It’s been a month since our sell out #ARCsummit23 and there were just so many highlights – you can see a tiny slice of those joyful and impactful moments caught by our videographer Sheenah in our new video over on our facebook page.
But we also promised to pick up on the learnings of the day, and we want to ensure that we follow our pattern of the Summit growing to be bigger, better and more impactful every time.
We’ve analysed all of the feedback that we received and whilst it’s widely extremely positive, we have picked out some key themes that we want to address and take on board for future events:
1. Accessibility
We’ll be including some additional support next time. We will share event info further in advance, allowing us to offer more individual, tailored assistance to those who need it. We will be including live captioning in our main theatre sessions, and we will not be limiting applause to only BSL versions as we’ve since learned how that can actually end up being a barrier for others too. Other tweaks will include having a less crowded entrance way with a more visible assistance desk, and creating more opportunities for quiet moments throughout the day. We’re absolutely aware that the majority of existing events venues are built from a neurotypical and ableist perspective, with accessibility as an afterthought. We’re committed to breaking down as many of those barriers as we can and working towards a social model of disability instead of a medical one.
2. Intersectionality with a focus on LGBTQ+
We mentioned during the Summit that this is an area we’re keen to improve in both our knowledge and actions as a team and as an organisation. A simple change we’ll be making next time is to ensure that all speakers and contributors make a point of sharing their pronouns. We’ll also be fully briefing them on important aspects such as use of language around gender and identity as well as carefully reviewing all material that will be used on the day.
3. Creating more safe spaces for conversations and learning
Anyone who has known ARC for a while will have realised that this is one of our main goals. Whilst big events like the Summit are absolutely essential for spreading the word and introducing people to new themes or topics, these can be very challenging. You’ll notice we say safe spaces, but that doesn’t always mean comfortable! That said, we know that in a room of 400 people there will always be varying levels of both comfort and knowledge especially when it comes to anti racism. For our next Summit we’ll be working on offering more choice and more range in the topics when it comes to our activities, so we can meet more people where they are at on their anti racist learnings and journeys so they can walk away from the event feeling empowered to take actions where they can.
With all of this in mind, and with 2025 marking our 5th birthday, we’ve decided to take a break from the Summit in 2024.
We use the word break loosely though, as we’ll be busy working to make the 2025 Summit the most surprising and impactful yet!!
There’ll be plenty of other chances to meet us in 2024 so make sure you’re signed up to our mailer to hear about our upcoming events, but for now that’s #ARCsummit, over and out!
