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Diversity & Inclusion Resilience: an Interview with Pen Foreman at Historic England

In the latest instalment of the Historic Environment Forum’s Sector Resilience Interviews series focussed on the theme of Diversity and Inclusion, we speak to Pen Foreman, Senior Inclusive Heritage Advisor at Historic England.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your organisation’s role in the sector.

I’m one of Historic England’s Senior Inclusive Heritage Advisors, working as part of the Inclusive Heritage Team. My role is a blend of project managing sector-wide programmes designed to gather data and set strategy on improving access and inclusion to heritage, and connecting with people across the sector to share and imbed inclusive practice. At the moment the main project I am working on is a heritage sector workforce diversity survey, to gain a baseline insight into current demographics across the sector, and signpost where actions are needed. In October, I will be leading a new multi-year research project, examining barrier to careers, volunteering, and participating in heritage for disabled people. I am also a PAO (project assurance officer) for several of our Everyday Heritage projects, helping to monitor and guide their progress.

My background is in archaeology and teaching, and over the last few years I have focused on projects that heavily involve community-led projects and improving access to heritage, including roles at the Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust and the British Museum. I’ve balanced this with volunteering in various roles including CIfA (Chartered Institute for Archaeologists) to advance EDI in archaeology; I now sit as Chair of the Board as well as being Board Champion on EDI. I have the privilege of being in a position to champion and platform voices that aren’t currently being heard.

What can you tell us about your organisation’s work in relation to Diversity and Inclusion? What does this work aim to achieve?

Historic England has IDE (inclusion, diversity, and equality) embedded at every level of the organisation, thanks to it being fundamental to our work as part of our Corporate Plan, and driven by core priorities of the Heritage Sector Resilience Plan. Across the organisation we have commitments to both internal and external-facing work that has IDE as a core remit, all the way from improving our own recruitment practices and Board procedures, to delivering projects that develop heritage career opportunities, build sector-leading advice on inclusive governance and spotlight diverse stories through grants such as Everyday Heritage.

Historic England has the ambition to work to ensure that “Everyone can connect with, enjoy and benefit from the historic environment” – and work happens across all of our teams towards this.

What contribution will this make towards resilience in the heritage sector?

We know that to be resilient, we need to maintain relevance and value to people – not just to one audience, but to many. We need future archaeologists, archivists, planning experts, policy writers, and communications leaders – but we also need audiences, visitors, researchers, enthusiasts, and fans of heritage. By working on making heritage more inclusive, more accessible, and more representative, we ensure that that reach of potential stall, volunteers, and visitors is as wide as possible.

We also know that a diversity of voice makes for stronger leadership and strategy. Projects and programming informed by a multiplicity of voices takes into account lived experiences, backgrounds, and identities that can significantly impact how people experience and engage with heritage. Working with as many different perspectives as possible helps us to develop truly inclusive work, that can avoid pitfalls of inaccessibility, exclusion, and exclusivity. It also makes the sector more able to handle change – with diverse voices, we can better understanding the potential impact of change, and have a better pool of knowledge and experience to work on developing solutions.

What does success look like for your work?

We know that to be resilient, we need to maintain relevance and value to people – not just to one audience, but to many. We need future archaeologists, archivists, planning experts, policy writers, and communications leaders – but we also need audiences, visitors, researchers, enthusiasts, and fans of heritage. By working on making heritage more inclusive, more accessible, and more representative, we ensure that that reach of potential stall, volunteers, and visitors is as wide as possible.

We also know that a diversity of voice makes for stronger leadership and strategy. Projects and programming informed by a multiplicity of voices takes into account lived experiences, backgrounds, and identities that can significantly impact how people experience and engage with heritage. Working with as many different perspectives as possible helps us to develop truly inclusive work, that can avoid pitfalls of inaccessibility, exclusion, and exclusivity. It also makes the sector more able to handle change – with diverse voices, we can better understanding the potential impact of change, and have a better pool of knowledge and experience to work on developing solutions.

Pen Foreman on collective work, collaboration and resilience Inclusion only works where there is buy-in across organisations and across the sector, genuinely embedded in workplace cultures and across all levels. Sharing learning, sharing challenges, and sharing resources is essential to building this shared culture of inclusion. Pen Foreman, Senior Inclusive Heritage Advisor at Historic England #HeritageResiliencePlan

How can sector colleagues get involved or find out more?

You can visit out Inclusion Advice Hub to see the resources we have already put up, keep visiting regularly as we are constantly adding new content, with the next big batch of uploads coming in August and October 2024.

The Inclusive Heritage Team are always happy to field questions, have conversations, be invited to meetings, or advise on specific issues – please feel free to email us at Inclusion.Team@historicengland.org.uk

Overall, what do you think is most crucial for ensuring a resilient heritage sector?

For me, resilience lies in collective work, knowledge sharing, and collaboration. Inclusion only works where there is buy-in across organisations and across the sector, genuinely embedded in workplace cultures and across all levels. Sharing learning, sharing challenges, and sharing resources is essential to building this shared culture of inclusion. The heritage sector is very diverse in terms of job roles, workplaces, specialisms – so we can naturally silo ourselves. We need to start breaking down this separation and working together on work of all scales to build a resilient whole.

This Sector Resilience interview was shared by Pen as part of our Heritage Sector Resilience Plan activities.

If you’d like to contribute an interview as part of the series, follow the link below to find out more:

Sector Resilience Interviews – Historic Environment Forum

Diversity & Inclusion Resilience: an Interview with Beverley Gormley at Heritage Trust Network

In the latest instalment of the Historic Environment Forum’s Sector Resilience Interviews series focussed on the theme of Diversity and Inclusion, we speak to Beverley Gormley, Programme Manager at Heritage Trust Network.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your organisation’s role in the sector.

I’m the Programme Manager at Heritage Trust Network, the UK’s umbrella organisation for non-profits that are rescuing, restoring, re-using and managing historic buildings, structures and spaces.

As a disabled woman, limb-different from birth, I’m acutely aware of how inaccessible and exclusionary the world is. A quarter of the UK’s population is disabled and a passion for improving the situation was the starting point for me, but rapidly grew into making the Network more accessible and inclusive for all.

What can you tell us about your organisation’s work in relation to Diversity and Inclusion? What does this work aim to achieve?

The starting point for us was when we received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver our Unlocking the Power of Communities project in 2020. ‘Unlocking’ was a major development and capacity building project, with one element being the introduction of online training sessions. It soon became clear that our members had varying needs with regard to accessing webinars, so we started to ask them if they had any access requirements during the booking process and introduced Otter.ai which is a live speech to text transcript that connects to Zoom.

At this point, I felt that I would benefit from digital accessibility training with the Disability Collaborative Network which was a huge eye-opener, and I spent the next few months upskilling myself which had a profound effect on my thought process when planning the rest of the project.

Our legacy website wasn’t very accessible and, as a short term solution, we added an overlay widget. Overlay widgets aren’t the be all and end all as they can sometimes make interactive websites less accessible – however this one was a small improvement as it enabled people visiting the website to have it read to them, have the contrast increased and have the text enlarged. Following this we redirected some of the funding towards a digital accessibility audit. This has underpinned everything we’ve done online, including our communications, and I can’t stress how important it’s been. It brought home exactly how inaccessible our website was, from images that did not have alt text so couldn’t be understood by people using screen reading technology, to text with low contrast which couldn’t be identified by people with visual impairments, to badly formatted webpages that were difficult to access by people who do not use a mouse to navigate the Internet and videos with no captions. At the time it seemed like an insurmountable task to put things right, but at this point we’ve fixed as much as we can possibly fix before we start on the development of new website.

The Disability Collaborative Network became an important sounding board for us, and after they’d spoken at one of our Network Natters we met with them to discuss how we could make our annual conference more accessible. The conference was going to be held in Caernarfon North Wales and we knew from the outset that there would be live Welsh to English translation, a quiet space and a prayer room, but we wanted to go much further. Alongside the more obvious accessibility questions to ask when considering potential venues, the DCN’s advice included lots of things we hadn’t thought about such as asking workshop leaders to provide advance information about what they will be expecting delegates to do, what sort of materials lifts are made from, whether there is seating and free water available during tours, where the nearest Changing Places toilet is and if venues accept card, cash or other methods of payment so that people could be prepared. All of this information led to us producing our first ever accessibility guide for a conference and we’ve built on this ever since, now supplying accessibility information for all of our in-person events. We’ve also developed accessibility guidelines for speakers that are preparing presentations for our events and we check those presentations in advance.

In the last 4 years our membership has grown by over 350% and has become much more diverse. We’ve delivered a targeted campaign to almost 50 ‘accidental’ heritage organisations that work with marginalised communities and run training ad advice sessions for them.  The development of a thriving Youth Forum has greatly helped us to include and engage young people who are in the early stages of their career, are students, or simply have an interest in heritage. We have big plans for the Youth Forum which now has over 100 members!

One of my own proudest moments was being invited to speak at the Memberwise Digital Excellence conference in May 2024 on our journey towards being a more inclusive and accessible Network. You can find out more about the work we’ve been doing at https://heritagetrustnetwork.org.uk/our-journey-towards-an-accessible-and-inclusive-network/

What contribution will this make towards resilience in the heritage sector?

If the sector does not become more diverse, inclusive and accessible there’s no possibility of it ever becoming resilient! Not only is it the right thing to do, at the basic level it also affects your bottom line. For example, 25% of the UK’s population is disabled, and businesses (which our organisation essentially are) are losing out on £2billion PER MONTH by not making their online presence accessible and inclusive. That’s a lot of purple pounds!

What does success look like for your work?

Success, to us, is seeing more people able to work in, enjoy and volunteer in the heritage sector and embedding access and inclusion in their rescue and regeneration projects. At the moment we’re very ‘light touch’ when it comes to metrics, but one thing that I’ve noticed when people book onto our events is that they thank us for asking if they have any access needs even though they might not request any adaptations. Access and inclusion should be seamless, and asking probing questions can be inappropriate and ‘virtue signalling’.

We’ve worked hard to embed inclusion and accessibility in everything that we do, and that starts with it being included in inductions for new staff. It’s particularly rewarding to see our heritage trainees increase their knowledge and skills in this area and become passionate about it themselves.

A blonde woman wearing glasses and a white polo shirt with colourful hot balloon print gives a thumbs up sign with her white bionic arm
"Thumbs up from Bev" (c) Beverley Gormley

How can sector colleagues get involved or find out more?

See the website: https://heritagetrustnetwork.org.uk/our-journey-towards-an-accessible-and-inclusive-network/

Overall, what do you think is most crucial for ensuring a resilient heritage sector?

The heritage sector is currently recognising that there is a problem with the recruitment of young people onto Boards, there’s a skills shortage, and that young people aren’t aware of the sheer range of career/study pathways they can take that can help address this. While interviewing for heritage trainee roles it became clear that there are not enough opportunities for young people to volunteer in the grass roots heritage/regeneration space and, in my opinion, the sector will only become more resilient if we try to address all of this together.

We have transformed from an organisation that didn’t work with young people at all, to one that works with a lot of them. One of the first things we did was successfully piloting a ‘trainee trustee’ initiative where we recruited two young people to our board who spent a year being trained, mentored and participated in our board meetings. Those two young people are now our fully fledged trustees and we will be repeating this in future and will also roll out the initiative to our members. 

We have also recruited ‘Heritage Trainees’ that have worked alongside our small team of staff. These are recent graduates who want a career in heritage but are finding it hard to get a foot in the door because of their lack of experience. The four 6-month traineeships have exposed them to everything that we do, and they have been encouraged to develop their own mini projects to develop their project management skills. We have recently extended our Wales trainee’s contract, and the previous three secured great jobs with Historic England, English Heritage and the Council for Scottish Archives when their traineeships ended. Again, this is something we will be repeating as it has been such a success, only next time they will be 12 month traineeships.

There is a lack of diversity in the heritage sector and the youth forum goes some way to addressing this, although some improvement is still needed in order to help address this sector-wide issue. In spring 2024 research was undertaken into the youth forum’s diversity and showed that: 

  • 17% of the young people involved have a disability
  • 52% do not consider themselves heterosexual/straight
  • 79% describe themselves as female and 14% describe themselves as male with 3% describing themselves as non-binary. 3% of applicants prefer to self-describe
  • 76% describe themselves as white British
  • 71% are based in England
  • Anecdotally the vast majority of youth forum members are educated to degree level or above

 

We’re now aiming to do more to make the youth forum even more diverse and inclusive, particularly regarding gender, ethnicity, geographical spread and level of education.

Youth Forum members have recently formed a steering group and set up sub groups that are focusing on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, consultancy and placemaking. We’ve recently recruited a youth forum member to sit on our conference steering group to ensure that young voices are represented.

Over the next four years we have big plans and collaborations in the pipeline so watch this space!

 

This Sector Resilience interview was shared by Beverley as part of our Heritage Sector Resilience Plan activities.

If you’d like to contribute an interview as part of the series, follow the link below to find out more:

Sector Resilience Interviews – Historic Environment Forum

Diversity & Inclusion Resilience: an Interview with Katie Clarke at Visits Unlimited

In the latest instalment of the Historic Environment Forum’s Sector Resilience Interviews series focussed on the theme of Diversity and Inclusion, we speak to Katie Clarke, co-founder of accessibility social enterprise Visits Unlimited.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your organisation’s role in the sector.

I am Katie Clarke – I am a foster parent, parent carer of 6 adult children including a daughter who is profoundly deaf and a wheelchair user.  I have worked in the 3rd sector for over 28 years.  I am co-founder of Visits Unlimited which is a user led organisation working in the field of tourism, heritage and countryside. 

Access and Inclusion is at the heart of what we do.   We ensure that local disabled people are central to planning and co-production.  We deliver national access audits through our own access auditor Chris Cammiss, to a wide range of venues and disability equality training to heritage staff and volunteers.

We are based in Halifax, West Yorkshire and run a local project called the Accessible Calderdale Project.  We host the Accessible Calderdale Disability Access Forum which has over 60 members with a wide range of disabilities.  We have done over 160 access audits that have been free to the Cultural, Heritage, Greenspaces and parks, tourist venues and voluntary organisations.  This has been thanks to working together with Community Foundation for Calderdale and the local Council.  We are also commissioned on Major Projects to advise and to be there at the beginning of new local projects.  We have partnered with CultureDale for our Year of Culture and run monthly sessions for disabled people to have a voice in ensuring that culture is accessible and inclusive.  We work closely with Halifax Heritage Tours to improve access and inclusion to their tours and local historic buildings.

What can you tell us about your organisation’s work in relation to Diversity and Inclusion? What does this work aim to achieve?

Our access audits break down the physical barriers facing disabled people.

We deliver training nationally and locally led by people with lived experience of disability.  Our trainers are neuro-divergent/wheelchair user and parent.  Our courses are informative, fun, participative and real.  We break down the attitudinal barriers with open discussions with attendees, some of whom have a connection with disability.

We work in co-production with many local organisation including Visit Calderdale, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and the voluntary sector.  All our local work is user led allowing disabled people to have a voice locally in improving access and inclusion throughout Calderdale by raising awareness of issues and solutions from local transport and travel, to improving tourist site access so that disabled people who live, work, study and visit our area have the same opportunities as everyone else.

We raise awareness at local strategic level with representation of our local disabled community through our Access Forum. We believe that if you get it right for disabled people you get it right for everyone.  Our offer impacts older people and families with buggies.

What contribution will this make towards resilience in the heritage sector?
The access audits give organisations realistic improvements that can be made giving increased opportunities for access and inclusion long term as well as financially through the purple pound.  We also want disabled people to feel that they are able to get out and about and that visiting the heritage sector improves their own wellbeing – and that through the right information and access guides they are able to visit places that meet their expectations.
What does success look like for your work?

Success is when disabled people, their families and carers are able to enjoy our local area, to hear the stories of the history of our beautiful region, to feel a connection with heritage, and enjoy the same opportunities as non disabled people.

We will work locally with the Halifax Heritage Tours to improve opportunities and measure this through having accessible tours co-designed by our group.  Currently our access auditor is working closely with audit some of the tours.  We also would like to have our local community transport involved to give local people and disabled people the opportunity to access some of the trips.

We regularly do surveys with our membership and evaluation forms.  The Access Forum also have monthly meetings to share experiences and work together on issues that are important to them.  They are involved in all our work and feedback their thoughts and steer the organisation forward.

Image shows two people going down a woodland path with bluebells visible in the undergrowth. The person on the left is in a wheelchair and the person on the right is walking.
Looking for bluebells (c) Visits Unlimited

How can sector colleagues get involved or find out more?

Help publicise our work nationally and locally.   Come and visit Calderdale!  We will make you very welcome.

Overall, what do you think is most crucial for ensuring a resilient heritage sector?

To raise the profile of diversity and inclusion and become a welcoming sector which will improve all round perceptions.  For information to be available on access and inclusion and for this to be a priority rather than something that goes to the bottom of the pile or is a tick box exercise. Making inclusion real through publicity and promotion.

Katie Clarke katie@visitsunlimited.org.uk

This Sector Resilience interview was shared by Katie as part of our Heritage Sector Resilience Plan activities.

If you’d like to contribute an interview as part of the series, follow the link below to find out more:

Sector Resilience Interviews – Historic Environment Forum

Consultant commission for Heritage Sector Net-Zero Projects Audit

HEF is seeking a consultant to provide a methodology to review the resources allocated in the sector to reach net zero

As part of the work of the task group focused on Green Skills in Heritage, HEF wants to commission a consultant to provide and test a methodology to build a dataset to systematically review the allocation (or aspiration) of resource that the historic environment sector aims to employ to reach net zero and environmental sustainability.  

The final purpose of the dataset is to provide visibility of sector needs and inform advocacy to Government and other public bodies, on the skills provision needed and the scale of financial resources required by the sector to meet the net zero target. 

As part of this work the consultant is expected to:  

  • Liaise with task group members.  
  • Develop and test (for example using a sample of organisations) a methodology to collect high level information on:  
  • The budget already allocated (secured and financed) to support works to net zero. Of this budget, it would be useful to know what percentage is capital/reserves or loan.  
  • The budget which would be needed by organisations to reach net zero, based on evidence, but not financed yet.  
  • Develop recommendations to deepen the insights to provide more granular data to be linked with the skills needed (and the alignment with training availability and provision).  

 

Full details can be found here.  

The deadline for applications is 26 April 2024. Questions and applications can be submitted to Francesca Benetti, Task Group Manager: heftask2@historicenvironmentforum.org.uk  

Diversity & Inclusion Resilience: an Interview with Steve Dering at Direct Access Consultancy

In the first instalment of the Historic Environment Forum’s Sector Resilience Interviews series focussed on the theme of Diversity and Inclusion, we speak to Steve Dering, Director, Strategic Partnerships at Direct Access Consultancy.
Please tell us about your organisation’s role in the sector.

Established in 2004, Direct Access is an accessibility and inclusion consultancy. A certified DOBE – Disability Operated Business Enterprise, our team of 18, the majority disabled people, work mainly within the heritage and museum sector to improve access. Direct Access works with most of the DMCS-funded national museums, English Heritage, the National Trust, Historic England and with independent museums through the regional Museum Development Associations. Direct Access are also the Access Consultants for National Museums Wales and have worked with heritage clients in Northern Ireland. UNESCO sites include the Cities of Bath and Canterbury, Giants Causeway in Ireland.

For Direct Access, it is not just about physical access, it is how a complete programme of access can be facilitated from digital information to sensory stimuli and interaction with others. Only when all of these four pillars are combined is inclusion achieved.

What can you tell us about your organisation’s work in relation to Diversity and Inclusion? What does this work aim to achieve?

To ensure services are accessible for disabled people, it is important to be aware of the obstacles encountered by persons with physical, sensory or intellectual impairments. Their needs will vary and will inform the kind of action that is appropriate and can be delivered where practicable. Obstacles to accessibility for disabled people encompass a broad range of both tangible and intangible elements including:

  • Communication, where presented in inaccessible formats;
  • Lack of awareness of the needs of different impairment cohorts;
  • The physical environment, e.g. design, layout, signage, lighting;
  • Service design, e.g. where systems, procedures and practices can present obstacles.

 

Achieving heritage accessibility is much more than just adding elevators and ramps, as heritage encompasses everything from natural landscapes to ceremonial traditions. Making heritage available for future generations is a key part of sustainable conservation practices, which should include the participation of people from all ages and abilities. It is important to remember that people are not disabled; rather, it is poorly designed environments that create barriers which disable people.

What contribution will this make towards resilience in the heritage sector?

Where restorations and preservation have been carried out, these need to respect the traditional building techniques and the use of traditionally treated local materials such as baked brick, wood and stone.

Direct Access’ team of Access Consultants on this programme understand the importance of conservation work and that any accessibility proposals developed are sensitive to the preservation of this site for generations to come.

What does success look like for your work?

Improved accessibility for disabled people both as visitors and as staff/volunteers.

Image depicts a person using their hands to feel along an interpretation board which is situated in front of an old-looking window with light coming into the historic space.
Tactile interpretation boards enable blind visitors to experience history and heritage (c) Direct Access Group
How can colleagues find out more?

Clients commission Direct Access for a wide range of reasons – these include:

• Accessibility audits – to support NLHF or Arts Council funding applications or to ascertain the current status of accessibility.
• Access Consultancy – new building design or gallery development to hold heritage assets.
• Accessible formats – production of a range of accessible format materials to support visitors from Braille to audio description or sign language.
• Staff training and development.

You can contact the team on 0845 056 4421 or info@directaccess.group

Overall, what do you think is most crucial for ensuring a resilient heritage sector?

Partnership working – the spectrum of disability is huge and sometimes can be dauting for our clients who are not sure where to start. Direct Access is experienced in working with and engaging with clients from local communities to UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

This Sector Resilience interview was shared by Steve as part of our Heritage Sector Resilience Plan activities.

If you’d like to contribute an interview as part of the series, follow the link below to find out more:

Sector Resilience Interviews – Historic Environment Forum

HEF News Archive
HEF News Archive

Bringing together senior members of staff from public and non-government bodies to work collaboratively on strategic matters for the historic environment sector.

 

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