VASW's Commitment to Black Lives Matter

Visual Arts South West stands in solidarity with Black communities in the UK and around the world, and is committed to the ongoing fight against institutional racism and white supremacy.

We are committed to dismantling barriers caused by intersecting systems of oppression – including white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism and economic inequality – as we envision an inclusive visual arts sector and support the work of regional organisations and independent arts workers. To immediate effect, we have appointed a subgroup within our Steering Group to develop long-term strategies to support this anti-racist work.

We are committed to:

• amplifying the voices of Black artists, activists and creative workers
• sharing opportunities aimed at BIPOC communities
• sharing helpful resources that educate our white audiences and membership to stand up against institutional racism
• making our future recruitment processes genuinely inclusive and accessible
• arranging unconscious bias training for the entire VASW Team and Steering Group
• only working with partners who share this commitment to anti-racist work
• urging organisations, funders and independent practitioners to undertake long-term work to dismantle white supremacy

We understand that there is a lot we need to learn, and therefore this commitment must be ongoing. Systemic racism cannot be abolished with reactive hashtags, instead anti-racist work must be given thought and time to ensure it is ingrained in every aspect our long-term strategy and everyday life. As such, we will continue to assess and reassess our actions and the actions of our peers to ensure that the visual arts sector is consistently working towards the outlined commitments as a collective. We are and shall continue to be accountable for what we do and the voices of those we platform.