A code of conduct exists to understand ourselves as a community and respect each other as human beings without any discrimination and oppression.
 

This guides us to talk, exchange ideas, take care of each other and guarantee agreements of well-being and mutual respect. And because of that, it is constantly evolving to keep up with our needs and learning.
 

The BABEL -ImprovFest- community is made up of the team that works at the festival, the volunteers, the supporting institutions, the invited guests, the registered participants and the general audience that attends the festival's activities.
Thus, all people who participate in the Festival's activities undertake to:

• Carry out the activities and preserve the venue space, maintaining an atmosphere of well-being, friendly and security for all people;

• Respect and include all people regardless of gender, age, political position, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, physical appearance, weight, ethnicity, language, religion, culture, or any other group identity;

• Demanding respect for yourself and others;

• Ensure the physical and emotional integrity of all people;

• Be available for dialogue, cordiality and empathy in our diversities;

• Exercise self-reflection and solidarity among the community;

• Caring for and being responsible for the physical spaces used by everyone;

• Read and act on our code of conduct.

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Advisable practices to help fulfill our agreements:

• Use and respect the pronouns by which people identify themselves;

• Adoption of gender-inclusive languages;

• Exercise your freedom not to comment on other people's bodies;

• Availability to support other people, without hurting yourself;

• Respect the agreements and schedules of activities;

• What people do or do not do in Get Together Activities or any other activities are in their own interest, we are grateful for the abstention of comments.

• Having fun in your skin with all the pride of being who you are.

 

BABEL -ImprovFest-'s team works in a horizontal hierarchy, in which positions and functions exist by work organization and not by power dynamics. Thus, both in internal team relations and in the relationship with participants and the general public, what guides our code of conduct as a community is the sense that no one is more important than anyone else, and no one is less important than anyone else.​
 

In this way, we always assume the best in people and the best intentions in their words and actions, aware at the same time that our best still may not have the best impact on others.
 

We also know that each person is a universe of layers of cultures, and that perspectives tend to be diverse in different subjects and situations. We respect and encourage this diversity, while it does not authorize hate speech, behavior (to speak is to act) that is offensive, threatening, harassing, discriminatory, oppressive and that causes embarrassment or threatens the physical and/or emotional integrity of any person, whether from verbal, written (physical or digital) or in person. These practices, in addition to being criminal in several instances, are not tolerable or compatible with the purposes of BABEL -ImprovFest-.
 

Therefore, we always encourage dialogue, in the first instance, in the event of misunderstandings or divergent points of view. But we are also always aware that most oppression is systematic and makes the oppressed party hostage to situations, and that is why we are available to serve as an intermediary in conversations, in direct mediation (with the presence of the parties involved) or indirect (in separate conversations).
 

In case of denunciations of actions (to speak is to act), each case is specific, having as main guidelines:

• Both parties will be heard, always assuring and formally warning of the seriousness of occurrences, whether intentional or not.

• The preservation of the physical and emotional integrity of all the people involved, without refraining at any time from protecting the person who suffered the situation.

• As applicable measures, in addition to the formal warning, the offending person or group may lose their privileges as members of the BABEL -ImprovFest- community, as, as the case may be:

  • impediment of participation or presence in Festival activities of this year and/or subsequent ones;

  • immediate termination of contracts (whether for people invited, hired or who signed up for the activities);

  • Law enforcers intervention./

 

We point out that the BABEL -ImprovFest- is responsible for intervening in these situations, understanding itself as the host, and therefore in a position of natural mediator of these issues, but the community in general does not exempt itself from responsibility by not colluding or becoming an accomplice of actions that we, together, cannot tolerate. Again: always maintaining the physical and emotional integrity of everyone involved. Thus, in the classroom, the teaching person has as much responsibility as the students in ensuring a good social space, a feeling of security and a space for listening. Our hierarchy is horizontal: we are equally responsible even if some part, the BABEL -ImprovFest- team in this case, officially must and will position itself in each occurrence.
 

Israela Israeli will be our Trusty Person, the responsible for helping and welcoming any demand to keep our Space Safe as an BABEL -ImprovFest- community. This person will take the statement of any affected person seriously and acknowledge their subjective sense of what has happened without making any value judgment. In every instance, the affected person has the right to make their own judgment with respect to their boundaries and any hurt experienced. We can discuss further procedures together with the person concerned. Should there be an intervention? How can the affected person be supported? Does the affected person need any additional support that we are unable to provide? In such cases, we are able to recommend details of advice and assistance from third parties.

Specifications regarding Learning Activities:

• We advise you to arrive at the activity spaces a little earlier so that the activity can start at the time and for the moment of meeting and fraternization that precedes it;

• We encourage you to open a space for sharing the limitations that may pose a risk to the physical and/or emotional health (whether topics, issues, or bodily positions) of the people involved. This sharing can be private with the teacher, with punctual partner people in the workshops, and/or with the whole class;

• Be aware of how you are on that day for that activity: respecting yourself is an act of generosity even towards other people;

• Attend with availability and good energy, festivals are intense, the party is good and for it to continue we have to take care of ourselves.

• The training space is not a therapy space and the teaching staff are not therapists, but we do not ignore the power of art in touching us and opening doors that might destabilize us. Ask for help to get out of the punctual situation and seek professional help: mental and emotional health are extremely important;

• Saying "Yes, and" in improvisation does not invalidate consent, nor does it force you to accept things you don't want;

• Assume the best and for that very reason pronounce on something that bothers you, if you feel the need to do so;

• Diversify the people you work with in the exercises (if that doesn't compromise the class proposal);

• Drink water! Tip: Take your water bottle and if you see someone drinking water, use this as a reminder to drink water too.

Specifications regarding Artistic Activities:

• Respect the arrival, start and end times of activities so that the organization can flow and other people are not harmed in their working time;

• Check with yourself and the group, when appropriate, how they are doing that day for that activity: respecting yourself and other people is revolutionary;

• If any discriminatory or offensive topic appears in your improvisation, take it on: it has already appeared, take responsibility and use art as a platform for transformation. We will be on your side in community if you allow yourself to do so.

Specifications regarding the Get Together Activities:

• We invite you to make new friends and meet new people during the festival

• Before or after the workshops, during lunch or between workshops and shows, try to socialize.

• If you see someone alone, invite them to chat with your group.

• Nobody has to take care of anybody, but as a community we take care of ourselves, respecting each person's adult and sober decisions.

About use of Social Media:

• It's polite to ask permission to photograph or film someone before doing so and posting on social media: if there are other people in your image, it doesn't just belong to you;

• Capture images of shows and artwork only when authorized and check the identification of the names of groups and artists (it is elegant to write the names and titles correctly or as they are identified on social networks);

• Tagging the Festival is more than encouraged: @babelimprovfest (instagram and facebook)

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