THIIIRD Intersect - Not Another Diversity Panel
The second instalment in the the two part event series at Tate Modern was a panel discussion entitled ‘Not Another Diversity Panel’.
It is part of the celebration of the ‘Access’ issue of Thiiird Magazine which came about as a response to a world that is increasingly capable of acknowledge privilege and systemic structures which make it hard for some to achieve the same goal as others.
Diversity as a term has the potential to be powerful, but often it falls short of that power. As a term that exist in company policies and culture, it is often problematic - meeting quotas, institutions congratulating themselves for ‘progress’, and other people speaking on behalf of the communities they haven’t had the life experience to be spokespeople for, clumping of groups together… We barely ever touch on the greater issues of unconscious bias, accessibility, structural policies which are at the root of why the buds of diversity fail to flourish into flowerful gardens they should.
Jackie Hagan, Roshni Goyate, Kai Isiah Jamal, and Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante spent an evening with Daniela Hornskov Sun (Producer of Thiiird), and Rhona Ezuma (Editor in Chief of Thiiird), sharing personal stories and poetry in a dynamic evening of dialogue with each other as well as the sold-out venue.
BiographiesJackie Hagan Multi award-winning poet, playwright, performer and activist. She is a working class, queer, dyslexic amputee with systemic sclerosis. She's down to earth, disarming and energised by her anger at the barriers put in front of people.
Roshni Goyate Creative in advertising and Cofounder of The Other Box, an award-winning organisation empowering and enlightening people to work and live more inclusively. Combining her lived experience of everyday exclusion and tokenism with academic knowledge, Roshni work strategically with global companies across different industries.
Kai Isiah Jamal Kai is a poet and activist, and trans-man of colour who builds dialogue on often the 'unspoken', and whose work explicitly deals with ensuring that companies who want to be part of discussions on diversity look through the framework of their own policies and correct it in places which already are excluding.
Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante Renowned producer, composer, singer, dancer and DJ, Mikey co-founded the phenomenal Boy Blue Entertainment with Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy in 2001. He continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the hip hop landscape in the UK as well as its representation in education.