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While steps have been taken to increase diversity in the arts, there is still much to be done, argues David McCall.

Have we moved on significantly in the past 20 years? No ? not yet. And no ? not enough. We need to get honest and get real. Until we agree that access to the arts is not yet equal at all levels, across all artforms and across all aspects of diversity, we cannot move forward. Recent statistics produced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through Arts Council England show that existing programmes aiming to address diversity in its broadest sense (social-economic class, ethnicity, disability, gender, age, sexuality, religious belief) are not yet impacting significantly.

Delivery on diversity is not organic; it simply won?t happen without intervention. The issues are complex and deeply rooted in the political and social composition of the world as a whole and the sectors in which we work. Where does one start? On two levels: changing the way we operate and, more vitally, changing attitudes. To change the way we operate requires a clear process which involves auditing, prioritisation, action, monitoring and review. This, with support, is the easy part. Implementing actions on diversity need not be expensive, nor is it about changing your operations beyond all recognition; its about thinking through the barriers your practices create and subtly altering the things you do, and establishing monitoring and measuring processes to allow reflection on what works and why.

The hard part is about changing attitudes. This means an examination of personal and organisational values. This vital step must be an integral part of the process, and yet at the moment it is often overlooked. Organisations develop and move forward through their relationships and partnerships. To enable successful joint-working, organisations must share similar values and goals. Therefore, time and energy spent in developing and then delivering these are resources well spent. Ensuring inclusive organisational values that are demonstrated through your actions and working practices is the place to start your diversity planning. It?s about embedding diversity into the heart of your organisation.

To develop a set of values requires leadership from the top of an organisation and the inclusion of the whole team. It is a process that works through finding out what?s important to people and how this reflects in their work. It requires facilitation that considers diversity and inclusivity and one that enables trust and confidentially. It is a hard process to go through because you are not only examining your organisation?s values, but your own as well.
This process will naturally lead an organisation to a collective agreement that has been inclusive but more importantly a process that starts to embed the idea to how this works practically on a day-to-day basis. This is the next step ? how to deliver this agreed set of values.

This is where the action planning process comes in. Diversity action plans are a business tool to help you place diversity at the heart of your operations. As a by-product they also make your organisation more effective, more creative and a more vibrant place to work. The first stage of a diversity action plan is to establish where your organisation is at. To do this requires a diversity audit. Diversity auditing may sound daunting but it?s simply a process to find out where your strengths and weaknesses lie, and gives you a starting point. This can be done in many ways, and there are a number of resources to support arts organisations in this. Once you have this, an action plan can be created which focuses on building upon strengths and improving areas of weakness over time.

A diversity action plan should focus on all aspects of the work. Diversity has to run at the core of an organisation, through every department ? it is not marketing, it is not human resources, it?s an essential element of everything that you do, think and are. This needs to be understood and embraced at all levels ? from those within governance and senior management teams through to those working in front of house, support staff, creative teams, work experience and volunteers. It?s important to know if your diversity plans are working, so effective monitoring procedures need to be in the plan ? and their results fed into its development. Identifying what is working, why, and how, is as vital as knowing what?s not and developing alternative approaches.

The last step in the process is another attitudinal one ? realising that diversity action plans are active, living tools. A functioning diversity action plan should be as central to your operations as your marketing strategy ? your organisation wouldn?t run as well without that, just as your organisation won?t be as effective without a diversity plan. This is key to its success ? it is not a one-off exercise. It?s no use having a plan if it?s written and then filed away in a drawer. To achieve artistic, social and business success, diversity needs to be embedded in the organisational culture. Like a stick of rock, the message that runs all the way through your organisation needs to have diversity at its core.

David McCall is Chief Executive of EQ, the new national equality and diversity agency working in the creative industries. EQ is currently developing an online diversity auditing tool.

w: http://www.thinkeq.org.uk