Talawa Theatre Company have launched a new iteration of their important Unconscious Bias, Anti-Racism and Diversity (UBARD) training programme.
Having seen much success with their previous Unconscious Bias training, that benefited organisations including RADA, LAMDA, Paines Plough, Watford Palace Theatre and Watermill Theatre, this revised programme is adapted to speak to racism in the UK in 2024. Talawa, as an outstanding Black British Theatre Company with over 35 years of history, proudly supports and platforms artists of Black African and Caribbean heritage and diaspora. Their work ranges from local community engagement and national tours to international collaborations.
Since June 2024, Amelia Michaels, Training Officer at Talawa Theatre Company, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Consultant Sharla Smith have conducted a full redesign of the UBARD Training. Taking on participant and facilitator feedback from the last five years, much thought and consideration has gone into curating a refreshed UBARD Training programme. Available both in-person and remotely, this renewed and dynamic participatory training will equip teams with the tools and frameworks to address and challenge racism in their working environments and across the wider sector.
The lived experience of the racialised has been placed at the centre of this redesign process, aiming to create a better lived experience for racialised people in the Arts and Culture sector and beyond. This training has been reviewed and contributed to by various internal and external parties and Talawa are confident about the robust course they are delivering. As a theatre company, Talawa design and deliver their work through a unique lens which champions practical and creative commitment. This is reflected in their UBARD training programme.
The UBARD Training programme provides three stages, titled ‘Unconscious Bias’; ‘Impacts of Racism’; and ‘Role-modelling Allyship’.
These sessions will take participants on a guided journey that, if fully engaged with, should provoke un-comfortability and questioning of self and the society we live in. A separate space is also provided for those of racialised backgrounds in Stage Two, where the participants will have a session apart from their non-racialised counterparts.
Talawa’s Training Co-ordinator Amelia Michaels comments, Talawa Theatre Company aims to dismantle the systems that create a lack of safety for and exclusion of racialised people, whilst holding their lived experiences and expertise at the centre of our work. The participant has been at the forefront of our minds in this redesign process, whilst encompassing as best we can the current landscape of racism in the UK. I feel confident that this training will serve as a catalyst for institutional change within all the organisations it touches.
In its simplest form, Talawa Theatre Company defines racism as prejudice and discrimination intersecting with institutional and systemic power structures. The UBARD Training programme facilitators have a wealth of social inclusion and diversity knowledge and are experts in their facilitation practice. The Training is designed for organisations within the arts and culture sector and can also be applied to businesses within other industries.
Talawa Theatre Company would like to thank Arts Council England for supporting this vital work.
