I took part in a Words Ireland diversity and inclusion online meeting earlier in the week – well, more properly, the excellent speakers did, while I wrote long ranty questions in the chat margins 🙂 It was chaired by Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan and participants included the Trans Writers Union and Small Trans Library, Poetry Ireland, Skein Press, Melanie from Darshan Bold and Sasha de Buyl from Cuirt Literary Festival.
I was really impressed with the meeting. It included real, measurable and practical ways of opening up the arts world for people who find the gates shut against them – and to be honest this benefits everyone, not just the marginalised folk who are shut out. This is because there is a cultural richness in this art – I don’t want to use the colonial extractive language such as “untapped” – perhaps “overlooked” is a better term?
Engaging with this meeting, I felt for the first time in a long time like a participant in the arts community and a serious practitioner whose opinions were not mocked or pooh-poohed. I really enjoyed listening to the contributors and how they endeavoured, from both inside and on the edges of the business, to create safety, community and just practices while also working on their art. It was a candid and morale-boosting discussion and if you’re in a space to have a listen to something longer, I’d really recommend listening back – and then joining in the good fight! Closed captioning has now been added too.
You can play the whole presentation here and read the comments.
(Or click on the Words Ireland picture above. Also check out wordsireland.ie for earlier clips and more resources on more equitable practices in the workplace.)
Susan Lanigan - WWI Historical Fiction 