Following the first year of the Contemporary Visual Arts Network’s Fair and Equitable programme research, the Call to Action toolkits have been launched in 2023.

These toolkits pick up on themes covered in CVAN’s Fostering Equity in the Visual Arts Sector report.

Three toolkits are for organisations and the fourth is for artists and arts workers.

These toolkits are intended to act as a stimulus to encourage the development of further work toward a fairer, more equitable sector, helping to translate theory into practice and action. The toolkits highlight the necessity of having a good (or outstanding) approach to equality and inclusion internally, as this will impact an organisation’s ability to deliver this work externally. They also recognise that this work should be taking place without waiting for direction from others.

The toolkits aimed at organisations include insightful prompts to assist with self-reflection. They also provide a structured resource divided into bite-sized sections that can be used to encourage discussion and reflection around gaps and strengths.

Toolkit themes

For organisations

• Toolkit 1: preparing for equity and inclusion work
• Toolkit 2: talent development of underrepresented and marginalised artists and arts workers
• Toolkit 3: exploring intersectionality

For artists and arts workers

• Toolkit 4: for artists and arts workers from underrepresented and marginalised communities to share with host or commissioning organisations to gauge the organisation’s approach and commitment to equality and inclusion work

You can access all the toolkits here: https://cvan.art/call-to-action-fair-and-equitable-toolkits/

Toolkit 4 aims to relieve artists and arts workers from marginalised and underrepresented communities of some of the ongoing and repetitive additional work required around equity and inclusion, and to demystify an organisation’s approach to equity. 

The toolkits are offered as live resources that should grow and evolve. They suggest multiple approaches to equity and inclusion, highlighting the many varied resources that will help organisations on this journey. They also recognise that developing an excellent organisational culture and approach towards inclusion and equity is a continuous process of improvement rather than a one-off initiative. To ensure buy-in from senior levels, these toolkits have been created for senior staff such as directors, trustees and chairs.

We hope you’ll find these toolkits practical and valuable – even if you’ve been doing this work for a while.

About the Author:

The Call to Action toolkits have been created and developed by Monique Jivram. Monique’s career spans more than 10 years in arts organisations as a funder and practitioner in inclusive community, public engagement and visual arts programming. Operating at the intersection of curation and inclusive public programming, Monique’s work focuses on improved inclusion, more efficient distribution of resources, and supporting underrepresented people to thrive in the arts sector.

Toolkit 1 was edited by Dr. Cecilia Wee FRSA, author of the Fair and Equitable programme research report, Fostering Equity in the Visual Arts Sector.  Cecilia is an independent curator, educator and agitator, addressing equitable infrastructures for art and social action. Cecilia’s work concerns our interconnectedness and relationships within and beyond capitalism, working with practitioners using experimental sound, performance, visual and design practices.

The toolkits build on sections of CVAN’s 2022 research report Fostering Equity in the Visual Arts Sector, written by Dr. Cecilia Wee and Veionella Spaine, with further programme support from Rukhsana Jahangir.