At Mostra, we are committed to equality, diversity and inclusivity. We work towards these values every day, fully aware that there is still a long way to go. As part of this commitment, we seek to challenge the gender gap both through the ongoing training of our team and through a conscious, gender-aware approach to programming each edition's line-up. We also take part in initiatives that promote the fight against gender inequality—including on the dancefloor—and strive to embed a culture of care that puts people at the centre of everything we do.
A gender specialist on the team
We have a gender specialist within our team who leads this essential area of our work and develops an action plan for each edition under the name MostraRespect. This initiative is dedicated to promoting respect, diversity and pleasure within the festival. Its aim is to prevent and reduce the risks of gender-based violence affecting both attendees and workers. MostraRespect is present through an on-site Purple Point during the festival and remains active throughout the year via social media and a range of initiatives.
MostraRespect during the festival
Beyond operating a Purple Point staffed by professionals specialised in preventing and responding to gender-based violence in nightlife settings, including harm reduction around substance use, since the festival's very first edition in 2022, MostraRespect also incorporates a gender perspective into many aspects of festival production. Among these measures, we produce our own signage using Mostra's visual identity, providing clear and visible information about the kind of space Mostra is and what forms of violence will not be tolerated at the entrance, on the dancefloor or in the toilets.
To help break taboos and encourage informed conversations around sexuality and drug use, different editions have featured information stands from projects such as Sexus, Energy Control and Nectar Spectra. At Mostra, we believe that approaching pleasure through a gender perspective is fundamental both to preventing gender-based violence and to reducing the risks associated with substance use, so that everyone can enjoy the dancefloor equally and as freely as possible.
Recognising that toilet areas can become particularly vulnerable spaces, we provide additional portable urinals or dedicated permanent toilets for FLINTA* people—women, lesbians, intersex, non-binary, trans and agender people—across both festival sites. We also recognise that journeys home and departure times deserve particular attention in relation to gender-based violence. While part of the festival took place at Castell de Montjuïc, we not only provided shuttle buses from the festival gates back to the city centre but also partnered with Fem Taxi Barcelona to offer safer taxi journeys through a company committed to providing women-led taxi services in the city. As an alternative to motorised transport, we created #TornemJuntes, an initiative designed so that women and gender-diverse people could walk home accompanied by members of the MostraRespect team after the festival, because the streets belong to everyone.
At Mostra, we embrace diversity and reject behaviours that prevent people from enjoying the festival equally, taking a clear stand against all forms of sexist violence. Since our very first edition in 2022, we have maintained our own protocol for preventing and responding to sexual violence and LGBTIQA+phobia, which can be consulted here: MostraRespect Protocol . Our protocol is reviewed and updated every year and, unlike many other protocols, explicitly takes into account the context of drug use through a gender perspective. As an unavoidable reality in festival environments, our protocol pays particular attention to the unequal perceptions surrounding substance use from a feminist perspective. Another distinctive feature of our legal framework is that it not only incorporates Spain's Organic Law for the Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom (known as the "Only Yes Means Yes" law), but also the Law for the Real and Effective Equality of Trans People and the Guarantee of LGBTI Rights (known as the Trans Law).
All of the measures included in this protocol are subject to continuous evaluation, as we understand MostraRespect to be a living project that requires constant reformulation in order to adapt to the reality we live in. Throughout the festival, we collect indicators in the form of reports on poorly lit areas, records of interventions carried out, documented conflicts, reported assaults, and audience feedback gathered through a dedicated MostraRespect survey. We also collect feedback from the MostraRespect team at the end of every shift to ensure a thorough handover before the next one begins, allowing each team to start with prior knowledge of ongoing situations. Likewise, we hold an initial briefing with bar staff, cleaning crews, security personnel and technical teams, explaining the detection and response procedures in order to strengthen coordination and maintain constant communication between all areas of the festival.
No Callem and training
Since 2023, we have been part of Barcelona City Council's No Callem protocol for addressing gender-based violence, specifically sexual violence and LGBTIQA+phobia in nightlife settings. In addition to providing training to our entire team since joining the initiative, from 2024 onwards we have also been part of the working group dedicated to improving the protocol for festivals. This enables us to work alongside other projects across the city to identify shared challenges, exchange best practices and strengthen collective responses to gender-based violence in the specific context of festivals. Being part of this network also allows us to collaborate with local institutions and access additional resources to continue improving how we address gender-based violence at Mostra.
To reinforce the training provided through No Callem, several members of the Mostra team participated in 2023 in a specialised course delivered by Observatori Noctàmbulas on preventing and responding to sexual violence in nightlife settings involving drug use. Through this training, the MostraRespect team gained additional tools to improve the support we provide during the festival, while also strengthening our own protocol by incorporating new perspectives on substance use discussed during the programme. As a result, our protocol continues to broaden its understanding of gender-based violence and offer a more inclusive and updated response framework.
Beyond the festival days
Many of MostraRespect's initiatives take place throughout the year, beyond the days of the festival itself. In 2022, we presented the documentary Underplayed at Centre Cívic La Sedeta as part of the In-Edit Festival programme in collaboration with Barcelona Districte Cultural. The documentary explores gender inequality through the electronic music scene. Following our introduction to the screening, we were also invited to join the discussion panel after a second screening of the film at Centre Cultural Albareda, where we shared ideas and experiences with the collectives Artista o Musa, Musa Platform, Musical Sisters Vinyl and DJ Owey.
We organise Mostra'm, a programme of debates, seminars, conferences and workshops built around the festival's core values. The content of these sessions reflects the three principles that run across the entire project: local, inclusive and sustainable. Since its very first edition, Mostra'm has incorporated the festival's commitment to inclusivity both through its content and by prioritising women as speakers and workshop leaders.
During Mostra'm 2022, we organised a roundtable with Observatori contra l'Homofòbia at Hangar.org, a Barcelona-based organisation dedicated to making visible and denouncing homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia and interphobia (LGBTIQA-phobia) in Catalonia. Six artists representing different forms of diversity within Barcelona's electronic music scene shared their experiences and reflections alongside two members of the organisation. The discussion sought to highlight how, within a cisheteropatriarchal society, gender roles tend to become polarised between masculinity and femininity while overlooking other forms of diversity.
We also work to give visibility to artists who have traditionally been excluded from Barcelona's club and festival circuit. In this spirit, we launched an open call aimed at women and gender-diverse artists under the age of thirty for an ExtraMostra event held at Espai Jove La Bàscula in 2023, followed by another at Centre Cultural Albareda in 2024 within UPCArts' Music Data programme, in collaboration with Digitalfems and EllESmusic. These calls introduced us to artists from a wide range of identities, many of whom have continued to perform within the ExtraMostra series.
In 2023, members of the MostraRespect team also attended the first conference "A Cross-Sectional View of Nightlife Through a Gender Perspective", organised by the collective Sot a Terra at the University of Social Sciences in Valencia. The conference explored topics including queerness, violence-response protocols, women in music, sexuality, and responsible substance use within nightlife contexts. Participating allowed us to broaden our perspective on gender within the festival while incorporating new strategies into our project.
As part of International Women's Day activities in 2023, our gender specialist participated as a speaker at the third Vermut Feminista, a community initiative organised by Comehome. The discussion centred on self-esteem, how it is shaped within our societies and how it affects everyday life. At Mostra, we approached the topic through the lens of the dancefloor and from a critical feminist perspective. Rather than focusing exclusively on risks, our aim was to highlight women's agency and potential, creating a safe space where people could feel inspired and empowered through both our personal and professional experience at Mostra.
During Mostra'm 2023, we hosted the presentation of the second gender study produced by Asociación MIM, which analyses the gender gap within Spain's music industry. The presentation featured Carmen Zapata, President of MIM, Helena Bricio, MIM's Project Coordinator, and was moderated by our own gender specialist, Iris Juarros. We considered it essential to share this research so that our audience could better understand why committing to gender equality throughout every aspect of Mostra is so important. Beyond highlighting the inequalities identified by the study, the discussion also explored collective pathways towards meaningful change.
In November 2023, we also participated in a focus group organised by Observatori Noctàmbulas as part of research commissioned by the Feminisms and Culture departments of the Catalan Government. The aim of this research was to develop guidelines for preventing and repairing gender-based and LGBTIQA+phobic violence within Catalonia's cultural sector.
During Mostra'm 2024, we hosted the workshop "Greatest Hits: Autoeditions for the Embodiment Rhythms" with Magui Dávila. She presented her work as a curator and researcher, as well as her publishing project Las Lindas Pobres, through a journey spanning cumbia to more horizontal forms of sound culture, introducing editorial projects that connect ecology, electronics, ecofeminism, queer politics and transfeminism through ambient and techno music.
In May 2024, our gender specialist participated as a speaker in one of the roundtables at the 10th Noctàmbulas Conference, titled Protocols for Addressing Sexual Violence, Drugs and Party Culture: What Have We Learned?, organised by Observatori Noctàmbulas. Alongside Sala Apolo, Observatori contra l'Homofòbia and Sot a Terra, we discussed good practices in implementing protocols and other prevention and care strategies for addressing violence within both private and self-managed nightlife spaces. The conversation provided an opportunity to share successes, challenges and future perspectives from each project while highlighting the different approaches and realities each organisation brings. Above all, it became a meeting point for strengthening the network between projects committed to creating spaces free from gender-based violence.
As part of an ExtraMostra collaboration with the project Konvent in December 2024, MostraRespect delivered a training session on sexual and LGBTIQA+phobic violence within nightlife settings. The goal of the session was to raise awareness among both the Mostra and Konvent teams while collaboratively developing a prevention and response protocol specifically for the event. Working from a feminist and community-based perspective, we co-created both the protocol and the signage for the occasion, promoting a collective approach to preventing potential violence through the active participation of both organisations.
Sot a Terra, the care team since 2026
In 2026, we strengthened MostraRespect by welcoming Sot a Terra as the festival's care team. Drawing on their extensive experience in accompaniment, violence prevention and harm reduction within nightlife and electronic music culture, they brought an invaluable feminist, community-based and harm reduction perspective to the festival.
Open to new collaborations and committed to continuous learning, we continue working every year to reduce the risks of violences at Mostra.
The other values