SSDP Encourages You to Support DanceSafe
Last Updated: December 2, 2024
April 19, 2014-
For the past 15 years DanceSafe has provided on-site drug education, adulterant screening services, peer-to-peer counseling and free harm reduction supplies for hundreds of thousands of live music/festival-goer’s throughout the US. They have undoubtedly contributed more to the establishment, continuation and positive growth of the live music harm reduction movement in the US than any other organization or group. Managing to persevere through sensationalist media scares, strict government crackdowns leading to promoter & venue isolation while remaining viable and relevant was and continues to be no small task.
The past couple of years have seen a resurgence in interest and support for their cause in the US due to the popularization of electronic dance music coupled with a number of high-profile drug-related incidents at large scale EDM events. In response, DanceSafe has led the charge working to integrate harm reduction into these events and connect those globally working towards the issue together. In May of 2013, along with Drug Policy Alliance & Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, they organized Club Health a conference solely concerned with health and safety in the nightlife community. The 8th installment, and first held in the US, was attended by researchers, medical personnel, government officials, grassroots organizers and activists from all over the world. The main objective being to share methods of best practice and create a global network of those promoting and practicing harm reduction in the nightlife community.
Following this global meeting of interested parties, they have continued to spearhead those efforts here in the States by bringing together some of the major stakeholders and allied organizations such as the AMPLIFY Project, Drug Policy Alliance, Electronic Music Alliance, and the Zendo Project. In addition to building a network that is concerned with harm reduction in the nightlife and live music communities in the United States, they continue to succeed in setting up at high profile events. Later that year, DanceSafe played a revolutionary role at the inaugural TomorrowWorld held outside Atlanta, GA when asked for the first time by a major American promoter/festival organizer to be a part of their event. Volunteers were fully integrated into the medical teams and provided a dedicated cool & calm space to distribute materials, supplies and water throughout the weekend. In addition, their harm reduction messaging was officially adopted by the festival being promoted before & during the event, all together resulting in NO drug related deaths from the 140,000+ person 4 day long event! On top of all of this DanceSafe is also pushing the advancement of research into more effective drug checking technologies which will undoubtedly revolutionize the field of on-site live music harm reduction in the US, trust us you’re going to want to follow this one closely!
DanceSafe continually serves as an inspiration to the AMPLIFY Project and our volunteers to serve as the primary voice when it comes to keeping the electronic music and nightlife communities safe & informed via a public health approach. They have been an unbending partner since teaming up in 2012 and done more to support our work while exposing us to the larger global nightlife safety movement than anyone else. And now they need your help! DanceSafe needs financial support to continue to conduct on-site outreach and supply attendees with free materials such as sunscreen, earplugs, condoms, Vitamin C, and factual drug information. Financial support will also help in the development of volunteer training programs and evaluating the impact of DanceSafe’s services, thus solidifying their role within the electronic music and nightlife communities as a source of factual information and reducing harms associated with substance use at events.
Please support the important work DanceSafe is doing by donating to their Indiegogo Campaign today! There are some absolutely amazing perks varying from merchandise, testing kits, all expense paid trips to festivals around the country and meet & greets with some of the biggest names in electronic music. But don’t just take our word for it! Take 5 mins to watch the campaign video and hear from staff, volunteers, artists and promoters nationwide who all support the work of this organization,
If you can’t contribute monetarily help us spread the word about this amazing organization and campaign by sharing this to your friends & family. Each dollar raised or time shared with help exponentially towards keeping our youth safe, informed and empowered to make responsible decisions about their health. Thank you!
By- Brian Gilbert
Board of Directors, DanceSafe
Director of Artist & Volunteer Relations, AMPLIFY Project
brian@dancesafe.org