Speak - Listen - Reset - Heal
An anti-racism conference for the UK's theatre and dance sectors
‘Speak - Listen - Reset - Heal’ was an online conference series for the UK's theatre and dance sectors in 2020. It took place on Thursday 29th October, Tuesday 3rd, 10th and 24th November. It was presented in partnership with Society of London Theatre (SOLT) & UK Theatre.
The conference created change through addressing the historic and systemic racism in the performing arts and focusing on practical applications of inclusion and diversity. Over 3000 people attended. The conference created a space where experiences of racism could be listened to and acknowledged by those empowered to make change.
Read the Speak - Listen - Reset - Heal Evaluation Report, prepared 9 April 2021
Session 1: Speak & Listen - 29th October (dance community), 3rd November (theatre community)
This first session was only for Black, Asian and ethnically diverse industry workers. This was a safe space to share honest experiences of racism in the sector, and share testimony.
With express permission, some testimonies were anonymised and shared at the second session.
Session 2: Listen & Reset - 10th November
The second session was open to the wider theatre workforce, especially senior decision-makers. Responses and reflections from Session 1: Speak & Listen were shared, and time was given for thoughts and reactions.
Session 3: Reset & Heal - 24th November
In the third sessions, attendees:
- Heard plans and propositions for anti-racist action
- Heard key statements from some of the diverse theatre workforce
- Gave feedback on preferred ideas through anonymous polling
- Agreed proposed actions for future development
Attendance for the second and third sessions was open to everyone in the industry.
There was no cost to attend but attendees can still make a voluntary contribution to Inc Arts Minds.
BSL interpreters, captioning and Welsh translation were available for all those attending.
Major Sponsors were SOLT/UK Theatre, Tali Pelman, Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) and Arts Council Wales. In addition, Sponsors of the Conference are Community Leisure UK, Creu Cymru, Federation of Scottish Theatre, One Dance UK and Theatres Trust. The Conference supporters are Arts Marketing Association (AMA), Independent Theatre Council (ITC) and The Musician’s Union (TheMU). More sponsors and supporters are to be announced in the coming weeks.