Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct applies to all participants in the Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival, whether as an author, partner, volunteer or audience member as well as to every member of the Board and Committee 

Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival acknowledges its duty of care to all members of our community and values their safety and wellbeing.  We will act responsibly and swiftly to safeguard against any behaviour we deem to be in violation of this code of conduct. We therefore reserves the right to remove anyone who we feel violates this code of conduct in both online and offline spaces and/or who persists in any harmful behaviours brought to our attention. 

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We expect all participants in the festival to act in the manner set out below: 

• To create a welcoming and safe environment for all 

• To conduct all interactions associated with the festival with openness, respect and empathy 

• To respect the privacy of participants and any sensitive personal information that you may be entrusted with 

• To disagree and offer critique in a respectful, constructive and helpful manner 

• To be prepared to challenge yourself and audience members to identify biases 

• To communicate, engage with and listen to all members of the community in a respectful manner 

• To act responsibly both on and offline and to adhere to any boundaries put in place by your fellow participants. 

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We will not tolerate any: 

• Hate speech, Inflammatory or discriminatory language and behaviours both on or offline. This includes both macro and micro aggressions, or the agreement/ sharing of derogatory and prejudiced words, articles and pictures both past and present with the intent to cause offense or deliberately demean minoritised communities. 

• Offensive comments relating to race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, body size, mental illness, class or any other comments made in order to denigrate or discriminate against a person’s background or lifestyle. 

• Persistent harassment or intimidation both on or offline including unwelcome sexual attention or contact and the sharing of any sexually explicit materials 

• Any behaviour we deem to be physically, sexually or mentally inappropriate 

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We respectfully ask all participants in the Festival to adhere to this code of conduct and we reserve the right to ask persons associated with us to desist in any harmful behaviours brought to our attention. Failure to do so may result in expulsion from festival spaces and/or a severance of any agreement between us.  

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If you or any other member of our community feel that you are experiencing behaviour that is not in line with our code of conduct, we ask you to contact us immediately and draw attention to our Complaints Policy which is on our website 

 

 

Reviewed April 2024