Our Values

Guardia Vieja’s Values

Guardia Vieja has five core values that shape our culture and help guide everything we do. Here’s a little more about each of them:

1. Togetherness

   We have always been driven by the notion that things are better together. We strive to create collective experiences that bring us together.

2. Expression

   We believe in the art of conversation, irrespective of the mode of expression. We aspire to create a safe space for people to express themselves, whether it be in speech, art, music, dance, or other ways.

3. Harmony

   Sometimes the issue with so many voices expressing themselves all at once is that there is simply chaos in which no one feels heard. This is why we felt that it was important to emphasize harmony as one of our values. Similar to an orchestra, we hope to bring individuals together harmoniously.

4. Old School

   In light of the isolation that the recent tech revolution has created, we believe there is a need for the evolution of a counter culture to combat some of the loneliness of modern life. While we acknowledge that the past was not perfect, we believe it is important to get back to some old school values, while firmly dismissing other old fashioned ones.

5. Integrity

   We hold ourselves, our collaborators, and our patrons to a high degree of integrity, which at times means having tough conversations and taking on accountability for both our experience and of others around us.

Living Our Values

In order to live our values, Guardia Vieja has developed the following guiding principles that will apply to all of our events and interactions, moving forward. These are likely to be a living set of principles that evolve over time. We expect all of our partners and patrons to act with these guiding principles in mind and to hold us accountable to the same.

1. Be respectful and compassionate to yourself and others.

   a.) Be curious:

   i.). Yourself: Seek to understand your own needs and feelings.

   ii.) Others: Seek to understand without judging others as good or bad. If you are unsure, please ask respectfully, rather than making an assumption.

   b.) Maintain boundaries:

   i.) Yourself: Communicate your boundaries as clearly and swiftly as possible.

   ii.) Others: Respect others’ boundaries, especially if verbally or directly expressed.

2. No forms of harassment or assault will be tolerated.

3. While we hope to not find ourselves in the situation to have to invoke the following protocols, we are increasingly aware that sexual harassment and sexual assault are an epidemic requiring more specificity. We are not experts and will rely heavily on resources within a particular city/state to help guide us; however, we have established high level protocols for how y’all can expect us to respond in such instances:

   a.) Terms:

   1. Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment is defined as behavior characterized by the making of unwelcome and inappropriate sexual remarks or physical advances in a workplace or other professional or social situation.

   2. Sexual Assault: Sexual assault refers to sexual contact or behavior that occurs without explicit consent of the survivor. For non-exhaustive examples, please see here

   3. Bystander: If you observe someone else experiencing sexual harassment or sexual assault at an event, you are considered a Bystander.

b.) Reporting Mechanisms

1. If you are concerned about a pattern of incidents in advance of an event or if upon reflecting on an incident after an event, you feel the need to discuss it, please leverage the Contact Us page with the subject ‘Safe Space’ and we will follow up with you in 24 hours to set up some time to discuss next steps.

2. If you are experiencing sexual harassment or sexual assault at a Guardia Vieja event, please be sure to advise us and let us know by requesting to speak with our founder Pooja Kumar.

3. Note: In the case of an incident of sexual assault at an event, we will request that all parties directly involved leave the event immediately. This is not meant to be punitive, but instead to provide space for all parties directly involved to process the incident. The SAFE Austin 24-hr hotline will be shared for next steps, for all Austin-based events. For national resources, please click here.

c.) Please speak up! As organizers and facilitators of events, we might not always be present when an incident arises. We also recommend reviewing this resource, if you would like to have a starting point on how to offer support to a survivor as a Bystander

COVID Policies

Although we have made immense progress with the COVID-19 Pandemic, with new variants on the horizon and different parts of the world at varying stages, we feel that it is important to continue to proceed with cautious optimism in order for us to offer a safe environment for Guardia Vieja gatherings. We hope these measures will remain temporary, and we will periodically continue to update these in line with the evolving times.

1. Vaccine: As of October 2022, although the COVID-19 Vaccine is encouraged, it will no longer be a requirement.

2. COVID Testing: Negative Test results within 48 hours of attending a Guardia Vieja event will be required. Either a PCR or at home antigen test are acceptable.

3. Social Distancing: At this time we will continue to practice social distancing guidelines by spacing out any seating at our events and partnering with venues to maintain their capacity calculations. This is likely to mean that Guardia Vieja events will become more intimate.

4. Pre-registration: In order to manage capacity constraints, Guardia Vieja will be requiring pre-registration for larger events, such as En Vivo and Cruzadito, rather than accepting walk-ins at the door. Events will be announced a minimum of 2 months in advance to allow for pre-registration. Localized events, such as Pooja’s Practica will not require pre-registration; however, capacity limits may still apply.

5. Payments: Guardia Vieja will require all payments to be contactless. We will no longer be accepting cash and/or checks at this time. Patrons will have the following options:

   a.) Invoicing: Guardia Vieja can send an invoice to you for advance payment, after pre-registration.

   b.) Zelle: Guardia Vieja does have have the capabilities to accept Zelle payments, as a direct transfer from your bank.

   c.) PayPal/Venmo/Square: Guardia Vieja will accept these methods of payment; however these will have associated payment processing fees.

Guardia Vieja aims to find the right balance through a risk based approach in creating a safe environment for us to be together again and we appreciate your help in upholding these policies. We will be re-evaluating these policies in 2022, at which time we hope to be bringing back Practicas and Milongas, followed by larger events in 2023.

Interested in learning more? Check out the Op-Ed, COVID-19 Tango Sentiments, by our founder Pooja Kumar.