Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is central to our work at the Roundhouse.
We have a team of creative, ambitious and passionate people who want to improve access and opportunities for young people, peers, audiences and artists.
We want the Roundhouse to feel like London. This means that the demographic makeup of our board, staff, young creatives programmes and our stages should better reflect London, working towards our goal of diversifying the creative industries. We set targets to increase Global Majority staff across the team including on our board and in our workforce which we’ve been working towards since 2020.
We have evolved our anti-racism commitments and, alongside them, carved out broader EDI commitments, all of which are outlined on this page, so that there is transparency and accountability, spanning the breadth of what we do. This work falls under three key goals:
Our goals are to:
- Diversify our team and our stages
- Improve the accessibility of our spaces
- Influence change across the sector and beyond
You can find out more about the work behind these goals and read about some of the progress with projects and targets below.
1
Staff
- By 2026, 40% of our workforce will be from the Global Majority and by 2030, this will be 46% (in line with the latest London census).
Youth programme
- At least 46% of young people on our projects should be from the Global Majority.
- Ensure young people taking part in our professional opportunities or into work programmes are representative of London.
- To become a Theatre of Sanctuary.
Stages and spaces
- Increase the number of Black and Global Majority artists in our commercial music programme.
2
- Develop and deliver an action plan following an audit from Attitude is Everything.
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Review and improve the accessibility of our bars.
- Identify and create a space for a prayer room for staff.
3
- Develop our model of generous leadership where we offer dedicated hours from our fundraising team to support capacity and skills development for small diverse led charities.
- Invest time and resources into delivering Driving Change, an annual EDI sector event which we’ve run since 2019.
- When we have a seat at the table with decision-makers we will champion diverse talent and the value of creativity in young people’s lives.
EDI progress
Representation
As of September 2023 our permanent staff team is 28% Global Majority, and our Senior Management Team is 26% Global Majority.
Of the 8,000 young people who take part in creative opportunities, in 22/23 53% were from the Global Majority.
You can read our 2023 Gender Pay Gap and Ethnicity Pay Gap report here.
Accessible venue
In 2023, we installed a new seating structure that was generously supported by Arts Council England and City Bridge Trust, which improves the accessibility of our shows. This includes more wheelchair spaces and ambulant accessible seats, including wider seats, more leg room and assistance animal locations.
Influencing change
As part of our anti-racism goals that we set in 2020, we committed to ensuring suppliers and contractors align with our EDI values. We’ve done this by asking about EDI commitments during the procurement process. One example of where we’ve done this is by diversifying our roster of catering clients to ensure what’s on offer for clients better reflects the diversity of London. In 2023, we announced a new cohort of 14 vendors who we’ll be working with over three years.
Michaela Greene, Partnerships and Impact Director at the Roundhouse, fed into an industry roundtable with the APPG for Creative Diversity about improving access to the creative industries.
Tina Ramdeen, Associate Director of Young People at the Roundhouse, has joined the Government’s expert advisory panel to oversee the development of its cultural education plan which will ensure all young people can access high-quality creative opportunities.