At the end of June 2020 Arts Council of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales advertised a tender to undertake a series of in-depth research conversations. Our aim was to widen engagement with communities we consistently fail to engage in our work. We received 34 submissions and after a detailed selection process and interviews we decided to appoint three organizations to undertake three very different studies.
The three organizations were:
- Re:cognition [link to report] who focused on an area of semi-rural poverty (BSL version available at https://youtu.be/iHUtf2JNzvY [part 1] and https://youtu.be/oE9auehMQt4 [part 2]
- Richie Turner Associates, [link to report] who created a team focusing on deaf and disabled people (BSL version available at https://youtu.be/nTeyLQ-4iH8 [part 1], https://youtu.be/WN2RaA-FwEI [part 2] and https://youtu.be/v7m6mJBIqT8 [part 3].
- Welsh Arts Anti-Racist Union [link to report] who focused on cultural and ethnic diversity (BSL version available at https://youtu.be/nbfzAbkxMtE [part 1], https://youtu.be/4ObxzfqPlAI [part 2] and https://youtu.be/ouhHBwv1UUM [part 3]).
The work was severely impacted by COVID-19. All three organizations had to modify their planned approach when undertaking the work. All three reports are now complete and can be accessed by clicking on the links above.
Arts Council of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru welcome the findings within these studies. The approaches taken by all three organizations, focused on collaborating with communities rather than extrapolating from communities, and provide a range of important findings and recommendations.
Arts Council of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru will publish a joint Action Plan, with a timeframe for taking forward the recommendations, early in 2022.
For our organizations this work is key as part of a wider process of change, working in collaboration with communities who have found us difficult to reach, to provide better equity in what we do and how we work.
The work supports both organizations’ Strategic Equality Plan, which outlines our determination to advance equality, with a clear commitment to reach more widely and deeply into all communities across Wales. It will also support the Welsh Government’s Race Equality Action Plan.