Equality Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Staffordshire St. champions the rights of people from marginalised groups, including but not limited to people who experience racism, people who experience religious discrimination, disabled people, lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people, women and girls, people from low income backgrounds, working class, and older people. We are anti-racist, and embrace and maintain a culture of equality, inclusion, diversity, aiming to shape our knowledge and engagement in ways that reflect this. We seek to hold Staffordshire St. open and accessible to all corners of our community, valuing all voices. We strive to be approachable and inclusive, dedicated to creating a safe space where potential is nurtured. This is engrained in three of our core objectives:

To create diverse, innovative and relevant programmes that provide a platform for diverse voices to discuss and debate contemporary arts and heritage.
To support marginalised artists who face barriers within the commercial art world, by providing access to exhibition opportunities and creative workspaces.
To advance access to the arts in the local community.

Rooted in our community centre heritage, we strive to be an accessible cultural hub where our community and audiences are represented and enriched by the diverse world we live in. We work with under-represented artists, curators, and producers, offering studio space to test ideas, exhibition space to grow careers, and critical events that shape a more equitable cultural future. We acknowledge the importance of allowing artists, audiences, and staff to hold, express, and act upon their own personal beliefs as individuals. Our public programme offers space for artistic expression, critical dialogues and the sharing of lived experiences that foster a deep level of understanding, and resonate with diverse communities.

Recognising that we don't have all the answers, we continue to learn from those we work with who may have different experiences and take time to self-reflect. In 2025 we are undertaking a pause year of consultation as we grow and develop our organisation. We are focused on developing organisational resilience and structure as well as strengthening our leadership to align with our vision, objectives and our commitment to inclusion and diversity.

Actions (2025-2030)

Include marginalised voices on our Steering Committee
Reach out to marginalised communities with our public programmes
Introduce a fairer studio holder programme with an Artist-in-Residency opportunity which offers free/subsidised studio space
Engage with local community, charity or activist organisations that can support us to achieve our objectives
Continuous training for core staff on areas such as unconscious bias, gender awareness, anti-racism, disability equality etc.
Use inclusive language and imagery, where possible, across our communication. Recognising that language is constantly evolving we will review the words we use in this statement periodically, following best practice, and listening to communities and representative organisations
Reduce barriers to access in all areas of our operations
Provide a supportive working environment with structures that recognise people’s differences
Review this statement and our actions annually, building in self reflection to evaluate our own behaviours and proactively seeking feedback and evaluation
Participate together as a staff team in discourse around race, social class and disability
Ensure our partners and organisations we work with align with our Values and Code of Conduct

Recognising the importance of diversity and the need for broad representation amongst our leadership and staff we aim to:

Fundraise for new positions that widen the employment opportunities we can offer
Advertise jobs and Board vacancies widely through channels and networks that attract applicants from marginalised groups
Work with partner organisations to ensure that opportunities are shared with the communities we work with