Programming & Commissioning

A crucial moment for increasing cultural diversity comes when you are developing your program or commissioning new work. If you turn to the same types of creatives or compositions every year, and they are not very diverse, it’s well worth taking steps to change.

Key goals are to avoid monocultural programs and to bring authenticity to representations of the community. It involves taking a clear-eyed look at the reality of who makes up your community, and your audience.

Research from the University of Sydney, UTS Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, and Media Diversity Australia, in the report Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories? 2.0 (2022), estimated that 46% Australians do not come from an Anglo-Celtic background. The 2021 British Census found that 18.3% of people in England and Wales did not identify as white.