SAFER SPACE POLICIES

Kupla is a space for art and different kinds of events. We aim actively to create our events safe and equal for all participants – for organizers, visitors, artists and public.

We want our events to be available for everyone. Our goal is to create versatile events that everyone can feel welcomed to and safe to attend as they are.

Everyone participating in Kupla events is responsible for and committed to safer space policy. The following policies are applied in Safe Space Policy:

1. Be yourself, and let others do so too.
2. Aim to recognize and challenge your assumptions. Do not make assumptions for example on others ethnicity, sexuality, gender or background. Ask rather than assume and respect the answer.
3. Do not harass – verbally or physically.
4. Respect the boundaries of other people and their needs. What you do or say in good terms for somebody, can be too much and disturbing for others. A space that is accessible to you, might be inaccessible to somebody else. Remember that no always means no.
5. Give others space and possibility to be heard. Please notice that people have different ways to express themselves and learn. Notice different levels of language skills. Communicate so that everybody has a possibility to understand.
6. Offer your help, if you suspect somebody would need it or if somebody’s behavior is worrying you. You can also ask Helsinki Urban Art ry staff or security staff to offer help.

We all fail and make mistakes sometimes, that is ok! We encourage you to take responsibility on your sayings, acts and failures. These principles help to carry out responsibility among others:

1. Accept that we all have blind spots, and we might not know everything about everything or experience things like others. Aim to listen and understand.
2. Be aware of your own power positions – does for example your gender, skin color or education level give you privileges that other might not have?
3. Our background, life situations and experiences affect how we see different situations and what we think and feel about them. Aim to understand different perspectives that come from people’s different backgrounds.
4. Be aware that language is always imperfect and we sometimes use the same words to describe different things. This is why we sometimes misunderstand and get misunderstood. Clarify and ask for clarification, if you don’t understand.
5. Some words and acts might cause strong emotional reactions. To react emotionally does not decrease the meaning of the message. Sometimes it might be good to take a break and come back to the difficult subject later again.
6. Despite everything we do not need to agree. We can still treat others with respect.

We handle all the harassment and discrimination situations that are informed to us by the wishes of the person that has informed about the harassment occasion. We take in feedback about our events and ways to act. You can contact us and give feedback either at the events or by sending email to info@kuplakupla.fi

This policy has been applied and sourced by Ruskeat Tytöt ry’s and UrbanApa’s Safe Space Policies.