Trigger warnings: where do we stand?

• Do we really need fourteen trigger warnings for a Shakespeare production? (a real-life experience from last month) 
• When we warn audiences about potentially difficult content, are we giving them the information they need to make their own choices – or are we interfering with the artistic intention and changing the experience the artist has created for them? 
• Where do we draw the line between providing information and shaping the audience’s experience of a work? 

The topic connects directly to the work of Festival's Care, a group exploring the wellbeing of everyone involved in festivals and the arts – from audiences and artists to festival teams. We look at how festivals can support people’s wellbeing, comfort and sense of safety, as well as how artistic experiences themselves can have a positive impact on wellbeing. 

Approaches to trigger warnings and content warnings vary widely across festivals and countries. In some places, providing information about potentially difficult content has been standard practice for years; elsewhere, such warnings are rarely used or are not considered necessary. 

The reasons behind these different approaches vary too. For some, warnings give audience members the possibility to make an informed choice about encountering certain content, particularly when these may relate to difficult personal experiences and an unexpected confrontation with them could affect their mental wellbeing. 

Others are concerned that warnings may act as spoilers, influence the way a work is experienced, reduce the element of surprise, or interfere with the artistic intention and the relationship an artist seeks to create with the audience. 

This meeting explores these differences, share practices from different festivals and countries, and discuss how we approach information about potentially difficult content.