Permeate website promotes diversity in visual arts

A south east project that has been addressing the lack of diversity in the visual arts workforce has launched a new website to capture its successes, and also its challenges.

Permeate is a three-year project working closely with individual arts organisations to create a series of bespoke internships for Deaf and disabled and Black and ethnic minority people. The project is managed by Brighton-based visual arts organisation Fabrica, an Arts Council England regularly funded organisation.

Permeate emerged as part of the Arts Council's commitment to diversity in the south east and has supported the project with over £150,000 from strategic funds. Organisations taking part in the internship initiative are also supported through our National Lottery funded Grants for the arts scheme, with awards totalling £126,029.

Permeate's project manager is Monika Richards, who is a published writer, performance poet and freelance practitioner, and the work is overseen by an advisory group from the visual arts sector.

Monika Richards says, “Permeate provides a real opportunity to work more democratically, in which the diverse experiences and voices of the Permeate interns are central to the project. This really excites me, as it recognises individuals' perspectives on the same platform as the participating organisations, promoting exchange and shared learning.”

To date, the project has helped set up internships at six south east visual arts organisations.

The website www.permeate.org.uk was designed to share the personal stories of individuals and organisations involved in the project, as well as being a place for the public to take part in the discussion around how to challenge inequality.

They worked with Brighton accessibility developers Surface Impression to ensure that the site was fully accessible, including font size and being able to change the background colour.

Laurence Hill, Fabrica's Head of Audiences and Communication, who also sits on Permeate's advisory group, says, “I think it's a fantastic project - it's groundbreaking. But often these things happen and it's only the people who are involved and a small group of people who get an evaluation report at the end who know about it and that feels closed. I wanted to share what we are doing.

“The website provides an opportunity for people to discuss those questions, to challenge what's up there - hopefully in a positive way.”

The website also charts the journeys of the individuals and organisations involved with Permeate through blog posts. One organisation currently working with Permeate is Creative Futures, a Brighton charity that works with marginalised artists.

Laurence says: “They wanted to train a learning disabled person to do arts administration, leading into project management, as this fit with their client group. We worked with them on a recruitment process, starting with the job spec.

“We helped them tailor their trainee job ad so that it became simple for people with learning difficulties. We took the original job advert and broke it down into a word map. We made simple categories: what you'll do, who you are, what we need, where you'll work, plus added in pictures. All the information in the original ad was still there, but presented in a different way.

“They recruited a Brighton artist, and she's very open about what the experience has meant for her - she's got a piece on the website.”

Other organisations working with Permeate are Aspex Visual Arts Trust in Portsmouth; Project Art Works in Hastings; Stour Valley Arts in Ashford; Lightbox in Woking; and Lighthouse Arts And Training Ltd, Photoworks, and Brighton Photo Fringe in Brighton.

Laurence Hill adds: “A lot of people find barriers to accessing the visual arts, which can be seen as elitist. Diversity in organisations is vital; when people are trying to engage, people like to see themselves reflected in the organization.

“Diversity brings health to your organisation. When you work with the same group of people all the time, you end up repeating things and doing things in the same way and not thinking about the consequences that are played out for your audience.”

If you would like more information about Permeate, please see www.permeate.org.uk.