Equity, Inclusivity and Diversity Policy

1. Introduction

Afield puts equity and social justice at the heart of its work. We seek to be an inclusive employer, funder, and partner, and recognise that structural inequalities are part of environmental injustice, By equity we mean allocating resources and opportunities to tackle inequalities, and valuing diversity and intersectionality of people both because we think it is the right thing to do, and for a better future for our planet. In our work we seek to support and fund economically disadvantaged individuals and groups, particularly those from global majority backgrounds, LGBTQ+ communities, disabled people, and people with chronic illness.

2. Equal opportunities

Afield is committed to compliance with the Equality Act 2010. We are committed to preventing unlawful discrimination in our employment, practices, grantmaking, interactions with other members of the public, and all other Afield activities.

We value and respect the unique contributions of every individual and aim to create an environment in which all employees, contractors, freelancers, volunteers, grant holders, applicants, and stakeholders feel valued and are treated fairly and without discrimination. As an organisation we are committed to responding to all forms of direct and indirect discrimination including associative and perceptive discrimination. We will not tolerate any form of harassment or victimisation.

We do not discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment or employment because of age, disability (including neurodiversity), sex, gender, pregnancy, maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins), sexual orientation, religion or belief, social or educational background, or because someone is married or in a civil partnership. We understand that these categories can overlap and combine to create intersectional experiences of discrimination. This policy covers all employees, volunteers, grantees, and any person or organisation providing services on behalf of Afield.

We may apply the tie-breaker rule to address under-representation within the organisation: if two or more candidates applying for a job or for a grant are of equal merit we will take into consideration whether one is from a group that is disproportionately under-represented or otherwise disadvantaged.

3. Disabilities and access needs

Our approach

Afield follows a social model of disability. This means we recognise that people are disabled by barriers in society, such as physical environments, attitudes, communication and systems, and not by their impairment or condition.

We also recognise that access needs vary widely. They can be visible or invisible, permanent, temporary or fluctuating, and they include the needs of neurodivergent people and people with chronic illness or mental health conditions. People do not need a diagnosis or a formal definition of disability to ask us for access support.

Disabled people face unequal barriers in both the arts and the environment, from inaccessible venues and funding processes to exclusion from nature and green space. We are committed to helping remove barriers as part of our commitment to ecological justice in the following ways:

Recruitment and employment

• We ask all applicants and interviewees about their access needs and make reasonable adjustments throughout recruitment. This can include alternative application formats, questions shared in advance, extra time, remote or in-person interviews, breaks, and support workers or interpreters.
• We make reasonable adjustments for staff and volunteers, in line with the Equality Act 2010. This includes flexible working, adjusted hours, and equipment or assistive technology.
• We support staff to apply to Access to Work, and do not wait for that funding before putting essential adjustments in place.
• We invite staff to create a personal access document or wellbeing plan, and we will review it with them regularly.

Grant applications

• We offer applications in accessible formats, such as video or audio submissions, and Easy Read guidance.
• Applicants can ask for support with the application process, including a conversation with a member of staff.

Grantees

• We do our best to support reasonable access. Grantees are eligible for £1,500 per year to cover access costs. This will not affect how their application is assessed or the chances of receiving a grant. They can also earmark some of their grant for additional access costs if needed.
• We will discuss access needs with successful applicants. We will ask grantees to share an access rider or access document with us. We will use it to shape how we work together, including cohort meetings, evaluation, and reporting activities.
• We will be flexible on timelines - such as offering extensions to reporting and evaluation deadlines - where access needs or fluctuating health require it.

Events, activities and outdoor sites

• We will assess any venues we use for accessibility.
• We will choose accessible venues and share access information before every event or activity. This will cover step-free routes, terrain and surfaces, toilets, seating and rest areas, quiet spaces, and what to expect on the day.
• We will offer BSL interpretation, captioning, hybrid or online options, and access for companions and personal assistants where possible.

Communications and digital accessibility

• We aim for our website and digital platforms to meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards.
• We will use plain language, accessible document formats, image descriptions (alt text), and captions on video content.
• Key documents, including this policy, will be available in alternative formats on request.

Asking for support and confidentiality

Anyone can tell us about their access needs at any stage by contacting us at access@afield.org.uk. We will treat this information confidentially and use it only to provide support. It will never affect decisions about recruitment or funding.

Learning and reviewWe will provide disability equality and access training for staff and freelance facilitators who work for us. We will review our access practice every two years as part of our wider policy review.

4. Funding

We are aware that global majority communities, LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities or chronic illness are over-represented in low income groups.

Our Artistic Research fund seeks to address structural inequalities within the arts by prioritising funding for artists on low incomes, and particularly those from global majority backgrounds, LGBTQ+ communities, and people with disabilities or chronic illness. We will use information about applicants’ economic status to inform our funding decisions. Our Nature Communities fund seeks to address structural inequalities by prioritising funding and support for members of communities experiencing environmental injustice, namely those from global majority or low income backgrounds.

We will monitor the demographics and protected characteristics of our grantees to see if this is reflected in our funding decisions over time. We may in the future use positive action in line with the Equality Act 2010, ensuring fair processes while actively addressing disadvantage.

We are committed to improving working conditions for artists and our grant-making conditions encourage artists to pay themselves fully for all their time and work, in line with wage rates recommended by the Artists’ Union, England. We seek to support better working conditions by encouraging arts applicants to budget for self-care.

We will publish data on our funding outcomes to monitor and improve equity over time.

5. Anti-racism

We acknowledge that both the arts and environment are sectors predicated on colonial history and slavery and that the founders and funders of the charity, as white people, have benefited from systemic racism.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation, in our working practices, our programmes, our policies, and our organisational ethos. This means actively identifying, challenging, and changing the structures, behaviours, and attitudes that perpetuate racism.

We are currently a majority white organisation and we are committed to changing this, as we recruit staff, new board members, freelancers, and selection panel members.

Some of our immediate commitments include:

• To provide anti-racism training for all our trustees and staff.
• We will use positive action in our recruitment of staff and trustees to encourage applicants from global majority backgrounds, and to apply tie-breaker decisions where applicable.
• We aim for our selection panels to reflect the communities that the grantees are working with.

We will review progress annually and report to the board and wider community.

6. Organisational culture

We seek to build an organisation based on openness, care, learning, transparency, and collaboration.

We acknowledge that challenging systemic racism is an ongoing process which involves listening, (un)learning and dismantling past ways of working. We will continue to challenge ourselves as staff and Trustees to understand and correct any inequities we may discover within our organisation and the work that we produce.

We believe in the potential of artists and community activists as agents of change, and we aim to ensure that intersectional voices and perspectives inform our work.

We will create channels for staff, volunteers, grantees, and partners to make complaints, raise concerns or suggest improvements, ensuring accountability at every level.

We welcome feedback from anyone we work with — staff, volunteers, grantees, partners, and community members — to help this policy evolve and remain meaningful. In the case of a complaint please contact hello@afield.org.uk. If your complaint is against one of the founders please contact complaints@afield.org.uk.

7. Employee, volunteer and grantee obligations

Every employee and volunteer is required to assist Afield to meet its commitment to provide equal opportunities in employment and avoid discrimination. We will ensure that all Afield staff volunteers and Board members have a genuine understanding of, and commitment to equity and inclusion.

We understand that this policy is a starting point for the organisation to build upon and our work within equity, diversity, and inclusion will continue to evolve. We recognise this work is ongoing and it is our commitment to continue to never be ‘finished’ as it is our ongoing commitment to dismantle barriers to participation and to provide fair and caring conditions for our staff, volunteers, and grantees.

This policy was written by Liz Orton based on the principles of Afield and informed by anti-racist and Equity, Inclusivity, and Diversity policies across the arts. As we grow as a charity and fund individuals, organisations, and work in partnership with others we will test this policy, get feedback, and update it where necessary.