DanceXchange is committed to celebrating difference in all aspects of our makeup, governance, and work output.
With the Black Lives Matter movement as the catalyst, the DX team has collectively welcomed a period of consultation and reflection. In this context, we seek to make significant, meaningful change, which has led to the following commitments.
These commitments represent our thinking as we work to progress. We are open to suggestions and we invite you to check-in with us on our journey and let us know how we can continue to improve.
We will be updating these commitments quarterly and if you would like to talk to us please email info@dx.dance
The work we have begun:
As a team, we will undertake unconscious bias training at appropriate, regular intervals with an on-going commitment to further relevant training.
- We will eradicate the use of the term BAME in our future communications.
- We will update and keep under review our staff, participant, and artist recruitment processes to ensure they are genuinely inclusive and share opportunities through a wider range of networks and partnerships.
- We will actively use our platforms, both live and digital, to provide space for the voices of Black dance artists to be heard, for questions to be raised, ideas to be shared, and work to be seen.
- We will invite a Black staff representative (aged under 30) to attend meetings of the board of DX, as part of our investment in Black leadership and voices within our organisation.
- We will create at least three additional places on the DX board for people from diverse backgrounds, reflecting a broad range of experiences across age, class, disability, gender, race and sexual orientation.
What we will achieve in the medium-term:
- We will focus our audience development activity which will include a variety of sustained initiatives; including exploring meaningful partnerships with organisations led by Black people; a bursary scheme to support youth participation and engagement; a Black youth reviewers programme and we will explore joining initiatives such as the Black Ticket Project to improve access for all future ticketed performances presented by DX.
- We will establish a development pathway within DX and, in partnership with external organisations, support the progression of talented young Black dancers, choreographers, producers and leaders, from both the UK and internationally, to achieve their potential within dance and the wider cultural sector.
- We will actively seek out Black dance artists and cultural specialists to consult on programming and organisational development plans.
Our longer-term goals:
- We will work with cultural sector colleagues and specialist experts to achieve new, meaningful, national monitoring processes which reach beyond the current ‘tick-box’ culture.
- We will support and amplify the call for authentic cultural sector diversity monitoring to analyse and recommend progress to achieve greater diversity of the cultural workforce, audiences and practising artists.
The commitments outlined here in response to the Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racism movements, are in addition to our ongoing work to make our organisation more inclusive – reflecting as many different voices, opinions and experiences as possible across age, class, disability, gender, race and sexual orientation.
We acknowledge that there is more work to do. Our actions moving forward will ensure our organisation better reflects the city of Birmingham and the West Midlands and will make our spaces and the work we do more welcoming and inclusive for all.