I’ve seen some interesting posts on socials this week saying if Donald Trump can get a job, so can you?
Another asks ‘why wouldn’t you apply for that role, if you’re underqualified AI will do the work’ Whilst true and humorous, it does make any active intention of investing in people’s development leading to further opportunity in the arts and walking confidently in their capabilities challenging. For most of us, money doesn’t talk and the most I can do with AI is ask Alexa to turn it down! So we go on…
When Alix Harris and I developed Take Space to Lead – an individual training program that develops and identifies people from the Global Majority who want to become theatre practitioners or develop their current skill set to an excellent standard through a range of paid training opportunities in the South West – we started with the same observation from practitioners we have met along the way, The LOOP.
The issue was, we were not meeting enough practitioners from the global majority and some of those we did meet had come to us with mistrust or false sense of expertise that had been given to them.
What is the LOOP?
White led organisations recognise they have low diversity staff retention, hire a person from global majority, don’t offer any further investment to align with other staff or create an individual plan on what they need to do their best work essentially not delivering on equity, tell them they will be fine, off they go. Organisation then quietly edges the person out when they don’t ‘perform’ whilst plastering said persons brown face over social media, person then leaves thinking they are either equipped for similar role with better pay ‘because they have done it’ or the person feels let down and unable to move forward in their career…and the loop continues. This leads to poor pay, systematic racism, mid career ceilings, unsustainable careers and an industry that is not reflective of society.
Both Alix and I have been practitioners. We know the deal, we know how maintaining work in particular in the southwest is hard, know what it’s like to be the ‘brown person in the room with all the EDI solutions’ Suggestions yes, miracles no, that’s not a black or brown person’s weight to bear.
Our current positions as Artistic Director of Beyond Face and Head of Participation at Strike A Light means we can bring our expertise and learning into creating something that works for the people it should be developing with all the nuances that come with that. Is it currently a perfect model? No, its taken two years to get it to this point, we had to start and we will keep developing it with our current cohort.
Leading is broader than creating a safe space or holding round table discussions where we think that creates inclusivity, it’s good but it’s not the only way. Inclusivity also happens when we as leaders become accountable in our mentorship to someone. When we include someone in their own growth, no one wants to hear what you’re delivering isn’t up to scratch but continue with I might not have supported you the best way I could have or you can improve. Let’s look at another way of doing things, breeds life not death.
Our vision for the programme was 10 paid candidates, we reduced it to four; doing less better is a Strike A Light motto. We shifted the program and honed in on what is the most effective method of delivery for the people doing the work including
👀 Time to observe Industry placement – No deep ends, see how others do it, learn to reflect on other peoples practice AND BE PAID
💬 121 Mentor – Sessions to talk through what you want out of the program, what scares the life out of you, where are you playing safe, how can we better support you, what do you need AND BE PAID
🧠 Masterclass – Get active and try things out, led by an industry professional, as a practitioner it cant be ‘do as i say not as i do.’ Know your craft. AND BE PAID
👫🏿 Community – Meet with the cohort, share practice, share knowledge, eat together and learn to listen to someone else AND BE PAID
Creating programs that are close to your inherent identity is not easy. Telling funders why they should invest can go two ways, being ethical and non exploitative even within the global majority means being conscientious all the time, creating a healthy workforce is hard, living where you work is hard, investing in a city with limited infrastructure is tiring… none of this is easy, but we go on, we break the LOOP and create opportunities that were not there.
Charlene Olaleye – Head of Participation at Strike A Light
Strike A Light 