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MIF Young People’s Forum launch Manifesto for Change

MIF Young People’s Forum member Faz Barber introduces their Manifesto for Change.

Following the Black Lives Matter movement across the world, the MIF Young People’s Forum, a collective of individuals from Greater Manchester aged between 16 and 28, came together to explore how to effect change within the arts sector in Manchester.

The first step was an event that brought together industry leaders and other voices from across the cultural sector in Manchester to celebrate the solidarity shown by the Black community, discuss positive actions that have been taken by business and other organisations, and consider how and where to inspire change.

On 30 July 2020, the Young Peoples Forum hosted A Conversation for Change. The panel talk was attended by 27 representatives of Greater Manchester’s cultural organisations. The mission was simple: to create a space of open dialogue between young Black leaders and large organisations that hold power over the arts sector in order to eradicate any unnecessary barriers based upon systemic racism.

As a response to the conversation, we have put together a manifesto of 10 key points we believe all organisations should adhere to, to ensure they remain an anti-racist organisation, promoting racial equality across all levels, up to and including board level. The aim of the manifesto is to encourage the arts sector to think differently and hold itself to account for all changes that need to be taken into consideration – throughout recruitment processes and general everyday interactions with people from different races – to maintain the workplace as a safe space for everyone. All 10 points have been formulated and refined as a response from ‘A Conversation for Change’, with the aim to make the considerations needed to be an anti-racist organisation as simple and effective as possible.

We hope that the manifesto will be embedded into systemic change and cultures of care of organisations across Greater Manchester with a sector wide commitment to eradicate systemic racism in the workplace and the arts industry as a whole.

A Manifesto for Change

Six people of different skin tones and hair colours are illustrated in graphic style on the left and right margins of the image, against a green background. Their individual skin tones are depicted like the topography of a map. They all have their mouths open as if speaking, and white speech bubbles illustrated to look like watery bubbles join between them, with the text 'A Manifesto for Change' in the centre.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Set up an anti-racism group with members of staff from all departments, levels and backgrounds. Give them the agency and power to have conversations about how the organisation can be anti-racist. Resource this anti-racism group adequately with space, time and financial resources.” The illustration is an outline of a person with a raised fist; the outline is filled in with images of many more protestors, who are diverse and wear bright clothes. Two signs are held aloft; they read “Call out injustice now” and “Hear our voice”
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Embed anti-racism at policy and governance level. Ensure that it is central to the values of your organisation and accessible for all.” In the illustration, the text appears on the side of a building and has signatures and a verified rosette underneath. There is yellow-green pavement around the building and people are walking on it. On another side of the building, the wall is red, there are windows and a front entrance with trees framing the door; a person is going inside.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Update and publicise your diversity data across all levels. Be specific about the ethnicities of your team members and detail where they sit within the hierarchy of your organisation. Humanise your data (abandon the terms BAME, POC, etc).” In the illustration, a profile of a bald head is split into sections like a pie chart, with a green circle behind; each section of the head has a different skin colour. Around the head diagram are three circles containing ‘Y’, ‘%’, and ‘xyz’.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Allow and make space for people to be heard on their terms. Acknowledge the dominant culture that exists within your organisation and ensure individuals feel supported outside of this.” In the illustration, a diverse group of six people are shown in a row, speaking to each other (they have brightly coloured speech bubbles above them); the fourth person is seated in a wheelchair and holds a pink laptop, as if presenting or taking notes.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Review and change systems and processes that create unnecessary barriers. Understand why people may not be able to wait longer than two weeks to be paid. Examine why the language used in your job descriptions may discourage people from applying.” In the illustration, a fist with a multitude of different skin colours smashes through brightly coloured shards that say (in clockwise order): age, finance, race, disability, language, religion, gender, education, sexuality.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Invite discussion and ask people who have engaged with your organisation whether they have experienced racism. Actively listen, and use this feedback as a resource from which to create change. Support people when having triggering conversations.” In the illustration, the text is shown on the size of a green feedback box; the box has a window in the top and a yellow form, titled ‘Feedback’ with lines representing text underneath, is going in.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Place education at the heart of everything you do. Understand why we all need to do better, and bring people with you on the journey.” Above the text is an illustration of four people helping each other climb up a giant stack of books; one of the people at the top holds a green flag with a pink heart on it. The spine of the bottom book reads ‘Glass ceiling’; the one above ‘Diversity’; and the one above that ‘Inclusion’.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Aim to reflect the diversity of your town or city across your organisation and at board level. One person cannot be representative of an entire community.” The illustration is of brightly coloured skyscraper buildings seen from above. On top of the largest, central building, a diverse group of 8 people sit or stand around a board room table with papers and devices in front of them.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Understand that there are organisations already making the world a better place for people from diverse backgrounds and pay them to help you achieve this.” Above the text, the illustration is of three hands with different skin tones holding pieces of a multicolour heart jigsaw.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

Text: “Acknowledge the importance of intersectionality, understanding that people may experience many forms of discrimination.” The text is on a white background, framed by colourful shapes organised in rainbow formation. The shapes have words in them; reading clockwise, they are: race, culture, class, nationality, age, identity, gender, sexuality, mental health, religion, language.
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

The final tile has the same illustration as the opening tile (of six people speaking from the left and right margin), except the central speech bubble is larger and solid white. The text inside it reads: “A Conversation for Change is a call to action from MIF’s Young People’s Forum who were compelled to take direct action following the murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020. They designed, produced and facilitated an online gathering in July 2020 for 27 arts organisations across Greater Manchester to discuss and reflect on urgent issues which contribute to systemic racism in the arts sector and in wider society. As a consequence, they created this manifesto for change to share across the sector. Illustrated by Jasmin Issaka.”
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Illustration by Jasmin Issaka

A message from John McGrath, MIF's Artistic Director:

“We are proud to share the manifesto developed by MIF’s Young People’s Forum calling for change among cultural organisations. We are committed to our work as an organisation, and as part of the arts sector, to identify and address systemic racism and to highlight the work of artists and communities who are imagining a better world.

Everyone at MIF will be working closely with our Race & Representation Staff Working Group to assess our progress on each point of the Manifesto and plan the next stages of work we need to do.

Many colleagues in the sector have been part of this process with MIF and the Young People’s Forum and we look forward to collaborating widely to support and promote the work of these passionate and pioneering young people.”

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