Festival goers move about the Monarchs: A House in Six Parts art installation, by Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic, during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Friday, April 19, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Contributing Photographer)
The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival continues to take the necessary steps to be diverse and inclusive in as many ways as possible.
The event has produced a central hub known as the Community to provide a safe environment for anyone in need of them.
The space provides resources to help create a better festival experience for people who are disabled, struggling with mental health and more. It also serves as a place where people can skip out on the crowds and hot weather.
“Community means an effort to take care of each other and support everybody regardless of who they are, where they come from and what their needs are,” said Paula Helu-Brown, the director of the every one program.
The every one program was created in 2019 to help support mental health and prevent harassment at the festival.
Therapists and other trained professionals are also available to help speak with festival-goers if needed.
“I think this is really important because oftentimes people feel like a place of fun and celebration is just for everyone to be happy at all times and not everyone is aware of how mental health can be impacted in these spaces,” she said.
Helu-Brown explained that in some situations someone may be having a tough time and others being happy all around them or being in crowded places could trigger that person and lead them to feel overwhelmed.
“What’s most important is that people know there’s a space where they can come take care of themselves,” Helu-Brown said.
“EndOverdose,” which has the intention of equipping concertgoers and festival staff with potentially life-saving tools and resources, is a part of the Community space.
The non-profit based out of Los Angeles specializes in opioid overdose prevention and response.
“Our goals are to get naloxone and fentanyl test strips in as many hands as possible across the country,” EndOverdose Director Nina Weisbrod said. “We also want to spread awareness and end public stigma.”
Staff members were available to train and prepare people to handle potential drug overdoses.
The non-profit coordinates throughout the year with several promoters for large-scale events and smaller local events across the country to provide free naloxone to all attendees as long as they complete training to evaluate the signs and symptoms of an overdose.
“It’s super important to make sure people know how and when to use the naloxone because depending on what type of overdose it is, it may not actually save their life,” Weisbrod said. “We really try to stress that it’s only effective for an opioid overdose.”
Accessible+ and Queer+ are also among the included Community programs on the festival grounds.
Accessible+ provides an immersion opportunity for black, indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) with disabilities to help gain the full Coachella experience.
Queer+ is meant to empower the LGBTQIA+ x BIPOC community throughout Coachella with a safe space and activities.