Over 70 organisations from right across the UK registered to take part in our trial version of the tool I’M IN – The Inclusive Music Index, which we developed with AlixPartners and Frost Included in 2017/18. The tool is designed to help music organisations identify their strengths and weaknesses in relation to diversity, provoke discussion and identify solutions with the ultimate goal of helping build more inclusive cultures in the music sector. The tool combines a powerful set of questions which get beneath the surface of diversity issues, such as a lack of representation within the workforce, with analysis from diversity and inclusion specialists. It also provides a scaffold for meaningful conversations on what are complex and hard to navigate issues.

So far, we have taken 30 organisations through this process with many of them exploring these themes with a level of detail that hadn’t been possible before. We have worked with some of the biggest brands in classical music and some of the most innovative community-led organisations. Many of the challenges they face are common, but each organisation requires a tailored response that addresses their particular context. I’M IN is flexible enough to do that, and we have been excited to see the initial results, as understanding and awareness grow and organisations identify steps they can take to create more inclusive cultures for the benefit of all.

Music Masters Diversity & Inclusion Advisor Rob Adediran recently spoke to Jack Pepper on Scala Radio about I’M IN, and you can listen to the interview here (starting at 1:21.40). Available to listen to until Saturday 10th October 2020.