Going to an acro event?

When selecting a festival or event to attend you’ll likely consider where the festival is happening, which of your friends are going, and who is teaching. Then there are the financial considerations: up-front ticket costs, flights, hotels, meals, time-off work, childcare, pet-care, etc.  

Here at BACCES we'd also pose a few other questions for consideration when evaluating at which festivals you want to spend your time and money:

• If I'm a person of color, will I fit in? Will there be a good amount of other BIPOC acrobats there?

• Is the general environment conducive to not 'othering' marginalized groups (Black, Brown, Queer, Trans, Gender nonconforming, Fat, Disabled, etc), not making them feel tokenized, or not seen?

• Are the organizers aware of racial/social justice issues and power dynamics, and how those show up in acro?  Will they address (micro)aggressions when they come up?

• Are the organizers open to ongoing feedback, especially from attendees with more marginalized identities?

• Are there BIPOC folks that are teachers? organizers?

• Is there acknowledgment for the Indigenous land where the festival is being held?

• Are there efforts made to make the festival financially accessible (sliding scale, volunteer spots, work/trade, BIPOC scholarships)?

We want to work with festivals to make all of these answers a resounding YES!  And you get to have a voice by putting your money into festivals that meet YOUR values!

"Questions of money are also questions of truth." ~David McNally