 2016. Picture the scene - and a lot of late night revelers can relate to this - you get separated from your friends and get hit upon by someone you feel uncomfortable with, the attention is unsolicited and/or doesn't stop even when you make it clear that you are not interested. In some instances you could even get followed to the toilet or outside whilst you're waiting for a taxi on your own. It's a type of harrassment that can happen at any time during a night out regardless of gender - see below for other types of harrassment.

This actually happened recently to a woman in Gloucestershire and thanks to her asking pub staff 'for Angela' and the pub in question knowing about the 'Ask For Angela' campaign she was ushered to safety. Some of the Minotaur Sound crew have experienced similar situations and have our own stories to tell. We're a good bunch who look out for each other as well as our guests and we know full well how welcoming a campaign this is for everyone to feel like they can feel safe on a Minotaur Sound night.

Rest assured that on all events, the Minotaur Sound crew work with internal crew, bar staff and security to ensure that anyone who approaches us and 'asks for Angela' is ushered to a place of safety and that we're able to help that person to get safely back home or back with his/her friends. We will always have the 'Ask For Angela' campaign posters stuck up on venue walls and crew, bar staff and security briefed on what to do.

Minotaur Sound operates a zero tolerance on harrassment of any kind and will challenge and work to eradicate violence, harrassment, exploitation or abuse at our events.

Note that harrassment is an act of discrimination that doesn't discriminate: all people can be affected by it. We're talking about racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophonia, classism and ableism.

If anyone has any suggestions on how else we can improve or help to achieve safe nights out for all then please do get in touch. We welcome your feedback - contact us on: beast@minotaursound.co.uk