Culture Against Racism

Our Committment and Our 10-point Action Plan

Our Commitment:

 
“WE STAND TO DENOUNCE RACISM IN ALL ITS FORMS

We, the undersigned from the cultural sector of the North East, declare that silence is not OK and silence is seen as complicity. Racism has no place in a just and humane society.

Whilst we cannot undo pain and neglect, we are calling on all of us in the arts, cultural, heritage sectors; professional and voluntary to work together to address racism and its deep roots. We must listen, have conversations and most importantly act, we know we need to do better.

Everyone is part of the solution – artists, staff, trustees, partners, promoters, audiences and communities.

We want to tackle this together in sharing better understanding and practices. We stand united to bring about change in our thinking and actions as a collective of organisations and individuals.

In the weeks and months to come we will collectively act to build on this statement with concrete steps and actions to demonstrate our commitment to bringing about real change. We ask you to stand with us.”
— Signees to Culture Against Racism

Our 10-Point Action Plan

Our 10-point action plan has been brought together through consultation with members of staff, volunteers and trustees. It was adopted by the Board of Trustees in December 2020.

We believe its actions can be delivered in a specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound fashion. We will keep the actions under regular review:

  1. We will publicly acknowledge our membership of Culture Against Racism, specifically the statement that we have agreed to in Action Plan 1.0 by the end of December 2020

  2. We will make and take the time to talk about the statement with our colleagues, volunteers and the Board of Trustees to ensure everyone understands the statement by end January 2021.

  3. We will reach out to partner organisations to understand how they are approaching support of the statement by end March 2021.

  4. We will conduct staff and volunteer diversity training and where possible use ‘lived experience’ as part of that by end June 2021. This in addition to the training we already provide on safeguarding and disability.

  5. We will consider this action plan and the addition of a specific section to the strategy within reviews of our rolling 4-year Strategic Plan with the next review completed by end June 2021. This plan sets out our short, medium and long-term objectives across all strands of service delivery.

  6. We will treat every month as if it is a Black History Month seeking to engage a more diverse historical content for our digital consumers. Monitored quarterly.

  7. We will provide a non-exhaustive list of further reading resources for our staff and volunteers and update this quarterly. Reading around the subject will inform part of staff member’s Personal Development Reviews in 2021. Monitored quarterly and annually.

  8. We will advertise available positions in a way that encourages more diversity among applicants. Monitored as and when jobs become available to advertise.

  9. We are rolling out a digital content plan and we will ensure that within this we engage diverse voices to deliver considered content subject matters. Monitored through the digital content plan GANTT Chart and ongoing.

  10. We will start a conversation with audiences that are under-represented in our current day visitor, events and education visitor profiles. These conversations will inform our audience development strategies in the future and will be reflected in the annual Strategic Plan reviews. By Strategic Plan review March 2022.

Ben Smith, Chief Executive Officer, The Heart of the City Partnership, Newcastle Castle. December 2020.