Foreword
Racism – discrimination based on an individual’s racial and/or ethnic background – exists in every industry across the UK. Racism has been embedded in the structures and policies that determine how organisations are governed. Racism and racial inequality can take different forms. These forms include (but are not limited to): direct discrimination, conscious and unconscious biases, micro-aggressions and inequitable recruitment processes – all of which work to disadvantage and dehumanise global majority communities (those who have thus far been considered “ethnic minorities”).
The WMCA Cultural Leadership Board (CLB) recognises that people from the global majority are particularly underrepresented in arts and cultural workforces and audiences. The Board understands that it is their responsibility to identify and challenge racism within itself, within the WMCA and within the cultural sector more broadly. The CLB acknowledges that there is no neutral position to be held on racism, one is either racist or anti-racist. Anti-racism requires us to actively engage in critical conversations and self-reflections around race whilst taking action to re-evaluate and reshape our systems, practices and attitudes.
The CLB rejects the use of reductive acronyms and abbreviations, such as BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) and POC (People of Colour) which identify entire people groups through their ‘non-whiteness’, their difference from what has long been considered the norm. The CLB is committed to underpinning all of its work with an anti-racist approach, which moves us beyond empty solidarity statements and towards radical change.