The motivations for my becoming the OCA student representative for Equality and Diversity are deeply embedded in my personal experiences of racial and social class based injustices. I felt that this personal context was important to illustrate my interest and commitment to the role. But equally I wanted to add a real life dimension to the discussion on equality and diversity.
Read More
I am proud to represent the OCA in the Creative Practice: Composition and Performance working group in the newly formed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Music Studies (EDIMS) Network, a cross-organisational group set up to ‘promote, support and share good practice in relation to EDI in Music Higher Education in the UK’
Read More
When encountered in an art institution like Tate and reimagined in this way, we have no choice but to engage with this darker side. Events of the past few years, such as Brexit and BLM have really started to change that – I think people are noticing public monuments and statuary a lot more.
Read More
In these times when we recognise the need to encourage young people to read, it’s important that children see fictional characters they can identify with. Many readers can remember that feeling when the characters they read about may as well be creatures from Mars, for all they had in common. It used to affect young readers who were working class, for example. But while representations of different social backgrounds have improved in children’s fiction, the same can’t yet be said of ethnicity.
Read More
Join Dr Pragya Agarwal on 31 July.
Read More
Last year OCA launched an ambitious new 10-year strategy, available on our website, that talked of closing equality gaps, and making a curriculum that is ‘sensitive to global and cultural contexts’. But how to get there? How do we make a curriculum that is reflective of the work and perspectives of people all around the world? How do we ensure that there are no equality gaps?
Read More
Like many, I’ve been reflecting on the recent protests following the killing of George Floyd, and the responses to the #BlackLiveMatter, in particular across Higher Education. These have ranged from the extremely thoughtful and sensitive to the very corporate and hollow. This has forced me to take a long hard look at myself and the organisation that I’m very proud to lead the Open College of the Arts and consider are we doing enough to live up to our values of diversity and inclusion?
Read More
