Our Commitment
At The Old Vic, we want to instil a sense of belonging and a culture of fairness for all those who engage with us. Our aim is to be a warm and attractive place to work and visit for all people. A place that celebrates difference and encourages free-thinking and expression. Through consistent attention and an ongoing commitment to this work, we will achieve our mission to enable anyone to experience, make and benefit from theatre.
Our Journey So Far
The Old Vic is proud to be on a journey to a wholly inclusive environment which celebrates the diversity and uniqueness of our people and instils a sense of belonging. So far we have:
- Creating ongoing equal monitoring surveys
- Facilitating listening sessions and workshops
- Holding anti-racism audits within each department
- Creating a robust programme of training including anti-racism and unconscious bias
- Creating inclusive recruitment and retention strategies for SMT and department heads
- Developing an inclusion resource pack
- Introducing a regular EDI bulletin
- Establishing an Inclusion Working Group
- Appointing a Head of Inclusion
- Regularly reviewing policies and practices
Commitments And Priorities
Whilst we will pay attention to all those with protected characteristics in this work, the particular areas we have chosen to focus on within these priority areas are gender, race and ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ and multi-generationalism. It has also been important to us to create ambitious targets which help us to create an environment for our colleagues and audiences which reflect our community. In order to do this, we have used the below government data to identify the demographic characteristics of people living in London:
Asian 18.5%
Black 13.3%
Mixed Race 5%
LGB 2.7%
Trans/Non-Binary 1%
Disabled 14%
These measures will be updated in line with government reporting to ensure we are holding ourselves to the latest standards. This provides us with the opportunity to challenge ourselves to become more diverse as an organisation and in terms of our creative output than using targets which reflect the whole of UK would.
In order to achieve our commitments to our people (present and future), to audiences and communities, we have established five areas of our work in which to prioritise inclusive practice:
In order to contribute to developing a more diverse, representative and inclusive next generation of workers and, specifically, theatre-makers, we will work to remove social and economic barriers to working at The Old Vic.
We will encourage open and honest two-way communication to ensure we are responsive to and in tune with our stakeholders’ needs, alongside sharing our development and progress. This will help us provide opportunities and find new ways to reach under-represented groups and individuals to engage with the work we produce on and stage.
In order to celebrate the diversity of the nation through our work we will showcase the work of a wider range of artists and practitioners to a more diverse audience.
In order to build a workforce that is representative of London’s diversity, we will attract a broader range of candidates and, within the workplace, create an enabling environment where everyone can make their best work and feels a sense of belonging.
In order to remove bias and barriers in our organisational culture and structure that reinforce inequity and block opportunity, we will provide high quality regular training on diversity and inclusion subjects that develops the talent of all the people we work with, including freelancers.
Embedding Our Work
We accept that the journey towards true diversity and inclusion is long and that the work is an evolving process. We will therefore remain open to changes and developments in the world of diversity and inclusion and be prepared to shift our approach accordingly. Monitoring and evaluation will be an essential part of the ongoing work we do to create and maintain an inclusive environment to enable us to measure the efficacy and impact of our plans.