Metta as an organisation does not currently reflect the diversity of the voices, artists and audiences we serve. A truly diverse organisation must be diverse from the top down. We commit to increasing the ethnic diversity of the board within the next six months. 

Celebrating diversity through our work is important but it isn't enough and we must do more. We’ve been listening and learning - dismantling systemic inequality is something we are all responsible for. We need to do better at listening to diverse voices and acting on what we hear. As a white led organisation we must do better at listening to black voices and understanding how to best act on what we hear, to galvanise and sustain an anti-racist culture inside and outside of our organisation.

ACTIONS

• Committing to increasing the diversity of the board within the next six months, including but not limited to black people.

• Interrogating our recruitment processes for all organisational roles and creating more opportunities for entry into our organisation and the wider industry.

• Annual anti-racist training for Trustees and all staff.

• Challenging racism wherever we meet it - with venue partners and other organisations, within our audiences and within ourselves. 

• Offering free mentoring to black and brown colleagues, especially around support with funding applications and pitching work, in the knowledge that our funding ecology currently reinforces the structural inequalities of wider society in terms of expectations about how language is used. 

• Interrogating how to better reach and serve diverse audiences and participants. 

• Recommitting to casting 50% performers of colour in our work, and working harder to make sure our creative teams and production staff similarly reflect the diversity of our performers.

• Recommitting to an intersectional approach, working with female artists, disabled artists, transgender artists, working class artists and anyone else who is underrepresented in our industry and our audiences. And remaining aware of and challenging how these intersectional processes create additional barriers for those collaborators.  

Commitment to diversity is a founding principle of Metta. We believe that everyone, regardless of their background, should be able to access bold, innovative and intelligent theatre and should be able to see themselves and their experiences reflected on our stages.