Black in the Boardroom was our first report that looked at racial disparity across trade bodies and associations in the UK event industry. Our research discovered that of the 15 organisations we looked at, none had a Black person on their boards.
The trade bodies and associations mentioned in our report, in general, have made positive moves and actions in response to the report. Many companies and associations have reached out to us to see how they can support and have been helping connect the dots on several future opportunities that support our initiatives and we will be engaging with them in the coming months.
Although it may appear we are silent while working away behind the scenes, when the work we have done comes to light, it will be really evident who have been active allies alongside supporting the industry evolve and those who sat in the wings and did nothing.
We have had some amazing conversations in recent months, including the working group EIA driven by Michael Adeniya, BVEP, EVCOM, AEV, MVT (although not mentioned in our report) that are committed to making individual change and supporting what we are doing too. The work we are doing now will be seen as building blocks in years to come to support future Black event professionals.
Moving forward, we will soon be launching our findings at the UK Black Business Show at the end of October with their support. We also won £25,000 with AXA’s Start Up Fund, which will provide a nice push in the right direction to get things up and running.
2020 was one of the most difficult years I’ve ever had to overcome, both personally and professionally. We are now picking back up our live event conversations to get our old clients back in the calendar, supporting a raft of new clients, launching some new concepts and getting back on planes. 2022, it seems, will be a very exciting time – so keep an eye out for us!
This article originally appeared in issue #265 of TPi, which you can read here.
