Diversifying Governance: From Dialogue to Action [Online]
Event details
- Date and Time: Thursday 26 June 2025, 09:30–13:00 (ticket sales close at 13:00 on 17 June)
- Venue: Online (via Zoom)
- £75 + VAT. Promotional offers available, including Get Into Governance tickets.
Take meaningful action to diversify your board.
Join Clore Leadership and the Cultural Governance Alliance for a half-day online programme of action-oriented surgeries designed to help your organisation take concrete steps towards diversifying its governance.
Gain practical insights, guidance, and tools to break down barriers, expand representation, and create a leadership team that reflects the communities you serve. Leave with clear actions and the confidence to drive meaningful, lasting change in your boardroom.
Target audience: Chairs, Trustees and Executive-level leaders
About the event
A half-day, online event based for Chairs, Trustees and Executive level leaders who are seeking further tools and advice in embedding equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within their governance practices across the arts, heritage and culture sectors.
We know that the sector registers high demand for diversity but across the board exhibits low strategic and practical responses. It is clear that organisations want to change but often don’t know how or lack the resources to implement desired change.
Diversifying Governance will provide the opportunity to build on shared learning and experience to support sector organisations to be proactive in response to EDI, and to shift their practice into building boards which attract and fully involve diverse trustees and operate on a systemically equitable basis.
Through this programme, we want to support organisations to catalyse a step change in the way boards understand, represent and develop the communities their organisations serve, placing diversity at the centre of governance.
Topics and Speaker Highlights
Introduction and Q&A to a new EDI Benchmarking Toolkit
Speaker – Keith Arrowsmith, Clore Leadership Governance Associate
Surgeries (choose one of four options – you will be contacted to select your order of preference after booking)
- Surgery 1 – Community in Governance
Surgery Speaker: Saad Eddine Said, CEO and Artistic Director, New Art Exchange
Tips on how to use your board to develop a fair, equitable, inclusive and equal art world for everyone in the communities you serve. Perspectives from the first cultural institution in the world with a permanent citizen assembly as a key part of its leadership structure. - Surgery 2 – Embedding and Empowering Young People on your Board
Surgery Speaker: Martha Robbins, Board Member, Rising Arts Agency (replacing Sid Boyer, Producer at Rising Arts Agency)
Mobilising young people to join your board helps to bring fresh perspectives, varied life experiences, and a broader range of ideas, fostering more inclusive and dynamic decision-making. This session will tackle how to embrace generative conflict as your board becomes more intergenerational, building a board room that’s truly designed for everyone and common misconceptions about recruiting young people into governance. Advice, ideas and discussion on recruitment, retention, and gathering interest from young people to join your board. - Surgery 3 – Retention is the New Recruitment
Speaker: Delia Barker, CEO, Brixton House and Chair, Phoenix Dance Theatre
You’ve created a diverse board – great! Now, how to retain it. Discussion, suggestions, and advice on how to retain and support your diverse board members. - Surgery 4 – Challenging Ableism
Speaker: Charlene Salter, Associate Artist and Sarah Pickthall, Consultant, both Co-Chairs, Access All Areas
A challenge to change the way that boards are usually run. This session will explore the importance of valuing diverse abilities and perspectives, with advice on how to create an inclusive environment that strengthens decision-making around the board table.
Who is the event for?
This executive-level training is designed for decision-makers in arts and cultural sector governance, including trustees, chairs and senior leadership teams who are committed to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion within their organisations.
While we welcome participants from organisations of all sizes across the arts, heritage and cultural sectors, we encourage two colleagues from each organisation to attend together and attend different surgeries, as this typically leads to better engagement and implementation of learning. To support this, we are offering a £10 discount on second tickets. See the Eventbrite page here for more details about ticketing.
Full Programme
09:20 – 09:30 | Registration – arrivals in Zoom and settling in
09:30 – 09:45 | Welcome – Clore Leadership
09:45 – 10:15 | Diversifying Governance: Are We Nearly There Yet? – panel discussion and Q&A
10:15 – 10:35 | Introduction and Q&A to a new EDI Benchmarking Toolkit – Keith Arrowsmith
10:35 – 10:50 | Break
10:50 – 11:50 | Surgeries (choose one of four options – we recommend that colleagues attending from the same organisation choose different topics to maximise learning opportunities)
11:50 – 12:05 | Break
12:05 – 13:00 | What Next? – reflection and discussion on key learnings, information on onward resourcing, and speaker Q&A
13:00 | Event closes
Supporters
This event is generously supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Tickets and Promotional Offers
Multi-buy discount
Organisations sending multiple delegates to the event are eligible for £10 off the second ticket when booking. Enter promo code MULTIDIVGOV on Eventbrite before purchasing tickets (a maximum of 2 tickets can be purchased per person).
Get into Governance tickets
We have a limited number of £25 ‘Get into Governance’ tickets available, which will be allocated on a first come, first served basis to those who are currently underrepresented on boards. We’re keen to welcome people who identify as LGTBQIA+, working-class, D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent, those from Black, Asian and Global Majority backgrounds, and young people (30 and under) engaged in or aspiring to engage in governance.
Tickets are non-refundable once purchased.
Ticket sales close at 13:00 on Tuesday 17 June.
Accessibility
As standard, live auto-captions will be available on Zoom and notes from the plenary sessions will be produced and shared with delegates after the event. Further access provision will be confirmed in the run-up, allowing for individual requests.
You will also be asked to share your access requirements with us at the point of booking. Please note: requests must be made at least 10 days before an event to be guaranteed, dependent on the availability e.g. for a remote stenographer/BSL interpreter. If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact the team at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.
