November 14, 2021: In Response to Drive Through Dickens

To the Dickens Christmas Fair (DCF) community:

As Red Barn Productions (RBP) moves forward with Drive Thru Dickens’ London despite having not met the Minimum Requirements for a Safe Dickens Fair, the London Solidarity Network (LSN) continues to advocate for a boycott of RBP-produced events. We hope that everyone who has committed to boycotting with us will continue to stand firm. So long as any of the Minimum Requirements remain unmet, holding DCF creates a highly physically and emotionally unsafe environment for participants and patrons alike.

We had been cautiously optimistic about the progress RBP has made toward meeting the Minimum Requirements thus far, and hopeful that Hummingbird Humanity’s conversations with RBP would be as productive as their conversations with us were. However, after Betty Carruthers posted her account of her recent experience with RBP in the Dickens Cast and Crew Community group on Facebook, it is evident that RBP’s leadership still has much organizational and personal work left ahead of them before the LSN can in good conscience recommend that those who are boycotting return to DCF.

We recognize the financial necessity of RBP going forward with DCF in some form this year. We especially empathize with the vendors, vendor staff, performers, and crew members who greatly depend on the income they receive from their participation in DCF.

We wish RBP the best of luck in continuing to do the necessary work to make DCF safe for everyone, and look forward to working with them to achieve that goal. In the meantime, we invite the DCF community to review Betty Carruther's testimony and the Minimum Requirements (linked below), as well as support participating DCF vendors directly, through the links provided below.

To review the minimum requirements that RBP must meet before the LSN can recommend ending the boycott of DCF, see Minimum Requirements for a Safe Dickens Fair.

In solidarity,

The London Solidarity Network