Today’s society is more diverse than ever before, in ethnic origin, age, sexuality, ability and interests. Government policy wants to see ‘more people everywhere getting actively involved in their neighbourhoods’ whilst funding agencies require us to demonstrate how we enable communities to do this. As communicators

and custodians, staff in the mla sector must all play an important role in enabling audiences to make their presence felt.

Outreach has now become active engagement: challenging, stimulating, sophisticated and with collections at its heart. It is a virtuous circle: our relationships within communities and understanding of our own collections are enhanced and strengthened by collaborative working.

MLA West Midlands work to enable and encourage the sector to embrace diversity in all its forms through:

• developing the diversity competencies of the existing workforce with training, networking and championship
• delivery of positive action traineeships to encourage young people from BME backgrounds to experience work in the sector
• encouraging institutions to assess the accessibility and inclusiveness of their services by providing toolkits and facilitating training
• using the Generic Social Outcomes framework to shape sector delivery

If you want to discuss any of these issues please contact Jenni Waugh, Access & Social Policy Officer by phone 0121 345 7344 or email