EDI statement

As a charity whose core focus is working with children and young people with disabilities, many of
whom may be marginalised within society, equality, diversity and inclusion are all matters that are of
fundamental importance to everything we do. Our very reason for existence is to improve equality,
diversity and inclusion within the world of music-making. In addition, we want to ensure that, as an
organisation, we reflect the communities we serve – in terms of our board membership, and in terms
of our staff and contracted tutors.
We have done a short audit of our existing Trustees, and you can see below some stats about who
currently sits on our Board.
? 57% of current trustees are female and 43% are male.
? 43% of current trustees are aged under 55 and 57% are aged 55+. We currently have only
one trustee in the 25-34 age bracket, and no trustees aged under 25.
? 14% of current trustees have a disability, and a further 28% have other lived experience of
disability.
? 86% of current trustees are White/White British and 14% are Asian/Asian British.
? 43% of our trustees identify as Christian, 14% as Hindu and 43% as not having a religious
identity.
? All of our trustees identify as heterosexual.
? All of our trustees live in the southern half of England.
? 72% of current trustees went to state schools, and 86% of trustees are educated to degree
level or above.
In some areas, our diversity is broadly in line with the wider population (for example: sex). In other
areas, we are not as diverse as the wider population (for example: age). In other areas the picture is
more complex: for example, while the race/ethnicity mix on the Board at present is not significantly
different from the wider national population, we are aware that it is very different from the inner-city
communities we serve.
We make this statement knowing that we’ve got a long way to go, but in the hope it will be a small
step to helping us get to where we want to be. We also hope it is an open and clear signal to any
would-be Trustees reading this that we really want to hear from candidates from a wide range of
backgrounds – and will truly value and welcome them on the Board if appointed. Everyone
appointed to the Board will be appointed because of the skills they bring – we do not go in for
tokenism.