Society of London Theatre (SOLT) and UK Theatre, two of the UK’s biggest theatre membership organisations, have announced their new partnership with Inc Arts. This comes after conversations surrounding #BlackLivesMatter have developed over the past few weeks.
Set up by Amanda Parker, Inc Arts was founded to support and drive racial diversification within the British theatre workforce. They aim to “build a national network to confidentially and supportively share experience, skills, knowledge and solutions” by working with those “behind the scenes” across advocacy, and talent and business development.
Sebastian Carter, UK Theatre’s head, hopes this new partnership will drive “the start of a new debate that we can positively support and help move the agenda forward. We want to improve our sector for all parts of society, so that we embed diversity in our recovery planning.”
Inc Arts commented on the concern people have had about “paying bills” and “police controlling you” during the pandemic: “relax, you’ve only been Black for about a week”.
These everyday difficulties mean that “diverse freelancers are already agile, responsive, resourceful”. More than ever, it seems that their skills are needed to ensure the strength of the arts. Sebastian Carter, when speaking to The Stage, claimed that whilst inclusion is being promoted in “many of SOLT and UK Theatre’s projects”, the sector has far more work to do.
However, Parker emphasised that people of colour in the sector should not need to act as ‘informal diversity officers’ in addition to their creative roles, as well as stressing that “with Covid disproportionately striking people of colour, and racial violence taking place globally, our communities are saying enough is enough. It is time for us to be seen.”
For those wishing to know more about supporting anti-racism, Inc Arts provide a useful list of learning resources and causes to support on their website.
Words by Lottie Hayton.