Anti Racism Action Plan

Last updated: September 2025

This working document considers how Spectra, which is founded on principles of radical inclusion, actively contributes to dismantling racist systems and structures. It is important to us that this is a working document so that it is regularly tended and in our minds – and so that it is able to be responsive to new learning, understanding and current events.

The idea of radical inclusion is critical to our work and our approach to making change. To us, this means that we are not simply seeking to include people who have been excluded and underserved into imbalanced, inequitable, exclusive and harmful systems. Instead, we seek to work in coalition to create a new and different system that is not only equitable, but celebrates the innovation that only truly diverse collaboration can manifest.

This document should be read alongside our Anti Racism Policy, which can be found here: Anti Racism Policy.

Progress So Far

Below is a brief list of actions that have been achieved and embedded into our practice so far since 2023. For the full details of each action, see 24-25 Anti Racism Action Plan – March 2025 Update & 25-26 Anti Racism Action Plan – March 2026 Update 

• Quarterly staff and board review of this action plan
• Annual public updates on progress 
• Tracking representation, progression and wellbeing of our global majority staff and freelancers
• Continuous learning to improve recruitment processes
• Clear reference to racial discrimination within our Harassment, Bullying and Discrimination Policy
• Following recruitment, 30% of active board members are global majority, including both co-chairs
• Training for staff team, artists and board members every 2 years in Unconscious Bias, Anti-Racism and Intersectionality
• In 2025, approximately 33% of our team of facilitating artists were global majority, compared to 18% in 2023.
• In 2025, 70% of Shadow Artists were global majority. Both 2026 Shadow Artists are global majority and have regular 1:1s to support progression.

Focus Areas for 2026

Who	What	Deadline	Progress
Co-Chairs (Operations Lead to support with logistics)	Training and Learning To follow on from Unconscious Bias (Dec 2024) and Intersectional Anti-Racism (May 2026) training, Co-Chairs of the Board will plan follow-up workshops for staff, Board, Steering Group and artists to keep this conversation alive between training.	Jan 2027	Not Started
Operations Lead	Community Mapping  Community mapping for delivery partners, considering how we can serve the overlap of both learning disability and racial marginalisation.	Oct 2026	In Progress
Creative Lead, Creative Director	Artist Recruitment and Development Black or ethnically diverse people make up at least 33% of facilitating artists in 2026-27 (including Wild Possibilities facilitators and Shadowing Artists).	April 2027	In Progress
Creative Lead	Progression Shadow Artists, both of whom are currently global majority, move to lead facilitation roles in areas of their choosing, or are supported to move into other employment or independent project development.	April 2027	Not Started
Steering Group, Impact Lead, Creative Director	Progression Steering Group, 30% of whom are currently global majority, continues to influence Spectra’s operations and activity alongside the staff and Board.	April 2027	In Progress
Operations Lead, Job Coach	Progression BOSS Trainees, one of whom (50%) is from the global majority, develop clear understanding of arts management and are supported in pursuing areas of interest during the training programme. Following the programme, they are supported into either a position at Spectra or other employment.	Sept 2027	Not Started
Creative Lead, Community Lead	Climate Justice Action Group Action Group based at The Commons will make work that demonstrates anti-racism in its creative output.	May 2027	In Progress

Accountability 

For us, accountability means owning our responsibility and evaluating our progress honestly. We will review our work towards the goals laid out below quarterly, discussing with the staff team, Board, and artists. We will share our progress openly and invite discussion to further our learning and action.

If we aren’t meeting a goal, we will hold an open meeting to discuss how we can pivot or break that goal down to begin to make progress. We will be resourceful and ask for help when needed.

With positive movement in mind, we are eager to discuss our work on anti-racism and related ideas. Please contact kate@wearespectra.co.uk to start a conversation.