Our Black Lives Matter Statement

Artswork has been reflecting on recent events in the UK and in the USA, including the horrific death of George Floyd on 25 May. These are further terrible and tragic events in a long history of discrimination and injustice. This has shocked us all and led us to reflect on the role of each of us as individuals, and as an organisation, in tackling racism. Black Lives Matter is the civil rights movement of our time. It addresses a fundamental inequality in society – that Black lives are too often undervalued. This is a matter of social justice.

At Artswork we are committed to challenging ourselves, to better educating ourselves, and to standing up to racism wherever we see it. This is about how we work and behave as an organisation. It is about our values and how we implement them both internally and externally – and it is about our work to support Black children and young people, Black staff, and Black artists, educators and partners – and our commitment to be an ally.

Artswork’s mission is to support diversity and those children and young people experiencing disadvantage to have greater life opportunities. This is now a time for action. We are committed to identifying how and in what ways we can do more as an organisation to combat racism. We are reviewing our equalities plan. We will make the changes needed to ensure addressing racism is at the forefront of our work with children and young people and those who work with them.

Please click here to read the Black Lives Matter blog post by Darren Henley OBE Chief Executive, Arts Council England

UK Youth alongside My Life My Say, The Diana Award and activist Jermain Jackman have launched the #YoungandBlack campaign. Through an online campaign and series of events, young Black people will have a safe space to share stories, connect and highlight their personal experiences of being #YoungAndBlack in Britain. Click here to get involved and sign up for some active listening together.

Accessible mental health support and guidance for black children and young people, staff, creators, educators, partners and their families can be found here: https://www.blackmindsmatteruk.com/

Finally a link to a Guide to Allyship – An evolving open-source guide to help us all become a more thoughtful and effective ally.

Everyone at Artswork