As buskers we tend to be head strong independent individuals which is something I love about the busking community, but it can also be a struggle to fit that many strong personalities in one place. Here are some tips for working with your colleagues and maintain peace that I have learned from experience and from some good advice from fellow buskers. These tips and opinions are my own and I welcome any discussion or disagreement. Debate is how we grow our ideas and opinions
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Harassment can happen in many forms and it can come from any direction. As a street performer you may be seen as an easy target for the less scrupulous in our society.
Harassment is only so if it is a continued set of behaviours targeted at an individual or group by another individual or group. This may be from a local business owner or from a fellow busker or a council representative. It's good t know your rights on the subject but more importantly you will have to prove it should it ever become a legal matter. Harassment covers a wide variety of laws ion the UK from sexual harassment to stalking to patterns of abuse to implicit or explicit threats of violence and much much more. What you really need to know though is if you feel you are being harassed, or singled out by an individual or group for abuse or behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, then you have a right to feel safe and to work without harassment. If you are not sure if it is harassment ask yourself
Record everything get yourself a body cam if you are feeling physically unsafe or get a friend to record any interactions with the person. If it needs to be more discreet get yourself a pocket recorder to record conversations. Always stay calm yourself and don't let them wind you up. You're legally allow to record conversations that you are a part of in the UK as long as you don't use it for anything other than your own purposes as in do not post it to any websites or make it public. This article will tell you more about the laws regarding recorded conversations. Is It Illegal To Record Conversations? DMA Law Advice (dma-law.co.uk) it will take time to prove harassment, a single case of abuse is not harassment and so you will have to record more instances if your goal is to prove it. That being said a single instance of abuse is enough to complain about if the person is employed by the council or another body. Contact your local council with the name of the individual and tell them what is happening if they are hired by the council. If the individual is a busker, local or local business owner the issue is tougher. If you have several recording of a business owner giving you grief contact the police, this is often enough for the business owner to realise that you won't go away and you can at least come to some arrangement. If the police see that you are following the laws and being reasonable they will likely take your side. If the harassment is coming from a fellow busker talk to other buskers about it, they may have a reputation for this type of behaviour and you may get support. If you are working the pitch alone with them you have the option of leaving or proving harassment. This is a very difficult thing to do particularly if they are practiced at this type of bullying. Your best bet is to never be alone with them, bullies rarely attack in front of witnesses and if they do you have witnesses and backup. The key to harassment really is providing proof and not escalating in some cases they will get bored if you don't react and move on. Sadly if you stand out you may become a target by certain types of people for reasons known only to them. I am often harassed by a particular type of man who has issues with whatever type of woman he sees me as. There are also the kind of guys who think women or new people will be easy to scare away and thus reduce the competition, standing up to these people usually makes them stop as they aren't interested in harassing they just want to take an easy way to get more street time, when they see you won't stand for it they tend to back off. It can be hard knowing who is going to turn out to be a bully. My advice is calmly stand your ground and if they persist record everything should it escalate. Don't let them know you are recording or they may become more sly about it but still continue to harass you. The link below will give you the legal stance on harassment I can only give you my experience and I will say if you are up against a practiced bully sometimes it's better for your own mental health to walk away unless you can have other people with you when they are around. I wish I had better advice but as someone who's had to deal with a lot of harassment over the years all I can say is secure yourself or retreat. In the end Your mental health is more important than any pitch. I know this sounds like run away and you have every right to stay, prove it and be victorious but just know this will be a long and arduous process and you will need support. If you are in a situation like that right now I would love to hear from you to know more about. I would love to find a way to stamp out harassment in all areas of life and close the loopholes that the bullies keep using, lets have a conversation and see what we can do even if that's just support each other. Legislation.gov.uk Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (legislation.gov.uk) When working a pitch you are not just working with other buskers you are working with everyone who frequents and works on the street. Here are some tips for getting along with the locals
Systems to manage pitches exist all over the world. The denser the busking population the more negotiation and collaboration has been needed over the years producing systems that allow buskers to share the streets and work together for everyone's benefit. These are some of the systems I have been privileged to take part in. If there are more systems out there that I am unaware of please help to keep this post relevant by adding to it. The opinions in this article about systems are entirely my own, if your opinion differs tell me how and why and we can have a chat about what works best
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AuthorHey I'm Su I am a performer and maker of things. I'd love to stick to just one medium but I'm easily.... ArchivesCategories |