New Music Edmonton Guidelines for Fostering Positive Spaces

These guidelines apply to all people who interact with New Music Edmonton, including members, performers, artists, staff, volunteers, outreach and workshop participants, and audience members. 

These guidelines cover all New Music Edmonton spaces and events, whether physical or online venues.

Introduction

  • Mission:  New Music Edmonton’s (NME) mission is to contribute to an accessible, healthy, and vibrant artistic ecosystem through support and professional-level presentation of music and sound-oriented art by creatives at diverse career stages who represent the diversity of Amiskwaciwâskahikan ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ / Edmonton, and to further engage the public through inspiring community outreach programs.
  • Equity:  New Music Edmonton recognizes that treating all people equally does not guarantee fairness, but can instead reinforce extant biases. As such, in contributing to a reliably equitable environment in our own presentations, the arts generally, and society as a whole, we endorse and have adopted policies whose outcomes promote fair distribution of opportunities. 
  • Our Guidelines:  In support of our mission and equity statement, the following guidelines help to ensure that all folks connecting with NME have positive experiences while interacting with our spaces and people.  We recognize that no space is fully safe for anyone, but we are all responsible for reducing risks and preventing harms to support positive spaces.  Our guidelines aim to support folks in creating a space together in which we all can celebrate our experiences, identities and communities, in a way that is intentional, meaningful and respectful to each other.  We all must demonstrate care and respect for those around us.

Guidelines for Fostering Positive Spaces: 

  • Everyone working with NME is responsible for their behaviour.  NME expects our community members to:
    • Respect physical, and emotional boundaries
    • Be mindful of the impact of your words.  The effect of words on other people is more important than the speaker’s intent.
    • Always act out of respect, and concern for the free expression of others
    • Actively listen to others
    • Not make assumptions about identity, experiences, or pronouns
    • Not use words or phrases with the intent of being racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, transphobic, ageist, or ableist
  • NME aims to be an inclusive space, and does not tolerate any forms of discrimination, harassment, or bullying.  We are committed to fostering a harassment-free space where all people are treated with respect and dignity.   The Canadian Human Rights Act protects individuals from harassment based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability or pardoned conviction.  
  • Any stakeholder participating in NME work who is found to have harassed another individual may be subject to disciplinary action. This includes any person who: interferes with the resolution of a harassment complaint; retaliates against an individual for filing a harassment complaint; or files an unfounded harassment complaint intended to cause harm. 

Guidelines for Choosing Appropriate Artistic Content to Present with NME

  • NME acknowledges and respects each individual’s rights and responsibilities surrounding freedom of expression.  Any material for presentation with NME that does not respect our guidelines for fostering positive spaces, or that presents information that is harmful, toxic, oppressive, and/or violent to someone is not appropriate for presentation.  Please carefully consider whether you are bringing something forward in your artistic work to further a conversation in a respectful way.
  • If the content you are planning to present will include sensitive or triggering content, please inform NME Artistic Director (Ian) and General Manager (Chenoa) to coordinate a plan for the presentation, including, but not limited to, a content warning for the material and event(s).

Guidelines for Conflict Resolution:

  • Please bring forward any violations of NME’s Fostering Positive Spaces Guidelines directly to the NME contacts listed below.

Conflict Resolution Process:

*For conflicts that do not involve violations of the NME Fostering Positive Spaces Guidelines

  • Conflict can be a normal part of working with others, and the creative process.  If conflicts arise, we expect all involved to resolve issues in good faith.  
  • First, have a conversation directly with the person involved:
    • Clearly identify the problem
    • Listen to the other person
    • Brainstorm solutions
  • Report the issue, and resolution to the NME contacts listed below
  • If you do not find a resolution, and require support to resolve the situation, please take your concerns to the NME contacts listed at the end of this document

Guidelines for Social Media 

NME recognizes that social media is a part of many people’s lives and is an important platform for connecting with others, promoting artistic work, social activism, and many other uses.  We ask that you consider the following guidelines when engaging with NME and social media.

  • Appropriate Uses of Social Media
    • Self-marketing activities (promoting work, creating online content, etc.)
    • Distribution activities (legal distribution of creative work, etc.)
    • Sharing general information about your work (scheduling, touring, etc.)
  • Inappropriate Uses of Social Media
    • Venting publicly about work-related problems, rather than seeking a solution and/or resolving the conflict
    • Bullying peers, colleagues, mentors, collaborators, or any individual
    • Posting videos and pictures of creative work without permission, and/or proper acknowledgement
    • Sharing confidential information, and/or private emails and correspondence without express permission
  • Social Activism vs. Bullying
    • Many people use social media as a platform for legitimate social activism.  However, it is important to consider the difference between social activism and online bullying before pressing “post”.  As a general suggestion, individuals are encouraged to resolve conflicts in-person rather than posting about it on social media.

Violation of Guidelines

  • All parties involved in any violation or complaint are expected to respect the privacy and confidentiality of all other parties involved, and to limit the discussion of the complaint to those that need to know.   NME and all individuals involved in any NME complaint process, will comply with all requirements of the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) to protect personal information.
  • Bring forward any violations of NME’s Fostering Positive Spaces Guidelines directly to the NME contacts listed below.  If the complaint is about senior management, NME will engage an outside person to address the issue.
  • Designated person(s) from the NME board members and/or staff will work to find appropriate actions and consequences to any violations of our fostering positive spaces guidelines.  This may include, but not limited to, restorative justice practices, disciplinary action, immediate dismissal from our events, and/or termination of employment or position within the organisation. 
  • If the complaint is about a senior member of NME, the organisation will appoint an individual from outside the organisation as an independent party to address concerns.
  • Please note:  NME will do its best to ensure confidentiality in all claims. Under certain circumstances, NME would be required to disclose information to the NME Board of Directors, or by law to the police and legal officials.
  • Please note that we are an arts organisation run by a volunteer board and part-time staff, with limited financial resources.  While we are highly committed to upholding the values outlined in this document to support positive interactions in all NME work, there are limits to our human and financial resources.
  • Additionally, we welcome and encourage feedback on any aspect of your work and interactions with NME.  If you have a concern or would like to share an experience of working with NME, please be in touch so that we can have an open conversation.

Additional Information

Contacts for Complaints and Feedback

  • Chenoa Anderson, NME General Manager: generalmanagerATnewmusicedmontonDOTca
  • Ian Crutchley, NME Artistic Director: artisticdirectorATnewmusicedmontonDOTca
  • Ben Whittier, President, NME Board of Directors: presidentATnewmusicedmontonDOTca