Was listening to somebody local recently who was describing a large-scale poetry festival he'd helped organize. As I understood it, a couple of the stages were set aside for adult content.
This is not a good idea if you're going to organize a public event. By admitting that some content may cause other people to be offended, you've admitted your own liability.
The world is for adults. If a parent says work presented at your event offends them or their children, that is their responsibility. It is up to them to research situations and protect their own children. If that means keeping their children away, that it what must happen. This is true for books, television and the internet. These are all adult venues and it is up to the parents to control their own children's behavior and access.
The best way to offer children and their parents a place to go enjoy the event is in smaller children's zones. Provide places where children specifically can enjoy themselves. Obtain insurance so that parents can go on to enjoy the rest of the event like the rest of the grown-ups -- that's just the cost of doing business.
Don't get it backwards -- sequester and protect the children, not the whole event. You can't make the whole event "safe content" for them -- you'd have to control the rights of free speech for adult citizens, and that's far from legal. You can't tell citizens what they can say on one stage and not on another. That way leads lawsuits -- based on precedences that have stood up and won in the Supreme Court. Can we SAY "discrimination" and "freedom of speech"? Not to mention right of free assembly and rights of association. The Constitution and Bill of Rights may have been rough drafts, but they've held up pretty well.
Give the kids their own little protected nest and you won't run into trouble, or open yourself up for it. Especially if your event starts making money. I'm sure we've all heard of the deep-pockets syndrome?
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