We are sharing data as part of the #TheatresPullUpOrShutUp call to action asking theatre organisations to publish information about their staff, Board, and the artists they commission and present on stage. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic our theatre and music programmes are currently on hold, and most of the team are currently furloughed. As a result we have not been able to compile and share all of this information straight away, but we have outlined a timeline of when we will be able to publish further information.
We know we have more to do to improve representation and have been doing this work, but we also know that the changes we must make need to go beyond this. We have not done enough to dismantle systemic racism at The Yard, and we haven’t done enough to ensure that our structures and culture care for the well-being of Black artists, staff members and freelancers who work with us. Embedding a culture of anti-racism must and will be our priority going forward, and we are sorry that it hasn’t been to date.
We recognise the urgency of this work, but also that we need to make it comprehensive. We need to use external support with professional expertise, as well as involving people from across our team, and this will take time with the theatre closed and most of our staff still on furlough leave. However in the immediate short term we will be training senior management, staff and trustees, and creating a new route for complaints and issues to be raised ensuring better accountability. Over the coming months we will do deep work on our structures and culture to embed care and accountability, so that when we are able to bring everyone, including artists and audiences back to The Yard, we will have made meaningful changes.
We will regularly update on this work publically, and will next do so in October.
Data in response to the Call to Action
Below we have published our staff and Board data from 2018/19 and 2019/20, and data on freelance creatives who have worked with us across our theatre and local programmes in 2018/19 and 2019/20.
Staff data is broken down into salaried and casual staff. Further data is broken down into freelancers (such as those making up creative teams for productions) and lead artists commissioned to make new work for our programmes. This data is broken down via the year that freelancers were paid; if a commission was begun in 2019-20 but won’t be staged until 2022, data will appear here in 2019-20.
Staff data 2019-20
Salaried staff
0% Asian
4% Black
29% Mixed/Multiple ethnic background
0% Other
0% Prefer not to say
67% White
15% Consider themselves to have a disability
61% Female-identifying
29% Male-identifying
10% Non-binary
0% Prefer not to say
Casual staff
0% Asian
18% Black
29% Mixed/Multiple ethnic background
6% Other
0% Prefer not to say
47% White
12% Consider themselves to have a disability
59% Female-identifying
29% Male-identifying
6% Non-binary
6% Prefer not to say
Board
22% Asian
11% Black
0% Mixed/Multiple ethnic background
0% Other
0% Prefer not to say
67% White
11% Consider themselves to have a disability
44% Female-identifying
56% Male-identifying
0% Non-binary
0% Prefer not to say
Freelancers and commissions data 2019-20
Freelancers
6% African
2% Any other Black background
1% Any other ethnic group
5% Any other mixed background
18% Any other white background
1% Caribbean
2% Chinese
3% Indian
1% Not known
0% White and Asian
1% White and Black African
3% White and Black Caribbean
52% White British
1% Jewish British
5% White Irish
1% Any other Asian background
13% Consider themselves to have a disability
10% Not known
52% Female-identifying
36% Male-identifying
7% Non-binary
4% Not known (inc. prefer not to say)
Commissions
12% African
4% Any other Black background
0% Any other ethnic group
4% Any other mixed background
35% Any other white background
4% Caribbean
0% Chinese
4% Indian
4% Not known
0% White and Asian
0% White and Black African
0% White and Black Caribbean
35% White British
0% Jewish British
0% White Irish
0% Any other Asian background
15% Consider themselves to have a disability
15% Not known
46% Female-identifying
35% Male-identifying
12% Non-binary
8% Not known (inc. prefer not to say)
Staff data 2018-19
Salaried staff
0% Asian
11% Black
5% Mixed/Multiple ethnic background
0% Other
0% Prefer not to say
84% White
11% Consider themselves to have a disability
53% Female-identifying
47% Male-identifying
0% Non-binary
0% Prefer not to say
Casual staff
7% Asian
23% Black
12% Mixed/Multiple ethnic background
2% Other
5% Prefer not to say
51% White
9% Consider themselves to have a disability
60% Female-identifying
33% Male-identifying
2% Non-binary
5% Prefer not to say
Board
11% Asian
0% Black
0% Mixed/Multiple ethnic background
11% Not known
0% Other
78% White
0% Consider themselves to have a disability
22% Female-identifying
67% Male-identifying
0% Non-binary
11% Not known
Freelancers and commissions data 2018-19
Freelancers
2% African
1% Any other Black background
2% Any other ethnic group
3% Any other mixed background
20% Any other white background
1% Caribbean
1% Chinese
2% Indian
30% Not known
3% White and Asian
3% White and Black African
59% White British
2% White Irish
6% Consider themselves to have a disability
28% Not known
27% Female-identifying
23% Male-identifying
4% Non-binary
26% Not known (inc. prefer not to say)
Commissions
3% African
3% Any other Black background
0% Any other ethnic group
0% Any other mixed background
26% Any other white background
0% Caribbean
0% Chinese
0% Indian
56% Not known
0% White and Asian
3% White and Black African
13% White British
0% White Irish
6% Consider themselves to have a disability
55% Not known
29% Female-identifying
19% Male-identifying
0% Non-binary
52% Not known (inc. prefer not to say)
By the end of August we will publish any historical data we hold from before 2018. This will likely be in a different format and may not be as detailed, as our monitoring methods improved significantly when we became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation in 2018.