Anti-racism actions update

We published a statement about our anti-racist actions in June and committed to publishing updates every six months from November 2020. Here is an update on our recent work: 

Anti-racism training extended
All staff have undertaken regular Anti-Racism training since November 2019 with Mel Larsen and Ishreen Bradley and this has been extended until January 2021. Staff have formed Race Resolutions groups and are taking actions in focused areas. These activities will form the basis of our Anti-Racism policy and action plan. 

Forming an Accountability Committee

During our anti-racism training and strategic review, staff and trustees concluded that we need an Accountability Committee of staff, board and artists to create a safe, carefully-facilitated space to uphold our policies and ensure any discrimination that may arise within the organisation is managed with sensitivity, integrity and accountability.  

We have drafted the terms of reference which were discussed by the board in October and will establish the Accountability Committee of board, staff and artists by March 2021.

Staff recruitment

For many reasons, including our anti-racist work and to better suppport the artists we work with, it became evident how urgently we needed to address the lack of Black perspectives within our producing team. To that end, we set about recruiting a new Producer, actively seeking applications from Black producers for this role and specifically looking for a producer with an understanding of the lived experiences of Black women and non-binary Black people. 

The Race Resolutions staff-group, tasked with recruitment and retention, contributed to the writing of the job description for this role. As this process was led by the directors of Artsadmin, both of whom are white, external advice from artists and consultants who are people of colour was also sought throughout this process. This recruitment process was positive and we are delighted that our new producer will be joining the team full-time in January. 

The recruitment process for all posts now ensures that at least one person of colour is on each interview panel, and we are continuing to seek out new channels to extend the circulation of all job adverts to more diverse networks.

Board recruitment

We know that our leadership needs to better reflect the communities we serve. We started recruiting for new Trustees in March 2020. We welcomed three new Trustees to our Board in June 2020, two of whom are people of colour, and three more Trustees are joining us in early 2021. We expect that 40% of our Trustees will be people of colour by mid-2021. 

We are listening and welcoming your feedback. Please contact us via email and you can also arrange a call to discuss any of the above:

Róise Goan, Artistic Director, roise@artsadmin.co.uk

Deborah Chadbourn, Executive Director