Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Policy

Above Your Nerve recognises that equality, diversity and inclusion help to support creativity and innovation. We believe that comedy, cabaret & drag and theatre should be accessible to everyone and representative of the world we live in. We are passionate about these live arts, as they allow us to explore the stories and lives of others. They can challenge our perspectives and show us worlds we may otherwise never get to see, inspiring social change. So, we are committed to encouraging diversity and inclusion and ensuring there is no discrimination in our courses, workshops or other services. We want our workshops to be spaces in which every participant, employee and freelancer feels respected, supported and able to create their best work.

To that end, this policy provides a framework of equality and fairness for all, across all our services. It expresses our commitment not to discriminate on the grounds of age, disability, gender, marital status (including civil partnerships), race, nationality, national origin, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.

We will:

• Actively seek to work with people from groups/communities that are under-represented in the comedy, cabaret & drag and theatre industries.
• Review all our formal and informal employment/hiring practices and procedures to ensure they are fair and help us to identify the best talent.
• Ensure reasonable adjustments are made to accommodate and include people with access requirements.
• Create an environment in which the individual differences and the contributions of all our participants, staff and freelancers are recognised and valued.
• Ensure every participant, employee and freelancer is able to work in an environment that promotes dignity and respect for all. We will not tolerate any form of intimidation, bullying or harassment.
• Listen to our participants, employees and freelancers and acknowledge and learn from any mistakes we make.

We will monitor the success of this policy regularly and our review our progress at the end of every term.

Access

We do not have a brick and mortar home, so we work hard to make sure the venues we use are accessible. Please get in contact if you have any specific requirements for our courses, workshops or showcases. We will talk to the venues and facilitators in advance, to make any necessary changes, or additional provisions are made. Access information for Theatre Deli (where our workshops and weekly course sessions are held) can be found here and for Museum of Comedy, (our showcase vets) here. The stage at Museum of Comedy is now accessible to performers using a wheelchair, via a ramp. Let us know if you would like more information on this, or any aspect of accessibility across the venues we use.

Changes to this policy

We reserve the right to modify this EDI Policy at any time. If we decide to change our EDI Policy, we will post those changes here and to any other places we deem appropriate, so that you remain updated.

Contact information

You may contact Gemma Leader by email at gemma@aboveyournerve.co.uk

This privacy policy was updated on 31st July 2023