FSGW Safety Policy

How We Can Help

Overview

The Folklore Society of Greater Washington is here for you: if someone or something is bothering you at an FSGW event, we want to help. Here's what we can do:

● If something needs dealing with right away at an event, talk to an event organizer who will try to figure out how to address the situation. To find out who is an event organizer, look for people who are working the check-in desk, giving announcements, or ask a musician/caller to guide you to the event organizer.

● If you have a larger issue, you can write to safety@fsgw.org which consists of the President, Vice President, Concert and Dance Chairs.

● If you are uncomfortable talking to the group as a whole, or your concern deals with a Board member, you can contact board members individually at https://www.fsgw.org/board

We recognize that FSGW Board members are community members, and are friends with people throughout the community. If you find yourself discussing a safety issue informally with any of us, please make it clear whether or not you expect us to address the issue formally. That way, we can make sure your concerns stay confidential, are handled in ways you feel comfortable with, and are communicated to the rest of the FSGW Board when appropriate.

Example Situations when we might be helpful

Here are some examples of situations where our Event Organizer(s) might be able to help:

● You notice someone keeps staring at you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable.

● There is unwanted physical contact.

● Someone tries to force conversation when you have indicated you are not interested.

● Someone is making repeated romantic advances you have declined.

● You feel uncomfortable by material performed or shared at an event.

In any of these situations it would be reasonable to either bring it up with the offending participant yourself or come talk to an event organizer. People may not be aware that what they are doing is harmful, and getting feedback from other participants can help, but if you don't feel ok talking to them, or you've tried and they haven't listened, that's what we're here for.

Our Approach

When you bring a report to us, we have two main goals:

● Support you: find out what you're looking for from us, and determine how we can help.

● Protect the community: figure out whether the person who harmed you is likely to harm others, and if so, figure out how to prevent or mitigate that harm.

Supporting you

We'll start by listening to what you want to tell us. This can be over text, a call, email, or in person. You're welcome to include a friend for support, as long as they're not an FSGW board member.

Our default assumption with anything you tell us is that it's confidential and for our information only. The exception to this is if you tell us about plans to harm yourself or someone else, in which case we may need to bring in others.

We'll ask what you're looking for from us, and may describe some things that have been useful to others in the past.

If what you're looking for is something we're able to do, we'll work with you on the details of any proposal before going further with it.

Protecting the community

When you bring a concern to us, we'll also consider whether this person might be a danger to others. We'll want to speak to them and hear their perspective. We'll also look for evidence of serious misconduct or patterns of harmful behavior at FSGW events.

Your safety still comes first, however, and we won't do anything that might risk your confidentiality without checking with you.

If we find this sort of behavior, there are a range of actions we could take, up to and including banning someone from FSGW events. In the case of people in organizational roles, such as board members, callers, musicians, sound people, etc, we may ask someone to step down even if their behavior wouldn't warrant a ban.

Protecting the community, however, doesn't happen only through removing people who harm others. Part of our role is helping community members learn how to act in ways that support the community and help everyone feel comfortable. A major way we do this is by giving people feedback and holding them accountable.

Interpreting our actions

When we propose an action, this is not a punishment. We're trying to find ways to avoid future harm, not making up for past harm.

We make decisions based on the best information we have, and when new information comes to light we may revisit past decisions. As humans, especially as part-time volunteer humans, we may make mistakes. If you feel that we have made a mistake, please let us know so we can reconsider.

Thank you to Boston Intergenerational Dance Advocates and the CDSS Safety Toolkit for the source material for this document.

Adopted December 2, 2025