Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Guildhall School is committed to making our institution inclusive for everyone.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
At Guildhall School of Music & Drama, we are committed to advancing equality of opportunity, celebrating the diversity of our staff and student community, and fostering a cohesive and inclusive culture for everyone.
We believe that the inclusion of diverse voices, skills, lived experience and unique perspectives is what makes our community thrive. This enhances our teaching, enriches our research and strengthens our ability to provide an exceptional education to all.
Over the last three years, Guildhall School has made some progress in terms of DEI, but like many organisations, we remain on a developmental path. There is a strong feeling amongst our community that more must be done to address the inequities that exist within our society, the sectors that we serve and our own organisation, and the part each of us has to play in addressing this.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- In November 2023, we welcomed the School’s first Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Mohammed Ilyas, and we have since added two further members of the DEI team to support him.
- Following consultation with students and staff across Guildhall, the School developed and launched its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategy, 2024-2027. This sets out Guildhall School’s vision for DEI and outlines our strategic priorities and objectives, across the areas of Culture, Governance, Our Staff, Our Students and Learners, and Senior Leadership.
- The delivery and monitoring of the DEI Strategy will be overseen by the School’s DEI Committee which is a sub-committee of the School Executive Committee, with progress reports regularly presented to the School’s Executive and Board of Governors.
- In addition to the DEI Committee, departmental DEI teams have been formed to support the delivery of the DEI strategy across the institution, aligning institutional activities and local priorities by developing and implementing bespoke localised DEI Action Plans. These are being implemented by each department with support from the DEI Team.
- Staff Diversity Networks are also being launched to help foster a more inclusive, supportive, and diverse workplace culture.
- The School also undertook its first staff survey in Autumn 2024 which sought to establish benchmarks in DEI and staff wellbeing, so that we can track progress against these on a regular basis.
- The Diversity Events Working Group has been established to oversee the planning and delivery of activities to mark and celebrate key dates within the School’s diversity calendar of events.
- In Autumn 2024, we hosted regular online workshop-seminars highlighting key dates in the diversity calendar of events, including Black History Month, Islamophobia Awareness Month, Trans Awareness Week and Disability History Month.
- In November 2024, we installed a portable exhibition in the Silk Street building foyer to highlight Islamophobia Awareness Month.
- In Spring 2025, we hosted online workshop-seminars on topics including LGBTQ+ allyship, Islam, International Women's Day, autism and disability inclusion.
- Other work has included the roll out of staff and student training in unconscious bias, challenging non-inclusive behaviours and restorative practice; enhanced processes for safeguarding and reporting of complaints, including a dedicated reporting tool for staff and students; and library resources that support our DEI work.
- We will be rolling out mandatory DEI Essentials training for all staff to ensure colleagues are equipped with the required knowledge, skills and tools to advance DEI and for managers to lead and support diverse teams.
- Work is being undertaken to develop and agree a work programme to support the Senior Leadership objective of the School’s DEI Strategy.
- The Drama department undertook a significant transformation of its Acting programme, starting in 2020. This included a comprehensive and ongoing process of staff training; a programme of reflective sessions for teaching staff; and the commissioning of a report on racism within the Acting programme, written with and for Acting alumni.
- In September 2021, a new BA Acting programme launched that embeds progressive industry practice and prioritises inclusivity, representation and wellbeing. Developed over two years in consultation with staff, students, alumni and industry experts, this pioneering new programme embeds progressive industry practice and prioritises inclusivity, representation and wellbeing in all areas, from repertoire to pedagogy.
- September 2021 also saw a reduction in our Acting audition fee and changes to our audition processes, as well as an open recruitment process held for audition panellists in Acting to ensure that we have a diverse and intersectional team of audition panellists for Acting applicants, who receive training in inclusive practice and unconscious bias.
- Recent training for staff and students has focused on intimacy training, and restorative practice.
- The Music department has revised its curriculum to incorporate sessions on inclusion, integration, race, colonialism and the whiteness of the classical canon into core modules for undergraduate and postgraduate students, with individual departments undertaking further bespoke sessions relevant to their area (for example, the Composition Department’s departmental reading groups).
- Particular emphasis has been placed by Music on diversifying repertoire performed in the School’s public concerts and in student assessments, broadening the scope of students’ experiences to non-Western music; and on diversifying representation among visiting artists. This includes the development of a database to monitor diversity of repertoire and visiting artists across recent and future performances and projects.
- While there is far more to achieve in diversifying our staff, efforts to widen the recruitment and promotion of Music teaching roles have resulted in 50% in Keyboard and 75% in Vocal appointments of people of global majority, while in Electronic & Produced Music, the majority of new Principal Study appointees are women , gender non-conforming or global majority .
- Specialist staffing has been introduced in Music to support the mental health and wellbeing of students alongside the offer of mindfulness and Alexander Technique training.
- In 2023 and 2024, the Production Arts department delivered two events on the topic of diversifying production arts staffing in drama schools and conservatoires, in partnership with consultancy EDJI Arts. A similar event focusing on diversifying the freelance workforce is now under discussion.
- Work is being undertaken to better understand access provision across the Production Arts department.
- Guildhall School has made a major investment to address underrepresentation across conservatoires by launching a network of young artist centres, training 3500 young artists each week, 40% of whom are from the global majority and 30% of whom receive bursary support. This substantial network means that the School is the largest provider in the country of specialist performing arts training for young people.
- The School reaches at least double that number of young people annually taking into consideration its Access & Participation and curriculum led activity, which prioritises reaching those from underrepresented backgrounds.
- Guildhall School also partners with the National Open Youth Orchestra, a pioneering inclusive orchestra of disabled and non-disabled musicians, to deliver its London centre, and offers weekly rehearsal space free of charge as well as performance opportunities to the ensemble .
- With an aim to diversify the conductors we work with and increase representation for young artists and within the industry, in 2022, our London Schools Symphony Orchestra, one of Guildhall Young Artists’ flagship ensembles, launched a Conductor in Residence position for young conductors from under-represented groups, delivered in partnership with Black Lives in Music. This successful scheme now has its third postholder in place; last year’s postholder was subsequently appointed Assistant Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
The School has recently established the Guildhall De-Centre for Socially Engaged Practice and Research, to harness and develop its long-standing reputation for the training and professional development of arts practitioners to work as performers, creators, collaborators, producers, leaders and teachers in a range of community, educational, healthcare and social justice settings. The De-Centre explores the human and civic value of the performing arts and wider cultural activity, promoting new dynamics of connection and discovery through different models of dispersal, distribution and democratisation. Several Lines of Enquiries are already underway exploring equitable, sustainable, and transdisciplinary practices across Guildhall and beyond, including:
- How conservatoires can effectively train current and future generations of artists who are equipped to engage with ethics, social justice, and wellbeing in society.
- Investigating how creative collaborative approaches in artmaking impact on people and their communities in variety of social and sector-based settings.
- Developing equitable collaboration frameworks and facilitation methods that enable multiple ways for people to connect through the sharing of narratives.