Brass Bands England recently hosted a Zoom webinar meeting to explore issues surrounding equality, diversity and inclusion in the brass band movement.

A number of invited guest organisations and individuals with extensive experience and knowledge were invited to take part, with an encouraging cross section of representation taking the opportunity to air constructive views and opinions.

Listen and discuss

Hosted by BBE, the aim was to listen and discuss issues arising from experiences surrounding diversity and inclusion — both positive and negative, and to try and find out what progress could be made in promoting as well as tackling them.

Organisations such as Pride Brass, the Bandspeople's Alliance to Negate Discrimination (BAND), the Kinetika Bloco performance group, Leicester's Drum & Brass, alongside individual players and personalities discussed issues surrounding three main structural points.

Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How will we get there?

To have such a positive group of people all together in one virtual room, all passionate about brass banding and all with energy for change, felt like a significant occasionBBE

Significant

Julie Hoggarth, Head of the group and BBE Trustee told 4BR: "To have such a positive group of people all together in one virtual room, all passionate about brass banding and all with energy for change, felt like a significant occasion."

Composer, Lucy Pankhurst who contributed to the discussions added: "It was refreshing to see Brass Bands England tackling the delicate issues of inclusion and diversity in 2020. I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop towards a positive impact for everyone involved in banding in the UK."

In order to capture a wide range of experiences, BBE is opening this listening project up to a bigger audience and would like to hear your story of diversity and inclusion within banding, whether good or bad, and how it has impacted you.

Get in touch

This confidential (and anonymous if preferred) response can be accessed at:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScfJLSXo6xR4N06BpX-EtLZW5NBLKOV2Qq7DaKKFIyiV_41dw/viewform