The Equity, Diversity and Access committee was established in August 2020 in order to oversee the formulation of institutional action plans as well as organisation-wide policies and procedures relating to equity and diversity.

This Committee encourages and assists all departments in the integration and implementation of equity and diversity policies, procedures and plans; and monitors and evaluates their effectiveness. The Committee also consults and communicates with all relevant groups and external bodies in order to advise on this work.

The first committee meeting was held at the end of September 2020. The committee meets 3-4 times per year, and members include representatives from our permanent, casual and freelance staff as well as independent professional artists and student representatives (see below).

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) committee was renamed to the Equity, Diversity and Access (EDA) committee in the summer of 2024 in line with current vocabulary and the revised focus of the committee.

Committee membership

The EDA committee is co-chaired by governors Michael “Mikey J” Asante and David Blackburn. The secretary to the committee is Richard Lawrence-Allen.

When recruiting Committee members, open calls are sent to members of salaried and hourly paid staff, students, and independent artists to invite them to join the committee by submitting an expression of interest.

Representatives are asked to have an understanding, interest, and alignment with the work of the committee and extra attention is paid to ensure inclusion of people with lived experiences of diversity and intersection. On joining the committee, members are provided with an operating framework outlining the work of the committee and the expected conduct of members.

The general structure of the Committee is as follows:

Up to 3 Governors
the Artistic Director,
the Head of HR,
the Director of Communications,
the Director of Student Lifecycle and Well-Being or a nominated LCDS Director,
the Student Equity Diversity and Inclusion Rep or a deputy
1 x nominated staff representative as appropriate from each of the Public Programmes, Central Services and LCDS staff teams

Other members of The Place staff may be invited to attend relevant sections of meetings as appropriate

If you have any questions about this, please email the committee secretary, Richard Lawrence-Allen