A series of short soap-box shout-outs on why DIVERSITY MATTERS in the arts.

Hosted by Essex Book Festival and Essex Cultural Diversity Project, this event brought people together to champion and develop diversity in the arts. This was the first in a series of events to explore and develop partnerships around the region. The next will take place in Colchester in February 2017, so visit our website nearer the time to find out more, or join our mailing list via the link below.

For the Stand Up For Diversity in Chelmsford event, there were three-minute mini-talks by:

Ros Green, Essex Book Festival
our compere for the evening who introduced the event

Edith Miller
Ideas Hub: building a stronger community and connecting through creativity ideashubchelmsford.org

Shammi Jalota
Essex County Council: championing diversity across Essex

Annette Lidster
Razed Roof: creating inclusive theatre with people both with, and without, learning difficulties and disabilities razedroof.btck.co.uk

Glenys Newton
Storyteller and writer: telling the stories of refugees as an antidote to the media glenysnewt.wordpress.com

Shane Shambhu
Choreographer, performer & creative collaborator: merging artforms from global perspectives shaneshambhu.com

Anna Westall
Writer: ‘Inside Out’ creative writing workshops in prisons

Amy Botfield
Arts Council England: Creative Case for diversity artscouncil.org.uk

There was also a short ‘open mic’ slot as part of the evening, so those attending can say a few words about their activity, and/or share their thoughts and responses.