Inclusion and Diversity Action Group
Do you want your cinema, festival or community screenings to reach the widest possible range of people?
Do you feel you have expertise (or are in need of it) on how to engage people outside of the established indie cinema audience?
New year round working group on inclusion
ICO wants to be your partner in your ambitions to make your screenings more inclusive. We are launching a year round action group to support your inclusion and diversity work, with regular digital meet ups that will help you achieve your goals, find guidance, get support from peers and hear from a wide range of perspectives.
While not an exhaustive list, the groups we are most conscious of being not proportionally represented in independent exhibition are members of the global majority, working class people, disabled people and LGBT+ people (or anyone at the intersection of these aspects of identity). But defining who you are not reaching is an important step in being ambitious, so this group is open to different aspirations in different contexts.
Town Hall discussions
We are launching this working group with two town hall meetings for anyone who works in independent exhibition. Leading up to our Inclusion and Diversity Screening Days event in July 2026, we are looking to hear from you about areas you are seeing success in and feel could be replicated, as well as areas you would value support in. This is the first meeting of a regular discussion group. You can join the group at any time, but the beginning is a great moment to be involved.
Join us for one of two discussion sessions to kick off this new approach. In this session, the key questions for discussion are:
- What are the challenges you are facing in diversifying your audiences and workforce?
- What would you most want to learn about to help with diversifying audiences?
We will be holding two Zoom discussions sessions covering the same questions. Click on the date to register:
The sessions will not be recorded to encourage open discussion, but a summary of themes and considerations will be circulated to registrants to both sessions. We are able to provide access support to attend these sessions. Please note anything you may need to attend and we will make adjustments to accommodate you.
What kinds of people should join these sessions?
Changing who comes to independent screenings is everyone’s job. You might be in a formal role in exhibition such as programming, marketing, audience development, education or community outreach. You might work helping develop audiences in another art form with applicable lessons. You might be a volunteer or work in an informal setting. If you want to find other people who want to make change, this group is for you. You do not have to attend every session, and the direction of the group will be built around the priorities of those who attend.
Open call
The town hall sessions are also a chance to hear from other exhibitors and pitch your expertise for an open call session at Inclusion and Diversity Screening Days in July, responding directly to exhibitors’ needs.
For these open call sessions, we offer £500 for the curation and up to £500 to cover the costs of delivering the session (e.g. speaker fees).
We will also be circulating the key concerns afterwards to anyone who registers so they can pitch open call sessions for the event in July. From your feedback on where help is needed, we will commission sessions, workshops and work within the group to find action-oriented routes to change.
Take a look at the most recent editions of ID Screening Days to get an idea of what kind of sessions we’ve hosted (but remember that expanding our frame of reference is why we’re hosting an open call):