CN talks to the founds of REACH, as well as agencies who have joined the initiative so far.
A s our industry rebuilds, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rebuild better. Our goal must be to create a more diverse, inclusive and accessible industry that better represents the world in which we operate, the brands we serve and the delegates we engage. Most agencies now have equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) polices and everyone accepts that increasing the diversity of a workforce is a good thing, but with only 10% of the industry from a Black, Brown or minority ethnic background, what can we actively do about it?
“Our people have always been the core of our business model and we pride ourselves on our family culture at DRPG,” comments Dale Parmenter, CEO of DRPG. “However, it didn’t take statistics to see the issue in front of us, in our teams, our suppliers and venues across the industry landscape. The lack of ethnic minority representation is obvious, and we need to work together to make a noticeable difference. We are now invested in the REACH programme as part of our diversity and inclusion efforts which will be a fantastic driver for this industry.”
About REACH
The REACH Events Scholarship initiative provides a fund for Black, Brown or minority ethnic students to study on events management degree programmes, providing a £5,000 a year scholarship to support with living expenses. The funds are donated by agencies, venues, and suppliers who each pledge £5,000 a year for three years.
REACH was created by an industry task force led by Robert Kenward, Event First Steps, Mash Media and Diversity Ally. “It’s logical that we can only increase diversity if we take a grassroots approach and attract more people into the industry in the first place,” says Robert Kenward, founder of The Hub. “It’s not enough to hope that we will naturally become more diverse; we need to actively promote our industry and make it more appealing and accessible to Black, Brown and minority ethnic talent. I implore the industry to act now and support the REACH scholarship because it’s a way of making a real and tangible impact.”
A full rounded approach
When Identity was made aware of this programme, they committed without question. “Not only was the programme a fantastic opportunity for us to ‘give back’ and begin the journey towards evening the playing field,” comments Michael Gietzen, managing director, “it also gives us the ability to connect with and encourage future talent from a diverse range of backgrounds.”
“When we launched Diversity Ally, it was a case of somebody needing to take ownership of driving the mission to make our industry the most diverse, accessible and inclusive industry out there,” says Gabrielle Austen Browne, co-founder, Diversity Ally. “We understood that someone needed to start those uncomfortable conversations and begin challenging the status quo and to galvanise our industry to do better and be better. We see ourselves as the custodians of this mission, to drive diversity through events, but now it’s time for the industry to start taking ownership of some of what needs to be done, and that means committing to do something, whether that’s large or small.”
“We are all focussed on a selection of progressive topics across the industry at the moment,” comments Parmenter. “Whilst an agency could spend their efforts on other notable areas, such as becoming more sustainable, every movement starts with the people and culture from within. A professional community should reflect the world in which we live as accurately as possible, the sooner we can reflect the number of ethnic minorities appropriately, then we will see rapid positive change throughout the rest of our business aspirations and goals.”
Parmenter also thinks that it would be a mistake for agencies not to care for an initiative like this, given the positive impact diversity has within the workplace. “Perhaps some agencies are located in less ethnically diverse areas across the UK, however even the geo-demographic limitations can be combatted. We have proven, most recently, the previous office-based roles are now successfully operating remotely so it’s hard to understand what other limitations an agency would have in the way of signing up before their core values are questioned,” he comments.
Austen Brown believes that “it takes a full rounded approach to look at all areas of our industry to drive this mission forward; whether that’s the talent pipeline, accessibility, diversity or inclusive content. And one of the tangible ways we can look at making long term change is by looking at the talent pipeline. This why the REACH scholarship is such a great initiative. It’s about organisations taking some ownership and making long term investment into the future talent of our industry and organisations like DRPG and Identity are really helping to make a difference by supporting this programme.”
“At Identity, we believe that to truly deliver meaningful events with impact, we need to work towards our workforce composition which reflects our client base,” concludes Gietzen. “Our commitment to REACH will not be purely financial; we also intend to give students on the programme the opportunity to work with Identity during and beyond their degree course. We are excited about the relationships we’ll build and the futures we can kick off.”
Increasing diversity will not come at the expense of limiting opportunities for others says Kenward “We need to increase the number of people, from all backgrounds who see the events industry as a viable and attractive career – opening doors for some does not mean shutting them for others,” he comments.
Click here to read the feature.
