Equal opportunities

The National Youth Arts Trust is a performing arts charity founded in 2013. Its core aim is to ensure access to the performing arts (drama, dance and music) for young people, aged 12-25, where economic circumstances prove to be a barrier to continued participation.

We firmly believe that:

• The arts matter and enrich and change lives
• Identified talent deserves to be nurtured
• The performing arts should reflect and represent their audience
• The arts become truly outstanding when it is drawn from a diverse range of our society
• Economic circumstance must not be the dominant determinant of who gets the
  opportunity to flourish and develop their talent
  

These core beliefs are at the foundation of all our work and in order to fully realise this, we are
dedicated to ensuring that all participants and employees involved in our charitable activities are
treated and valued equally, regardless of where they live in the United Kingdom and irrespective
of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, additional educational needs, disability and sexual
orientation. Our bursaries are however, designed to specifically impact those aged 12 – 25, whose
financial circumstances inhibit their access to training opportunities in the arts.

The National Youth Arts Trust recognises how destructive discrimination and exclusion can be for an
individual, group or community. The Trust was founded in response to inequality in the arts industry
and believes that equality of opportunity is key in achieving our mission in providing access to
the performing arts.

To ensure a rigorous and reflective equal opportunities monitoring and evaluation process is implemented, each application (for a charitable activity or recruitment) will also include a
confidential equal opportunities monitoring form. This will allow the Trust to gather data which will
enable it to be more focused and precise about the work it undertakes each year.

Our bursary applications and supporting documents are available in a large print, braille and a
dyslexic friendly style. Any practical barriers that may prevent someone from being involved with the
Trust, we will address and accommodate on an individual basis, to ensure this is not a barrier in
accessing the arts and the Trust’s work. We will publicise and raise awareness of this statement and
aim to operate fair, open and transparent procedures in all our charitable activities.

It is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees to monitor the efficacy of our equal opportunities
policy and the effective use of our monitoring forms, with a view to doing more outreach work if the
Trust identifies a marginalised area or group. It is also the responsibility of every individual involved
in the National Youth Arts Trust to eliminate discrimination and to ensure the practical application of
this policy.

This policy is reviewed and approved by the Board of Trustees biennially or when legislation changes.

November 2022