On Thursday 10 November at Brewery Arts Kendal we held our second Anti Racist Cumbria Summit. Yet again our equitably priced, in-person tickets sold out.
- 250 in person
- Almost 100 people also accessed the event online via our webinar
- 54% of attendees came as representatives of businesses, local authorities, charities and organisations
- 46% of attendees came as citizens, 13% of citizens accessed our low/no income tickets
But the Summit isn’t about numbers, it’s about moving people towards an anti-racist shared humanity. Our ethos centres around embodied education. An embodied education means supporting the learning we do in our minds with learning we do in our bodies and science backs this up! Our work with Embodiment Coach and Racial Trauma practitioner Rowan Carr has influenced how we do things; both with others and with ourselves. The Summit was an opportunity for us to share some of the techniques that we are learning and teaching others. Embodiment work allows us to recognise how it’s not only our minds but our bodies that respond to the topic and experiences shared and that we can be better mentally and physically resourced with tools and techniques when talking about and tackling racism. This matters because it is in the moments of discomfort and challenge that we grow, we shouldn’t avoid discomfort but we can be better able to deal with it.
What happened?
Following a collective embodied breathing session to help us prepare for the day ahead; our ARC Choir sang the Sweet Honey in the Rock anti-racist anthem ‘I’m Gon’ Stand’ against a backdrop of the reality of racism here in Cumbria.
Our CEO & Co-Founder Janett Walker then gave an engaging talk about our challenges and progress in the last twelve months, before we heard from educators and local school heads Kirsty Cooper and Pete Barfoot. They shared their anti-racist story, insights and actions so far. Addressing the theme of ‘Are We Nearly There Yet?’
After a break which included some traditional South African sweet treats by The Baking Saffa, Rowan Carr held a special session for all our audience, introducing them to practices and techniques that create a truly Embodied Ally. The next couple of hours were absorbed by workshops and a delicious Jamaican lunch by Yardies.
Apart from enjoying some good cook food people could attend either
Racism in the Workplace with Aneela McKenna and Ewen Turner
Or
Intersectional Allyship with Dr Lady Phyll and Chimwemwe Chirwa
After lunch, a panel discussion with a twist took place. Entitled Who’s Around Your Table, the session was created to demonstrate how decision making boards are missing out by not having a rich range of voices around their table. Using the Towns Fund as a framework, an imaginary town called St Caitrain was created based on true demographics of a Cumbrian town. The rich conversations and ideas shared were then contrasted to the outcomes of the Towns Fund. We looked at a cross section of 12 towns who received funding, including 5 in Cumbria. All the towns had to create boards or committees to decide on their funding spends. The 5 Cumbrian towns had £110.9 million confirmed since 2020. Over their 5 boards, there was one woman from a racialised minority background. There were no projects that were specifically focused on any people from underserved communities. Across the remaining 7 towns, less than 5% of the board were Black or Brown. Only one had a representative from Disability Equality organisation. Of those towns, none had any targeted projects.
The two CEOs of the new unitary authorities in the county then spoke, (Westmorland & Furness and Cumberland). Both committed to anti-racism as part of their agenda. Rest assured we are already taking the steps to work with them on this and we will be holding them to account
After a quick break and some traditional Turkish Delight bought from #LeedsMarket, in the afternoon we heard from the next generation of anti-racists. Pupils from Grayrigg School shared their dance which highlighted how racism is upheld in a variety of different ways and attendees got to watch the full version of The Fell We Climb, made by young Black and Brown Cumbrians through our Animated Futures project.
Our keynote discussion with Nova Reid and Janett Walker then followed, an educational, enlightening and inspiring session. You can view some of the videos below. please note we are currently making the subtitles for them!
What have people learned and what impact has it had?
“I found it a hard day. Don’t get me wrong — I learned lots and was really glad that I’d gone — but as someone who has considered myself an ally both to Black and Brown people and to LGBQT people over a numbers of years, the event really made me question myself, and look deeply at my actions over the years and my motives. I’m filling this in on Friday lunchtime and, to be honest, I’m still unpacking everything, and imagine I’ll be thinking about it for a while. Obviously that’s a good thing if it means I can grow, and in time can be better and do better. But while I can acknowledge that it is a necessary step on my journey, it is also an uncomfortable one — which in fairness you did warn us at the start of the day might be the outcome.”
“Very informative, self reflective as a Black woman, I genuinely felt empowered! The children’s involvement (Graygrigg) with ARC embracing to change was amazing! Let’s hope other schools will follow. I did not know ARC was so involved with so many projects and for the first time ever, really felt proud to be living in Cumbria. There were many emotional issues raised which I could empathise with, but I really know there will be change for Cumbria, the ‘battle’ continues“
“Lots of food for thought. We’re in the middle of working through a lot of organisational change, so the timing of the summit was perfect in keeping us on the right path. It’s given me a lot of stuff to search up and consider as things develop. The panel session was fantastic for me in imagining how we would build if we were starting from scratch, we aren’t but this is the first time we’ve really had the space to think about who we want to be as an organisation. I’ll definitely be back for more and I hope I’ll be able to share what we’ve done too. It’s provoked my thinking in terms of reparation too. Thank you.”“What struck me was the gorgeous atmosphere of the event. Although talking about a hugely serious and upsetting topic, the atmosphere was one of hope and it was a joy to be at the event. It’s impacted me by causing me to question my role and go deeper into what internalised racism I hold and gave me really useful and practical ways to be a good ally. Nova was an incredible speaker and I loved the focus on intersectionality”
What have we learned and what will we do differently in future?
Getting feedback from our attendees is vital, we all have things to learn and improve upon and we can’t encourage people to listen to us without listening to them too. This year we’ve learned that whilst people loved the speakers and insights from the people on our panel session the concept needed more context and we could have been tighter on time. People also wanted more time to interact with the content. These are all things we have listened to and will take forward to next year’s event. From an organisational perspective we came away with a range of our own learnings, in particular from our attempt to make the event as accessible as possible to people who are neurodivergent and to people with disabilities. We wanted to go beyond pointing out where the ramps, lifts and toilets are, and the learnings as able-bodied people organising an event were invaluable. So much so that we’ll be making them part of all our events whether or not there are people who require them there, because practice makes perfect and really no one should have to ‘ask’ for them. True anti-racism means being intersectional and you can see our accessibility commitments and learnings here.
Gallery
Many thanks to our photographer Victoria Sedgwick who volunteered her time for the day. You can see some of the snaps from the event here.
