As the applicant highlighted in her posts, our comments were ‘thoughtlessly and badly worded’ and this is something we regret.
We have contacted the applicant directly and have met with her to discuss the situation further. We have taken advice and feedback directly from the applicant in terms of how we can rebuild our relationship and offer support. We are grateful to her for taking the time to do this and she now considers the original situation to be resolved.
That being said, this does present us as an organisation with a wider task at hand; East Street Arts are committed to operating and embodying equity and inclusion at every level of our organisation and therefore we have taken the time in the last 2-3 weeks to reflect and discuss with trustees, staff and some of the artists we are working with to ensure there is an understanding of the damage we have done, and how we move forward with transparency.
We will engage in a continual process of reflection on our past and current beliefs, challenge ingrained behaviours, and move forward as a learning and adapting organisation.
We want to share with our followers our next steps in building relationships and our learning. This will include sharing our Equity and Inclusion Policy, action plan, and time-line, and regularly communicating updates about our progress.
We are taking the time necessary to consult and we don’t know as yet the full details of the action plan. We will share more details as soon as we can. Please be patient as we need you to be part of this journey with us.
We are committed to making the changes brought to light by this situation and would be happy to discuss this further if anyone would like to get in touch about the above process.
This is a learning process and we are determined to develop our knowledge and allyship as an organisation.
The team at East Street Arts.
Other things!
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News
Leeds Creative Labs Follow on Fund: Herfa Martina Thompson Dr Zoe Tongue
Visual artist Herfa Martina Thompson and Law lecturer Dr Zoe Tongue first collaborated as part of Leeds Creative Labs, a programme that partners artists and academics, initiated by the University of Leeds’ Cultural Institute and facilitated in partnership with East Street Arts.
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History
Listen to the Sounds of New Briggate
Sounds of New Briggate is our podcast series - hosted by local people, telling local stories - which celebrates New Briggate, a unique and vibrant high street in the heart of Leeds.
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News
Artist Mohammad Barrangi’s large-scale murals come to the streets of Leeds
We're working with Leeds-based, Iranian-born illustrator and printmaker Mohammad Barrangi to bring three large-scale paper murals to the streets of Leeds.
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Artist support
Submit your publications to our exhibition and learning library
Do you make books or printed materials on artist-led housing, live/work spaces, civic practice or living archives? Contribute now! Together we can learn.
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Artist support
Artist-Led Housing: Histories, Residencies, Spaces
An evening in conversation with Jonathan Orlek, architectural researcher, director of Studio Polpo, and author, to launch his new book Artist-Led Housing: Histories, Residencies, Spaces.
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Artist support
At Home: Can the archive inform the future?
Take a walk through 30 years of East Street Arts, exploring the No Going Back exhibition, and hear all the tales of project planning and delivery, highs and lows, first hand from the co-founders.