Anti-Racism Statement & Recruitment Approach
Updated as of 10th July 2023
Take Me Somewhere is a festival and artist development body that often supports experimental work engaging with autobiography and centering lived experiences. Through our work we foreground work created by Womxn, Black people, people of colour, older people, d/Deaf & Disabled artists & LGBTQ+ people as well as others.
We recognise that we operate within a society that continues to uphold structural racism and white supremacy. We are currently in the process of fully understanding and addressing how race manifests in our organisation. Over the past year this work has been supported by an external consultant specialising in equalities, diversity and inclusion.
Our aim is that we create conditions for those who have been historically excluded to thrive within our programme and organisational structure. We oppose the idea of whiteness as a dominant force and reject racism in all its forms. We want to be a company that plays a proactive role to dismantle white supremacy and structural racism in our sector and in broader society.
Our Anti-Racism Strategy and action plan is here. This strategy sets out how we aspire for constant progress through listening, learning and acting. Our action plan will detail the strategic interventions we will make and everyday measures that will allow us to make constant progress.
We recognise that we are still a predominantly white organisation, and aspire to be more inclusive and representative of the wider community of South Glasgow in which we operate. We strive to be a place where people from a diverse range of backgrounds feel seen, listened to and represented. We want Take Me Somewhere to be a place where:
artists of colour can share their work and that their projects can be fully realised.
arts workers of colour can prosper in their employment and achieve their career goals and aspirations, and
audiences of colour see themselves reflected back, both in our programme and communications.
In our Business Planning, we will be guided by a set of organisational values that prioritise Anti-Racist approaches at every opportunity. In our day-to-day working we will use our influence through the partnerships and space that we hold in the contemporary arts sector and beyond to advocate for broader change.
Recruitment Approaches
Whilst our team is not exclusively made of white people, we remain a predominantly white organisation. We recognise that our lived experience of issues which affect Black people and people of colour living within our society are deficient.
We acknowledge that there is a particular challenge for Black people & people of colour entering a predominantly white team, and so we will enact all necessary procedures for the successful candidate and access sessions with an external mentor to ensure that the working environment is a supportive one.
Within recruitment we will look to ensure:
Applicants will be offered to meet with team members at interview stage to give insight into organisational culture.
There are Black and POC interview panel members within each recruitment process.
There is an opportunity to speak to our Artistic Director in advance to discuss our ongoing work in developing Anti-Racist Strategies and action plans.
Black and POC Staff Members will have:
Access to a line manager of colour and where this isn’t possible an external mentor.
A training and development budget as per wider company policy. (This is for staff employed with us for more than 6 months)
Co-designed care packages to support them in their work.
Our anti-racism action plan, linked above, lays out our long-term commitment to our working culture & organisational development. In 2022/23, this included:
Time dedicated to research and learning about Anti-Racism at all levels in the organisation.
Anti-Racism training for members of staff and board that have not yet completed this.
Ensuring artists of colour are embedded within our programme.
Ongoing conversations with artists about how we better serve artistic communities that experience racism.
Ensuring proper representation on decision making panels.
Ensure that our meeting structures prioritises conversations around Anti-Racism
Working with staff to ensure anti-racist learning objectives are part of annual appraisals & ongoing personal learning.
Anti-Racism induction protocol for all new members of staff and Board.
Our Safe Spaces Policy can be found here. Our Programming Policy and Curatorial Statement can be found here.
This statement is not comprehensive and will evolve over time.