Since June 2020, Somerset House has been publicly releasing information on the actions it is taking to combat racism. We have committed to sharing our progress every six months, providing greater transparency to our work so that we can continue to be held to account and enact change. You can find our latest update below.
We recognise that this is a journey. We regularly discuss our areas of priority and develop our approaches in between the updates we share.
We continue to work towards the end of systemic racism. We are committed to being actively anti-racist across all areas of our work and we are determined that all of this work in progress will lead to long-term culture change at Somerset House. If you would like to share any thoughts or suggestions, we are listening at change@somersethouse.org.uk
UPDATE APRIL 2021
We have outlined below actions taken in the past six months (since September 2020) and to be taken in the next six months (where applicable) across our areas of focus. This is agreed by our Anti-Racism Task Force, which consists of 13 members, representing all levels and areas of the organisation. It meets fortnightly to set priorities and leads on their delivery and evaluation.
SOMERSET HOUSE’S HISTORY
In the past six months we have:
- Begun the project to investigate Somerset House’s history. This will be a 2-part project: the first part will collate and establish as complete a history as possible from a range of sources; the second part will explore creative ways to interpret this updated information for our audiences.
- Run an open call leading to the appointment of Dr Michael Bennett & Esther Brot to begin the first part of this project. Their brief is to start an investigation of Somerset House’s history, its role in Britain's colonial past, and identify areas for further research.
In the next six months we will:
- Publish the initial research on Somerset House’s history. This is later than initially envisaged, as we had to revise the timeframe in response to the two further lockdowns.
- Begin to work with independent writers, researchers and curators on the second part of this project, to explore creative ways to interpret this updated information for our audiences, potentially through our cultural programme, guided tours and on-site signage and interpretation.
COMMUNITY
In the past six months we have:
- Launched Black Business Incubator, developed with Mentor Black Business and sponsored by Morgan Stanley. The twelve-month programme provides a combination of hot-desking and project space as part of Somerset House’s extensive creative community. Participants will also benefit from mentorship, masterclasses and online learning led by leading Black professionals from across the creative industries.
- Formed our Future Producers (formally Young Producers) collective, which offers development and support to under-represented emerging creatives, looking for pathways into production roles, aged 18-30. The collective unveiled their inaugural project Decentralise in March 2021, which starts to showcase Black people in the history of Somerset House through interactive design and play.
- Engaged Vanessa Johnson-Burgess of Inclusive Recruiting to independently review how we monitor who makes up our workforce and community and advise on best practice in order to establish an accurate benchmark for improving representation.
- Continued our Uncomfortable Conversation discussion space for all staff to join. The space uses recent media coverage as an initial discussion point for anti-racist learning, which has recently covered systemic racism, Black feminism and the politics of Black hair. Senior management have also read and discussed Akala’s Natives: Race & Class in the Ruins of Empire, to build confidence in engaging with the conversation in our everyday work, and to support others to do the same.
In the next six months we will:
- Commence roundtable sessions where anyone who is part of Somerset House’s resident community of artists, makers, freelancers and creative enterprises can openly discuss issues they see here and express ideas on how we can create more positive change for the future. We had hoped to launch these sessions by the end of 2020, however we agreed it would be better to wait until we can facilitate them in person when we are able to regularly work from site.
- Open a new round of bursaries for our shared flexible workspace Somerset House Exchange. We will offer bursaries of 25%, 50% and 75% off membership rates to people who are under-represented across the creative industries. Bursary places will specifically look to redress balance in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability, and socio-economic background, and will be open to applicants of all ages.
WORKFORCE & RECRUITMENT
In the past six months we have:
- Engaged Vanessa Johnson-Burgess of Inclusive Recruiting to advise on language used within job adverts and specifications. This work has informed any available vacancy postings in 2021.
- Expanded and engaged our networks to help us to share opportunities and reach as broad range of people as possible.
In the next six months we will:
- Enrol all new starters on an anti-racism training course as part of their induction to Somerset House.
- Widen our base for recruitment for new freelance positions
LANGUAGE
In the past six months we have:
- Issued an internal resource on inclusive language, including appropriate terms of reference for people with lived experience of racism, to support all staff in feeling confident when talking or writing about issues of representation. All teams are due to meet with a member of the Anti-Racism Task Force to discuss instances where it will be applicable in practical terms and openly ask any questions.
PROCEDURES AND POLICIES
In the past six months we have:
- Launched our Speak Up policy which enables anyone working at Somerset House to report concerns about wrongdoing, including racist incidents, with direct access to the Board of Trustees.
- Updated our Code of Conduct, which now includes a statement on our commitment to be an actively anti-racist organisation. All staff are required to sign up to this new Code of Conduct.
- Reviewed processes in each department to identify tangible measures each team can take within their specific area to be more inclusive. These have been compiled and cross-referenced, highlighting areas of mutual action. This has subsequently informed conversations at Anti-Racism Task Force meetings around priorities and timelines.
In the next six months we will:
- Update our Respect and Equality of Opportunity policy, which will cover any interaction made with Somerset House staff, reiterating that Somerset House promotes an inclusive environment where people treat each other with respect and equality and any form of bullying, harassment or discrimination will not be tolerated. We hope in time that our resident creative community will also sign up to the policy.
- Review language used in contracts issued to freelancers in reference to Somerset House’s expectations for their employment. We expect any third-party contractors to sign up to the policies established.
- Update our programming framework to provide more in-depth questions about anti-racism for programmers and encourage the widest variety of viewpoints to be expressed before proceeding with any proposal.