In this inspiring and powerful talk, Megan Francis traces the root causes of our current racial climate to their core causes, debunking common misconceptions and calling out “fix-all” cures to a complex social problem Megan Ming Francis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington where she specializes … More
This toolkit is, foremostly, a practical guide for improving the experiences of POC (people of colour) audiences, staff and filmmakers – and other intersections including gender, sexuality, disability, income and class. Whilst the harm and discrimination POC face in the arts both as workers and audiences is firmly rooted within institutional and systemic injustice, preventing immediate harm is the key priority – and that begins with immediate, though not as radical, reform. This goes beyond representation, and towards creating a space built for all people rather than for primarily white audiences. Whether your cinema is in a rural part of the UK, or in a densely populated city, ethnically diverse audiences are there and it is your cinema’s role to serve them.
The second function of this toolkit is to create lasting change for future generations, and sustain your organisation in a meaningful way (one which is framed around serving communities and not merely securing funding). To do this, you must play your role in preventing harm on an institutional and systemic level. In addition to immediately actionable tools, this toolkit will encourage inner, reflective and dialogue-based work towards undoing systemic injustice. This work will be longer term, and may at times feel personal, however confronting these uncomfortable spaces from positions of privilege is fundamental to creating wider change. Treat the provocations as actionable on a personal level within your roles and workplaces, because the results will be structural change that will not allow harm to exist within your organisations.
It is important that this toolkit is offered to all staff members in your cinema or film organisation; from trustees and managers to programmers and front-of-house staff. Whilst some will find responsibility placed on them to action certain aspects, others will be empowered by the conversations around equity this toolkit may enable. We implore you to talk widely within your organisation about the implications of this toolkit, in an environment in which hierarchies are cut away. Pay all staff equally to feed into this dialogue, and you will see what emerges on this new ground.
Whilst this toolkit has been written in the locale of South Wales, it is aimed towards independent cinemas, festivals, film-based organisations and digital film spaces across the UK – responding to regional differences in audiences, access to funding, rurality and lived experience.
We hope that once this toolkit is worked through, you will come away with an understanding that increasing diversity and access is not a means of sustaining your organisation, but of sustaining and resourcing the communities that cinema serves. This document further hopes to provide an opportunity to reflect on your organisation’s intentions, and how to realign those back to serving all audiences and filmmakers.
Immediate implications will be a reimagining and dismantling of old ways of working, and implementing new models of equity within your organisation and for those who enter your space (whether physical or digital). This is necessary work as a cultural space. It is always possible if there is the will to change, from staff make-up to programming practices, organisational hierarchies to an equalisation of pay; but if there isn’t a will to change, there must be a divestment of power and transference of funding to the communities your organisation is failing to serve. This toolkit will help you confront these different potentials for change.
This is difficult work because it calls for challenging your positionality, your personal and emotional responses, your attachment to a workplace, your unconscious and conscious biases, your own stability, your lived experiences, and the harmful structures you may benefit from. Then, it calls for a letting go. Inequity is not any one person’s fault but it is our collective responsibility to understand and undo it. And finally, it calls for a real commitment to doing the work.
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In April 2021, Sadia spoke with BoxOffice Podcast about the toolkit. Listen here and check at the link for a full transcript of the interview.
People from all walks of life and all kinds of backgrounds fall victim to online bullying and cybercrime, but studies have shown that those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more susceptible to online threats than others. To help you surf with ease and reduce your vulnerability to attack, take a look at our Internet Safety Guide for … More
Matchbox Cineclub held two brilliant sessions on captioning as part of the Film Hub Scotland Access Forum. This is Session 2: Practical Subtitling If you have any questions about captioning, from cost to practicalities of work you can’t undertake yourself, then please get in touch with Megan and Sean (matchboxcine@gmail.com)
Matchbox Cineclub held two brilliant sessions on captioning as part of the Film Hub Scotland Access Forum. This is Session 1: Principles of Subtitling If you have any questions about captioning, from cost to practicalities of work you can’t undertake yourself, then please get in touch with Megan and Sean (matchboxcine@gmail.com)
The Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) is a not-for-profit festival founded in 2015. As well as their annual film festival, they undertake year-round work including events, archive programming and advice and support for the exhibition sector. They have produced the SQIFF Deaf and Disabled Accessibility Guide, intended for use by film exhibitors of any … More
A life-changing moment is captured in six powerful, dramatic monologues. Written, directed and performed by disabled people and curated by Mat Fraser.
Disability in Time and Place reveals how disabled people’s lives are integral to the heritage all around us. From leper chapels built in the 1100s to protests about accessibility in the 1980s, the built environment is inextricably linked to the stories of disabled people, hidden and well-known. This section serves as an invitation to those … More
On the heels of Woodstock, a group of teen campers are inspired to join the fight for disability civil rights. This spirited look at grassroots activism is executive produced by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.
This is a brief guide to researching records of disability. For the purpose of this guide, disability is taken to include all types of sensory or physical impairment, including chronic health conditions and the long-term effects of war wounds. Deafness and blindness are also covered as these have historically been treated as disabilities.
