Who Trains The Trainers?

Is Your Anti-Racism Training Programme Even Legal?

Gabriel Paul stars in Everything I Own by Daniel Ward which opens at Hull Truck Theatre on Jun 17, directed by Amanda Huxtable.

So what are we to make of the Anti-Racism Touring Rider that’s just been published by 15 national touring companies? Written in response to personal testimonies and feedback from over 100 freelancers, it lays out “a framework to establish the baseline of expectations and support between stakeholders on a touring production”.

Still reeling from the scandal associated with the Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme (in which a myriad publicly funded institutions signed up for expensive and — many would argue — degrading gender advice which misrepresented the Equality Act 2010), I did not have high hopes for this didactic-sounding document.

I was pleasantly surprised. Having a checklist is always useful, and the majority of the suggestions for helping non-white people feel more at ease when touring boil down to adequate forward planning, basic courtesy and universall…