Finding practical examples of good equality practice in the arts can be a difficult task observes Kathy O’Brien. Showhow, runs a Fellowship Programme which is designed to address the under-representation of Black, Asian and Chinese managers and disabled managers in the arts, by organising placements in host organisations. Currently, Showhow is carrying out an action research project to identify methodologies and case studies that will address issues of equality and deliver advice and guidance for arts employers.
In 2000, Showhow recruited twenty-nine hosts and interviewed approximately one hundred candidates for its Fellowship Programme. Since then, the organisation has begun to collate examples of good practice. For employers, it is not that we do not want to reflect our communities in our workforce, but simply we do not know what to do next. Having recruited staff from culturally diverse backgrounds, many companies find it difficult to retain them.
There are various strategies employers can implement to improve their capacity to recruit and retain a diverse workforce. They should:
- Have equal opportunity policies
- Place recruitment advertisements in the Black, Asian and disability press with a strap-line stating the organisation is an equal opportunity employer
- Include images from culturally diverse groups in their promotional material
- Devise and implement cultural diversity action plans linked to targets and review dates
- Broaden programming to attract audiences and participants from all parts of society
- Ensure board members and staff receive equality and disability awareness training
- Carry out disability audits of premises and products
- Ensure job descriptions and person specifications are reviewed and focus on transferable skills
- Set long recruitment deadlines and distribute information to as broad a section of society as possible.
Most of us will have implemented some of these actions. With the changes in the Race Relations Act and Disability Discrimination Act, we are now being called upon to account for our practice in more detail.
Showhow implemented a cultural diversity action plan following an ‘equality health check’. Prompted by the need to ensure a safe placement for Fellows, the plan looks at all activities in organisations, including recruitment, management, production, services and contracts. Employers were expected to devise measurable and achievable targets linked to review dates. In 2003, those organisations applying to host fellows were asked to supply practical examples of equality practice. Examples included changes at structural levels, the revision of job descriptions and person specifications to highlight transferable skills and the inclusion of culturally diverse work in the main programme. A clear distinction emerged between those organisations making changes at their heart and those where equality practice was an ‘add on’. Organisations with an embedded diversity programme tended to have more culturally diverse staff and a broader audience. Where there was open, inclusive and accountable practice, people from all sections of society tended to apply for jobs, and when appointed, they wanted to stay.
Kathy O’Brien is project manager for Showhow’s Fellowship Programme.
t: 020 7831 4040; e: info@showhow.org.uk