Our Position

EDI is at the core of what JS does. In terms of our development as an organisation, we recognise that our work can only be strengthened by having a diverse board, staff team, and volunteer cohort. We benefit greatly from the range of perspectives available to us through this excellent team, which results in better decision-making overall.

Our programmes are enriched, more engaging, and relevant to more people when we present the widest possible range of artists on stage at our events. This contributes to our sustainability as an organisation as we engage new cultural communities and ‘fan’ groups through their artists. Also, our collaborative approach to developing educational and community projects ensures that learners and community-based partners have genuine agency in developing initiatives that address their concerns or are based on their needs and desires. This process surfaces issues that may not have been apparent to JS staff at the outset, making these activities more engaging and meaningful.

Our Commitments

The commitments outlined below are based on issues we have observed in the jazz and jazz-related scenes. We are fully committed to:

• Increasing the representation of women and gender minorities across our programmes;

• Democratising our community activities, working in a way that is ethical, respectful, and empowering;

• Ensuring that our staff team, Board, and volunteers are more reflective of the diversity of the Scottish population.

Because EDI is an area to which the Board and the CEO are extremely committed, we are very confident that we can achieve these outcomes; indeed, we are already making significant progress on them.

Delivering on Our Commitments

Our objectives around gender parity in programming are achievable because, to date, our CEO, who is a female instrumentalist, oversees it and has a deep conviction that women need high-profile platforms if we are to address their paucity in jazz and related genres.

Similarly, on our second commitment around making our programmes more inclusive, relevant, and empowering for diverse audiences and communities, our Development Manager holds a strong conviction that arts organisations should engage more ethically and democratically with communities. He has considerable knowledge on this issue, having completed a Master’s in Ethnology and Ethnomusicology, and brings both practical experience and theoretical knowledge to bear on this work.

On our third commitment, we are making important strides forward. Our wider team is now considerably more diverse than it was earlier this year in terms of age, ethnicity, and gender. In 2023, we welcomed four new board members: two women and two men, each of whom has diverse lived experiences and comes from a variety of national and cultural backgrounds. Across this business period, we intend to recruit additional board members, adding to the diversity, and thus strength, of our team.