Times are challenging for equity, diversity and inclusion work. Globally, there is a shift to the right and pressure from a range of directions to slow down, pause or stop our work to ensure everyone is able to thrive and progress in our workplaces. In addition, there are very real financial challenges for individuals and businesses of all kinds.  

So how do we keep the work we know is essential going?  

Equity, diversity and inclusion is an ever-evolving field.

Approaches to EDI in 2020 are not as effective as they were last year. The expectations on us to create inclusive working environments is every increasing, and the challenges are constantly changing.  

Getting a clear understanding of where we are now will allow organisations to identify when and how changes should be made.  

Keeping progress moving in the right direction can be a challenge.  

Organisations will sometimes reach out to us when they get stuck. This can be a very difficult step for people as they will often come to an initial conversation feeling some very deep and complex emotions: shame, guilt, inadequacy, frustration, anger, resentment etc.  

Sometimes, they are getting pressure from colleagues to explain why progress has stopped, why actions haven’t been actioned, why some people feel the same now as they did when the work started. The will to keep moving will be there, the commitment will be evident in the deep emotions listed above, but for whatever reason, they just can’t seem to get moving again. Why is that? 

Last weekend I was drawn to a feature on Sky News talking about racial discrimination in the theatre industry.  

This caught my eye not least because much of the work we do at Spotlight Inclusion to create equitable, diverse and inclusive environments is in the arts sector and much of that is in the theatre industry. 

Spotlight Inclusion organisation exists to support your organisation.  
 
We can often feel that our organisations are all about our outcomes. Our outcomes might be student exam or assessment results, the number of items we make, the profit we make, the creative output we put on our stages. But really, your organisation is about people.  

We prefer the human touch. We prefer to talk with you to fully understand your needs and be responsive to them and any challenges which can emerge along the way.

We are about one month into a new Labour government.

There are some pressing issues around culture in all of its senses, and equality and equity. High on our list is a review of the Equality Act.

As someone who supports a number of arts organisations to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive, you might expect me to agree with the sentiments in The Stage’s latest article, and I do. But I wanted to add some of my own thoughts to it. If the arts industry needs an overhaul to boost leadership diversity, how do we do it?

Lots of organisations created Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) in the form of working groups, steering groups and committees at the start of their EDI journey. These groups are around 3-5 years old now, and we are often approached by clients wanting to know how best to use them after the first throws of their EDI commitment.

As we move through the journey that equity, diversity and inclusion work is on, the importance of self-reflection has always been important, but is probably growing in importance.  

Personal accountability and responsibility for our own knowledge, and understanding of the experiences of people who do not share our identities, is vital.  

We support organisations in a range of ways, and one thing that has emerged over the last 18 months is the lack of results that training provides for our clients. Learning about equity, diversity and inclusion topics which are positioned as ‘training’ are becoming less and less effective. Find out why.

As we move into 2024, it is a good time for us to reflect on our EDI achievements and look ahead to what we think might be on the horizon for 2024.

We always tell our clients that EDI work is anticipatory. We need to be looking ahead, anticipating difference, and creating inclusive strategies for all. We can use the work and challenges of last year to inform what we think might be the challenges for the future.

So, we are sharing with you a few of the trends we think are going to feature for this year and beyond.

Next to salaries, training is most often the next biggest spend when it comes to EDI work. When we are spending tens of thousands of pounds on training we might be forgiven for expecting the learning to result in change but there are some fundamental reasons why this doesn’t follow.

Organisations often talk about the lack of diversity in talent pipelines. MishMash Productions has found a way to do this in a way that moves beyond surface level tokenistic diversity, to getting to the root of the barriers for historically marginalised people.

'We're going to bring them into this later'. This is a common response we get when we ask what role the CEO of an organisation is going to play in the inclusion work we are being asked to support with, or if they are going to be part of the discussion or training.

'We're going to bring them into this later', is a bad idea. In this blog we explore why.

Given the amount of information in the public domain about the benefits of creating a diverse and inclusive working environment, it would be understandable if you have the impression that creating such a place is easy and nirvana like. However, we as EDI professionals need to be careful that we don’t make this work appear to be simple and friction free.

After a visit to Jamaica, Shonagh Reid reflects on what it is to belong and we can use this to inform our working and personal lives.

Assumptions can have a huge impact on how safe we feel in a space or group of people. In this blog, Kate Lawrence-Lunniss explains how a recent experience led them to interrogate assumptions in a range of spaces and how safe spaces can be created for all.

As equity, diversity and inclusion leaders, we need to look after ourselves.

How do we do that?

How do arts organisations continue to prioritise equity, diversity and inclusion in the current climate?

This blog outlines why it’s important to keep going with this work, and tips on how to do it.