We acknowledge that institutional and systemic racism exists at all levels and in all facets of society, including in cultural institutions.

As a company made up predominantly of white employees and board members, we acknowledge institutional racism exists and occurs at National Theatre of Scotland.

We acknowledge and abhor the pain experienced by people of colour* because of institutional racism within National Theatre of Scotland. We know we have an urgent responsibility to address this and to do our part advocating for change within the theatre sector and wider society.

We want people who experience racism to feel safe, included and represented by the National Theatre of Scotland. This includes staff members, artists, freelancers, and audiences.

We want to be an active and positive agent of change in creating a theatre sector and a wider society that welcomes and celebrates different cultural and ethnic identities.

We are committed to approaching this work with care, whole-heartedness, and a thorough resolve. We are committed to learn, to listen, to change, as well as to being accountable and transparent.

We are currently updating our policies, associated activities and targets in this area, which will continue to focus on five key areas:

Governance and Transparency

For it to affect real change, the commitment to becoming an anti-racist organisation has to be embraced throughout the Company. The National Theatre of Scotland’s board is fully involved in the process and holds our Executive Team to account in the enactment of the anti-racism action plan.

People

We believe that for an organisation and its people to thrive, equality, diversity, inclusion, and belonging are vital. We recognise that who we hire is important but so too is career progression and creating an environment in which everyone can achieve their best while feeling supported. To become an anti-racist company:

Programme and Artistic Development

We believe that our productions have the greatest power to be an agent for change. We are committed to developing and producing work by artists of colour, giving them a platform to tell their stories, and have their communities see themselves reflected in the cultural life of Scotland.

We acknowledge that we will make mistakes along the way. We also acknowledge that the experience of the artists is as important as the amount of work programmed and number of artists employed. We recognise that listening to artists of colour and acting on their feedback will be essential in our quest to become an anti-racist organisation.

Audience and Communications

At the heart of National Theatre of Scotland’s mission is to be a theatre for everyone and we need to ensure that we are serving all of Scotland’s communities as audience members.

Creative Engagement and Schools

Our Creative Engagement programme and work with schools enables us to engage with people long term and encourage a new workforce and it is therefore vital that the Creative Engagement offer has anti-racism at its heart.

*Use of language

We acknowledge that the use of language around race and cultural identity can diminish and cause distress. We have chosen to use the identifier “people of colour” as our preferred umbrella term. We are aware that the current thinking around broader terms and groupings of people with different cultural identities is constantly evolving and we commit to continuing our learning and reviewing our language in line with contemporary anti-racism frameworks.

When referring to individuals or communities we will be as specific as possible with our language when referring to anyone’s racial and or cultural identity

If you would like to discuss anything pertaining to our anti-racism learning and work, please email ayo.schwartz@nationaltheatrescotland.com (Head of Human Resources)

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