Promoting diversity and equality is absolutely integral to the work we do at Nova Studios.
For too long the media has overlooked anyone considered hard to reach, anyone it doesn’t know how to talk to, anyone it’s scared of or anyone who doesn’t fit into an easy box with a simple label.
Things are changing, but for years we were brainwashed into believing that normal was white, was straight and was packaged with no unique characteristics in body, mind or spirit. The knobbly carrots were not allowed in the bag.
Things are changing. Anyone who says there’s no progress in the world is wrong. There have always been wars and poverty and exploitation, but so far as equality is concerned we’re slowly getting there. Within our lifetimes apartheid has ended, homosexuality has ceased to be regarded as the end of civilisation, attitudes toward ability or disability have improved, corporal punishment is no longer practised in schools – life is getting better.
But there’s a still a long long way to go.
Nova Studios is leading local producer of online content and we always ask that all of our clients – the people who employ us to make films – do everything they can to ensure that in any film we make for them, they provide us with the most diverse group of people they can.
It might be that as an employer in this country only 5% of your workforce is anything other than vanilla – you probably want to improve that. A great place to start is by making sure that the films and publicity materials you produce go further than representing that 5%, but positively show your organisation to be promoting diversity.
When talking to your customers, you need to talk to all of your customers, regardless of what they believe in, what colour they are, whether they use wheels or feet, who shares their bed, or what gender they choose to describe themelves.
If we don’t show a diverse world then we’re missing out. But more than that, we’re failing in our duty to make a better world, where everyone is included, where everyone has a voice, where everyone takes responsibility, where no-one is isolated, where hard-to-reach only applies to shelves and not people.
We’re a Hull-based business, Hull is city of culture and culture belongs to everyone. This city belongs to everyone. Let’s actively show it and prove it.
