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When does the preparation start for Glastonbury?
By the time we’ve packed up and headed back to London, we’re already starting to think about next year. We always want to hear feedback from our team about what we can do differently, and what we can do better. We start the planning in the autumn and by the time we get around to the end of December, I start to get itchy for confirmation that we’ll be joining the Block9 team again for the next Glastonbury.
When does the process start? Is it working out how many people are going to be at the festival? Then planning the provisions that you will be bringing?
Usually, by the time it reaches spring, we have a clear concept of what to do with artwork what information we want to be giving — and applying to people and if there’s any specific focus we should concentrate on. In 2022 and 2023 we focused on Mpox because of the outbreak…
What did that entail?
We did a lot of work before we got on-site, with the Block9 crew and the festival more widely, to think about what we might do to help people avoid getting it. 2022 was right at the height of when Mpox was becoming a problem. But we also briefed staff on what to do if someone arrives on-site and begins displaying symptoms; the information we were providing in ’22 and then a little bit in ’23 was around helping people understand what Mpox is, how to get treatment, how to get help on site. Then we also gave instructions to the crew, the bar staff, performers so all those folks knew exactly what to do if they felt unwell and who to contact and what to do next.
What about this year? Were there any specific issues your team have had to tackle?
Well, we haven’t had COVID or Mpox to contend with as much, so it’s been the joy of business as usual and that involves helping people understand what HIV PrEP is. We also provide 7,500 condom and lube packs, or “Fuck Packs”, that we hand out in NYC Downlow.
7,500! that’s a lot. How do your team put them together?
Yeah, so the construction of our limited edition Fuck Packs takes weeks to put together. We have them especially printed and made. This year we managed to drive a van on-site, so we had everything with us — and, we were really lucky that a company donated the condoms and we bought the lube. And yeah, we quite literally sit and lovingly hand-pack each fuck pack and put a sticker over them. There’s a QR code on the inside of the Fuck Packs that folks can scan, either at the festival or when they get home, to get a wealth of information about harm reduction and sexual health. The other thing I should also mention is that for folks who arrive on the site on Wednesday – and about a 20km radius – if they have the Grindr app downloaded they will get a pop-up broadcast message that says we’re on-site and where we are. Then on Sunday, there’s one that reminds people that if they’ve had a bit of action across the festival, it’s maybe time to get an STI test and we provide them with a list of places to go.
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Your provision has been a lot wider this year though than just sexual health advice, right? Can you tell us a bit about that?
We got feedback from folks who said it would be useful for us to take on more of a welfare and care role on-site. So we’re supplying things like earplugs, we have a hydration station and we’ve been providing period products in partnership with hey girls. We wanted a booth area where people can not only come along and pick up condoms and lube packs as normal, but they can come and receive holistic healthcare and wellbeing advice. Also because we have a radio link straight through to security, if someone has a problem or we think someone is struggling in the area we can call through to get some help for them.
Do you think it’s important to have a more approachable/friendly welfare provision?
Well PrEpster at The Love Tank is a lived experience, so everyone who works and volunteers for The Love Tank is from the communities that we want to work with and alongside. We’re all queer, we all have experience of using HIV PrEP or living with HIV, being in a relationship with someone with HIV. Lots of us have experience in using harm reduction techniques, some of us have experience in doing sex work — so we have a real wealth of community and peer-based experience, that means when people see us in places like Block9 or NYC Downlow, they see us as one of them. They are comfortable asking us questions that they may not necessarily be comfortable asking a doctor or a nurse, or someone can even come to us if they have been having a bad time — maybe taken something they shouldn’t really have taken and they don’t want to go to security so they can go to us and we can make sure they are comfortable and looked after.
Do you think it would be better if more events/festivals took that all-rounded approach to welfare provision? Having the same people who created the incredible posters offering advice on safe sex keeping an eye on partygoers who may be unwell, etc?
We’ve got decades worth of harm-reduction practice that shows that when you instigate holistic, whole health approaches — and when that work is done by people like you — it’s much more effective and accepted. So we’d like to see lots more festivals, clubs, places where people come together, having really holistic, thought-through, peer-run care right through the middle of it. We want to see services available to people, whether that is a place where you can go to grab some cold water because you’ve been in the sun all day or somewhere where you can go and talk to someone…
I started exploring being queer at Glastonbury decades ago, and it was only through conversations with other kind, queer people that I followed the route that I have. We quite often have people who come to us, because we’re a queer-identifying team, and they are coming out for the first time or they’ve had sex with someone of the same gender for the first time. We’ve had it before where people have come along after grabbing one of our condom and lube packs and they’ve woken up next to a drag queen, we always get these really amazing stories through the years that we’ve been here — so it’s really important for us to be embedded as members of the community in this kind of work.
Do you think the Glastonbury experience for queer people is different? How have things changed since Block9 started?
I mean, for me, this weekend marks 38 years since I first went to Glastonbury — and across those nearly four decades, how it feels to be queer on-site, and how the festival approaches queer people has changed. To be honest, one of the things I miss is the underground ways people used to meet, you know, those furtive glances on the railway tracks then ending up getting into all sorts of mischief in the buddha tent [laughs]. But, having a visible queer space at a festival like Glastonbury provides a magnet for people to come and gather and meet people like them, but I also know that it isn’t a once size fits all thing. You know, I remember when NYC Downlow first opened, I didn’t necessarily feel like it was somewhere that I felt connected with and that’s why it’s so great to see other queer spaces popping up all over the festival now; we’ve got Scissors over at The Park, there’s a lot more queer stuff over at Shangri-La — so while it feels like Block9 really stuck a post in the ground 17-19 years ago, saying “we’re going to make Glastonbury queerer” and now you can see the roots of that starting to grow and nourish and that can only be a good thing.
Are there moments that make it all worth it for you and your team?
Nothing makes me happier than seeing people enjoy what we’ve done and benefit from what we’ve done — but then also… last year I remember randomly talking to a guy online, and looked at his Instagram and noticed he was at Glastonbury, and he had one of our posters in his “best of Glasto” album. Nothing brings me more joy. But it’s the same as I feel when, last night for example, people were coming getting water and saying “god this is a really great provision” or earplugs — people love our earplugs.
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Megan Townsend is Mixmag’s Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter