Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Audit

Intrepid Theatre’s EDI Audit & Work

In early 2021 Intrepid Theatre began working with Will Shelling from Bakau Consulting on an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion audit. Bakau Consulting is a Vancouver-based equity, inclusion and anti-racism consulting company, with a global, intersectional approach. This audit and the resulting actions will ensure that Intrepid is better equipped to address issues of racism and oppression, and that EDI principles are part of all aspects of Intrepid’s operations.

In the Spring of 2021, Intrepid Theatre began the audit process with a survey of staff, casual employees and board members. Intrepid has started to implement Bakau’s recommendations from this survey, including annual Anti-Oppression Training for artists and volunteers and updating internal policies and practices, while other recommendations are being integrated into Intrepid’s current strategic planning process. Following on additional recommendations from these audits, Intrepid Theatre continued to work with Bakau to create a workplan and roadmap. We are also working on a range of initiatives to build accessibility, including an Accessibility Audit and completed a Victoria Theatre Deaf Engagement Survey (read more here).

In the last few seasons, we offered an Anti-Oppression workshop with Will for all staff, board, Fringe staff, volunteers and Fringe artists; have offered a Gender Diversity Training Session with Ambit Gender Diversity Consulting for staff, board and community partners; have offered a Respecting Our Neighbours: Engagement & Intervention Training Workshop with the NPNA for staff and Fringe staff. We have also created new programs for equity-deserving artists included the conVERGE Residency & Mentorship program with Puente Theatre; the Fringe Spotlight Shorts Program; and expanded out Fringe Indigenous Artist Program to include a 2 year program based on artist feedback. We have also created a more fulsome Code of Conduct for artists and volunteers with the support of consultations, and implemented an anonymous reporting framework for incidents.

Thank you for your input on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at Intrepid

We want to thank everyone who provided their anonymous input in guiding these audits and working with Bakau Consulting on a creation of strategies and implementation for recommendations. We will continue to share updates, and our work on fulfilling recommendation in the EDI roadmap.

You can read more about Bakau Consulting here.