A STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR OF BADA AND THE PRESIDENT OF AFBADA

Last year we, the BADA board, publicly affirmed our commitment to anti-racism and to equality for all our staff, faculty, students and alumni. We pledged to use the moment in history that arose from the killing of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement as an opportunity to implement fundamental change in our organization and to embrace diversity across all markers to challenge inequality. We promised to do that in a transparent and fully accountable manner. One year on, we would like to update you on the progress we have made.

• We have taken this time to carry out a rigorous and comprehensive review of every aspect of our institution, which we are using to drive and monitor change to actively increase diversity and representation within our organization.
• We have introduced mandatory and ongoing unconscious bias and diversity training for trustees, staff and faculty of BADA, delivered by a leading Black theatre company. Staff have attended workshops and conferences to keep abreast of developments in this field.
• We have reviewed and updated our offer to students ready for our relaunch of in-person training in London in Fall 2021, after an enforced break of 18 months.
• We have embarked on an ambitious fundraising campaign with a target of $1.7 million to fund 30 full scholarships for underprivileged students to study at BADA over the next 3 years.
• We are currently recruiting new staff and faculty to meet the needs of returning students, using best-practice recruitment methods with the aim of increasing diversity.
• We have successfully appointed 4 new trustees to the BADA board, significantly increasing the diversity of voices governing the organization.
• We have restructured our staff team to include a role dedicated to student support and welfare to ensure a positive, safe and inclusive environment, conducive to wellbeing, and social and intellectual growth.
• We have established a Diversity Action Group within BADA bringing together alumni, faculty and staff to provide an open space for ongoing discussion and review of all Justice, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) matters.
• We have developed fruitful relationships with external JEDI consultants and diverse theatre organizations to advise us and to inform the changes we are making.
• We have and will continue to invest significant time and resource into ensuring that BADA makes the changes required to ensure it is an anti-racist and inclusive Academy for all.

We recognize that these are only the first steps. There is still work to be done to more fully reflect the society in which we live.  BADA is committed to continuing this journey.