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We continue to publish our work on anti-racism and in support of Black Lives Matter via this page. Please contact us if you have ideas or comments.
Spike Island is pro-equality and committed to being an anti-racist organisation. We believe Black Lives Matter and stand in full support of Black communities in the UK and elsewhere, as well as anyone suffering from racism, oppression, discrimination or social injustice. We also express our solidarity with, and support for, the Black Lives Matter movement.
We first published this anti-racism page in July 2020 and we continue to share our commitments and progress via this page. This page was last updated in February 2021.
What recent events make so painfully clear is that words are not enough: we must do better and be held to account for our actions. We believe that all organisations should be anti-racist and pro-equality, and so we commit to working hard to dismantle the ways in which our organisation and our sector perpetuate white privilege and Black discrimination every day. Our complicity needs to be challenged in practical ways. To this end, we are investing time and resources into learning more about, and actively confronting, the systemic issues and barriers that cause and maintain structural inequality. In doing so, we hope to better demonstrate, and advocate for, the need for urgent and lasting change.
Spike Island is a place for sharing ideas and engaging in critical dialogue. We continue to champion, collaborate with, support and give voice to a diverse range of artists – including Black artists and others who are underrepresented within the sector – as part of our ongoing commitment to social justice and anti-racism. But there is much more to do, and so we will continue to listen to and learn from others in order to further tackle any barriers to entry or collaboration.
We also recognise that we need to hold a mirror up to ourselves. Although we consider ourselves allies, there is no doubt that we can be better allies. Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion is well demonstrated by our artistic programme, but we know that we could and should do much more to engage diverse communities through our governance and staffing. We must transform our working culture in order to make Spike Island more representative of our city.
We make this statement in the knowledge that being an anti-racist organisation that actively challenges social injustice requires ongoing work that never stops. With this in mind, we will continue to discuss and consult on these issues with our staff, board and external advisors, updating and adding to short- and long-term actions detailed below as they continue to develop.
LONGER-TERM ACTIONS – UPDATED 17 FEBRUARY 2021
We will continue to publish our work on anti-racism via this page. We encourage you to join our mailing list to receive our monthly newsletter and notifications of updates.
Please also contact us if you have ideas or comments.
This statement was first posted on 14 July 2020 and updated on 17 February 2021.