Hi everyone! We're currently in a bit of a dilemma as to whether to include sensory warnings (some loud sounds) for our percussion concerts. We'd like to be more transparent about what our audiences can expect in our concerts, but a few of my colleagues are worried that this may 'scare' away potential audience members – the argument here is that there are more quiet moments than loud ones. For context, these concerts are in a fairly small, intimate space. We will be providing earplugs and plan on communicating this.
I'd love to hear about everyone's thoughts on this, as well as your practice around trigger warnings and how you'd word/present the information so that it's representative of the experience? Thank you!
Hi Shenette, Chloe, Carlos and Heath,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful replies! My apologies for leaving this thread for so long - we had a couple of urgent projects come up and had to put this conversation on hold for a bit, but I'm very glad to say we're slowly incorporating sensory information on our website (we've adapted the wording you've shared Heath, thank you!)
We decided to go with the term "Sensory Information" and we've included a line to let patrons know they can contact us for more information about the program (thanks Chloe for this advice!) It's not perfect yet, but we do hope it's a step in the right direction.
Our team did raise one more concern: as we start to provide sensory information consistently, we do worry that if we miss anything, we might be breaking our audience's trust in us. Of course, I am of the view that trying is definitely better than nothing, but what are your thoughts on this - have such situations come up for you?
This DEAI work is fragile. We are all learning as we go and sure to miss something along the way. Here in Raleigh, NC we have provided extensive details about one thing… and less about others. Only to go back to the drawing board again. I do agree that it can send messaging to our guest that’s confusing so keeping several eyes on the shared info is awesome and helpful. You’re off to a fantastic start!