Statement Festival
The Statement Festival is a music festival in Sweden for women, non-binary and transgender persons. It took first place in Gothenburg in 31 August to 1 September 2018 and aims to be held annually. The organizers stated that the festival would be held "without men", in practice meaning a festival only for people who are women, non-binary or transgender persons. The festival's backstage area was jokingly dubbed a "man-pen" by organisers, in reference to male technicians, managers and members of artists' entourages who would generally reside there. For visitors there is an 18 year age limit.
History
The idea of a "man-free festival" came from comedian Emma Knyckare after several festivals in the preceding seasons such as Bråvalla Festival and We Are Sthlm had problems with rape and sexual assault among the festivalgoers. She presented the idea on Twitter and the number of positive responses she received encouraged her to organise the event. In 2017 a crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign raised about 50,000 euro towards organising the festival. Approximately 30 additional organisers joined in the following months. In a September 2017 interview, the organisers discussed having hired lawyers to provide legal counsel with regards to legislation on the equal treatment of men and women.In May 2018, Emma Knyckare added a long term goal to the festival: to open the festival also to all men. The festival received 200,000 kronor in state subsidies from the Swedish Arts Council in 2018.
Among the booked artists are Frida Hyvönen and Dolores Haze, Maxida Märak, Radula, Beatrice Eli, Ionnalee and British rock band Girlschool. Comedians Nour El-Refai och Josefin Johansson will also appear.