By the middle of La Dispute’s set, the crowd has merged into a single shape, pushing up against the barricade surrounding the stage. Jordan Dreyer, the vocalist of the post-hardcore quintet, harpoons the air with his entire body, while singing with a controlled anguish. The tone then decidedly shifts as Dreyer addresses his audience with emotional openness.

“Protect this space,” said Dreyer, referring to both the dark Boston nightclub and his community of fans. “There are so few places where we can all go and feel comfortable without the threat of violence or abuse.”

It’s a small but important gesture, signaling that what's become a common experience at many shows and festivals will not be tolerated here. Dreyer also explained to his audience that they can flag any of the crew down if anyone feels uncomfortable, and that La Dispute has been working with the nonprofit Calling All Crows to learn how to better respond to harassment and assault at shows.

Offset from the crowd, Kim Warnick, the executive director of Calling All Crows, has set up a table with information so fans, too, can learn how to help prevent sexual violence. It’s part of the #HereForTheMusic campaign, launched two years ago, working to end abuse and harassment in live music. Warnick, who has worked in sexual violence prevention for more than a decade, conducts most of the sliding-scale trainings. To date, the campaign has trained over 1,000 people.

The goal of the campaign is to give as many people as possible the tools to address this long-overlooked issue. It’s hard to have exact numbers on the pervasiveness of sexual violence in live music, given how few people report sexual assault. Yet some data does exist: A 2018 survey conducted by YouGov, a data analytics firm, involving 1,188 music festival attendees in the U.K. found that 22% of them had experienced assault or harassment.

In many cases, Warnick has found that venues and musicians had no process in place to respond to sexual violence. Even major players in the industry have been slow to address this. “I don't know that we ever actually laid out an official protocol prior to last year,” said Laura Sohn, the director of sustainability at Bonnaroo. “I think that was new for a lot of us in the industry.” For the second year, Bonnaroo will work with Calling All Crows in the days leading up to the festival to hold trainings for fans, staff, and volunteers. The festival's website also includes information on consent and sexual assault prevention.

Last year, Teen Vogue journalist Vera Papisova interviewed 54 women who said they were harassed at Coachella. While it doesn't work with Calling All Crows, the festival launched its own initiative called “Every One,” rolling out a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and assault, and providing spaces with trained volunteers for people to seek out should they experience it.

“We became a bridge to services. We really got folks to the resources they needed,” said Veline Mojarro, director of Safety, Equity, and Inclusion for the Every One initiative.

This year, a hospital in the Coachella Valley, the Eisenhower Medical Center, saw fewer experiences of sexual assault during the time of Coachella. There was one call for consultation and one report of sexual assault during the festival, according to the hospital’s Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) Program. That’s compared with seven people who reported sexual assault last year. (Those numbers also reflect the Stagecoach Festival.)