Fair Play: Equity, Inclusion and Cultural Safety in the Creative Industries

Fair Play | Equity, Inclusion & the Creative Industries

Fair Play is a national equity and inclusion capacity-building program for Australia’s creative industries. Launched in 2019 with support from Creative Victoria, it has since expanded to reach 50+ organisations across the country, with a strong base in Victoria. Fair Play supports the creative industries to identify and address barriers to participation for three key communities: First Nations people, d/Deaf and Disabled people, and people from under-represented culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The program is open to all organisations on a fee-for-service basis, with subsidised participation available when grant funding is secured.

2024 Organisations Selected

In 2024, DARTS brought the transformative Fair Play program to two of Australia’s leading arts organisations:

• Sydney Theatre Company
• Orchestra Victoria

2023 Organisations Selected

Congratulation to the Round 1 awardees for Fair Play Culture Change NSW:

• Arts Upper Hunter
• Newcastle Writers Festival
• Orana Arts
• Regional Arts NSW
• South West Arts
• Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta
• Urban Theatre Projects

Congratulation to the Round 2 awardees for Fair Play Regional Victoria:

• Benalla Art Gallery
• Bendigo Venues and Events
• Colac Otway Performing Arts Cultural Centre
• Gippsland Art Gallery
• Riverlinks – Greater Shepparton City Council
• Horsham Regional Art Gallery
• Lighthouse Theatre
• Public Galleries Association of Victoria (PGAV)
• The Cube, Wadonga
• Victorian Association of Performing Arts Centres (VAPAC)
• West Gippsland Arts Centre

2020 Organisations Selected

Congratulations to the 10 organisations who will participate in year 2 of our Fair Play program! Announced by Minister for Creative Industries – Martin Foley. They are:

• Arena Theatre in Bendigo
• Malthouse Theatre
• Polyglot Theatre
• Dance company Chunky Move
• Red Stitch: The Actors’ Theatre
• Museums Victoria
• Geelong Art Gallery
• Heide Museum of Modern Art
• Melbourne Fringe
• Melbourne Writers’ Festival

Read the full media release – Building A More Inclusive Creative State.

2019 Organisations Selected

Congratulations to the 10 organisations who will participate in year 1 of our Fair Play program! Announced by Creative Victoria’s Jane Crawley during her talk at the launch of the Shifting The Balance Report last month, they are:

• Regional Arts Victoria (RAV)
• Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
• Warrnambool Art Gallery
• Melbourne International Arts Festival
• Theatre Network Australia
• Australian Centre for the Moving Image
• Bendigo Art Gallery
• The Wheeler Centre
• Music Victoria
• Emerging Writers’ Festival

The Fair Play team has been greatly helped by our intern Gabriela Arenas to develop a comprehensive ‘menu’ of organisations and individuals in Victoria who can offer specialised training in equity and inclusion for the creative industries.

Fair Play Rewind: reflecting on the impacts of Fair Play – Livestreamed on Fri 19 November 2021

Presented by Diversity Arts Australia, with support from the Wheeler Centre

What’s the responsibility of creative organisations to act on equity and inclusion? What does it mean to have diversity programs led by people with lived experience?

These are just some of the questions that were addressed by people at Fair Play: Rewind event, featuring presentations and conversations between leaders of the Fair Play program.

The livestreamed event featured presentations and conversations with key program training partners Rob Hyatt (Manager, Education and Visitor Experience, Koorie Heritage Trust), Caroline Bowditch (CEO, Arts Access Victoria) and Katie Stewart  (General Manager, Victorian Music Officer), alongside project participants Gabrielle Ryan (Head, Production and Relationships, The Wheeler Centre) and Nicole Beyer (Theatre Network Australia). Project Coordinator Margaret Mayhew and Lead Trainer Paula Abood also provided insights based on their involvement.

The Fair Play project hosted the first Creative Industries masterclass at The Abbotsford Convent on Wed 14 August 2021

The masterclass, “How to diversify your leadership in the creative sector?” led by Dr Paula Abood and joined by Veronica Pardo (CEO, Multicultural Arts Victoria), addressed how organisations can diversify their own organisational cultures and activate change. The masterclass had 36 participants in attendance, including 2 mentors, and representatives from 8 program participants, as well as other creative industry organisations. It was fully booked, and participants shared the following afterwards:

“The exercise at the end provided food for thought and gave me some ideas which may be helpful. Having attended will help me to be more mindful when planning for our organisation.”

“I found the ideas and discussions very inspiring and revolutionary”

“I enjoyed the workshop and thinking about bigger picture issues around diversity and leadership in my organisation.”

 

Our Approach

The Fair Play Program is a two-year program that aims to make transformative change in Victorian creative industries at the individual, institutional and structural levels to increase equity and inclusion for diverse artists.

The program takes a human-rights-based approach and focuses on practices, policies and procedures that contribute to the culture of organisations. A key goal of the program is to address the root causes that lead to inequities and exclusion, and to empower individuals and organisations with the knowledge, resources and support to advance equity and inclusion.

Eligibility & selection

Launching on 26 and 27 February 2019 with the Fair Play Symposium at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne.

Twenty organisations who receive funding from Creative Victoria have been selected for inclusion in the free program. Eligible organisations include:

• Creative Industries Portfolio Agencies (CIPAs)
• Major Performing Arts (MPA)
• Organisations Investment Program (OIP) clients
• Regional Partnerships clients (galleries and performing arts centres)
• other multiyear funded organisations in the music, design, screen and games sectors

Read more about the Symposium here.

The program

Selected organisations undertake a fully supported audit to investigate opportunities for change in leadership, creative programming, staff, marketing and audience development. Based on the results of the audit and the aims and objectives of the organisation, participant organisations are matched with relevant mentors, who are professional experts from the First Nations, Disability and CALD communities, to support the process towards transformative and sustainable change.

Mentoring includes targeted training, support to develop equity and diversity plans, knowledge-sharing and resource development. DARTS also supports the development of a community of practice to facilitate sector-wide discussion and engagement. This includes a number of symposia and forums, development of resources, tools, templates and checklists, and extensive digital content and resources.