Why Was This Year’s Mazals Different Than All Other Mazals?

Every year, The Mazals is an opportunity to join together in lifting up the incredible vision, courage, and dedication of the people in our community and wider movement who’ve demonstrated — whether quietly behind the scenes, or loudly and proudly on the frontlines — creative leadership in moving a transformative agenda. The Mazals is also a time and place for us to bask in the glow of our collective accomplishments and to ground ourselves in our love, respect, and admiration for one another.

There was a time when we didn’t know if we’d ever be able to physically gather again. After a couple years of holding online-only Mazals events, we knew it was time for a change, and we got really serious about what it would take to make that possible.

While The Mazals was previously always in December, this year we moved it to the waning days of summer so that we could hold it outside. In addition to OnPoint Studios providing a professional livestream, we also included a virtual option for participation, hosted by JD Davids, as per our COVID policy. At previous Mazals, we didn’t always think about how to include people who could not physically be in the room. Then we went through a mass disabling event. So many people died who didn’t have to die because of ableism and white supremacy and capitalism. So much changed, so much didn’t. But The Mazals did. It had to. We had to.

The Mazals is JFREJ’s biggest fundraising event of the year. We fundamentally shifted our entire fiscal calendar in order to hold the kind of celebration we had this year, and to make it as accessible to as many people as possible. The result? This was our most accessible Mazals event ever – in large part due to the dedicated and meticulous planning of event coordinator and beloved JFREJ member, Anna Jacobs. AJ and our dedicated safety and security leadership team took immense care in crafting a safety and access plan, which is detailed in full after the photos below.

The 2023 Mazals Safety & Access Plan:

The safety and well-being of our members and allies is the most important thing we consider when we create an event like The Mazals. Our approach to safety and care involves proactively working to create a sense of belonging, where people are seen and held and look out for each other. Long before the event, we began assessing potential threats or safety concerns, from right-wing haters to guests who made one too many trips to the bar. We are extremely proud of the safety and access plan we developed for this year’s Mazals, and want to detail the key steps we took because it was a real-world example of what we mean when we say that true safety originates from communities, and manifests in care (not cops):

• We had a robust safety and security team made up of over 40 people (most of whom are dedicated, security-trained members of JFREJ’s Security & Marshaling Role Network), who were circulating throughout the space all evening, including security leads communicating with walkie-talkies.
• In addition to people moving through the crowd all night, we had security-trained greeters stationed outside the front door all night, safety and security team members monitoring the designated childcare area, standing at the entryway into the yard, and stationed along the stage and in the bathrooms;
• We had three professional childcare providers to make sure the handful of children in attendance would be highly supervised (and entertained!);
• We assessed potential threats to the event ahead of time and developed clear response plans;
• We made certain NARCAN and people trained to administer it were available;
• We also worked with the venue in adherence with their safety and security protocols, which are robust in and of themselves as a club serving a predominantly queer community;
• We ensured people leaving walked to the subway in pairs or in groups, and had volunteers escort to the train people who were leaving alone.

We also consider accessibility to be an element of safety and security — our job is to create an event that is welcoming to everyone, and where all our guests can move through the space safely. Concretely, this means that we attempt to eliminate as many barriers to participation as possible by modeling situational awareness and care and proactively asking others to be aware of their surroundings.

• In addition to the standard livestream, we also hosted a facilitated zoom room for members to attend the event and socialize with each other virtually while enjoying the evening programming.
• The physical event was held outdoors at a wheelchair-accessible venue with a wheelchair-accessible bathroom.
• We asked everyone to rapid test ahead of time, and masking was mandatory in all indoor spaces.
• We intentionally kept an eye on the entrances and exits and on people queuing at registration and at the bar. If there were people who appeared to be experiencing discomfort standing in line for too long, our plan was to be proactive in helping them skip the line and then find seating if necessary.
• We worked to maintain clear paths and look for people using wheelchairs or other mobility aids who may struggle to get through inattentive crowds.

All of this is key both to ensure the enjoyment and full participation of everyone in our community, and to maintain a viable evacuation plan and continuous access to exits, first aid, and other key safety measures. We keep us safe!