The Arts Council of Wales is the country’s official funding and development organisation for the arts. Our principal sponsor is the Welsh Government. We also distribute funding from the National Lottery and raise additional money where we can from other public and private sector sources. Working together with the Welsh Government, we support and promote the important contribution that the arts make to Wales.
What we do:
We support the best and most exciting arts that Wales has to offer. By creating an environment in which the arts can flourish, we help artists and arts organisations to make their best work. We want as many people as possible to enjoy and take part in the arts, whether in Welsh or English. In a fair and equal Wales, we believe that the arts should be widely and easily available to everyone. We’re determined to champion the breaking down the barriers that currently prevent this from happening.
Our staff:
At the heart of any successful organisation are motivated and passionate people. We respect and encourage each other. We approach every day with a positive attitude and a willingness to grow, learn and challenge ourselves. We learn from each other, and from those we work with. Working together we achieve outcomes that make a difference.
We know that having a diverse workforce helps to encourage creativity and innovation. Having a diverse range of employees will help us in reaching and being accessible to as many people as possible.
Increasing diversity:
We recognise that we can do more to increase the diversity of our workforce. As such, in some circumstances, we will adopt positive action in our recruitment and selection process. Section 158 of the Equality Act 2010 permits employers to take steps to encourage people with a particular protected characteristic to take advantage of opportunities for employment in defined circumstances. This is known as ‘positive action’. We will use data that we have to determine which protected characteristic are under-represented in our workforce. The purpose of ‘positive action’ is to reduce the under-representation, to meet the needs of people with the particular characteristic, or to prevent or compensate for the disadvantage that a group of people have suffered. Where this is the case, we will:
- state in the job advert that applications from a particular under-represented protected characteristic are welcome
- use types of media or select specific locations for advertising the job that are likely to be seen by members of a particular group
- state in the job advert that mentoring or training will be provided to an appointed person from an under-represented group during the induction period, if required.
Section 159 of the Equality Act allows us to select an applicant with a particular protected characteristic for recruitment or promotion, in favour of another applicant who does not share that characteristic, where both applicants are as qualified as each other for the position. The term “as qualified as” covers all the criteria that we would use to establish who is the most qualified candidate for the job (and not just academic qualifications).
Training:
We run general equality and diversity training for all our staff. These training days are run by facilitators who themselves are from underrepresented communities. We also focus on individual topics to broaden our knowledge and understanding of certain protected characteristics. We welcome suggestions from our staff on topics of interest.
Facilities:
It is our aim to ensure that there are no barriers to access to our offices by disabled staff or visitors.
The offices have been designed with independence in mind and it is our intention to provide access for all visitors irrespective of their individual needs.
As we do not have a staffed reception desk at our offices, we prefer that you contact us in advance before arriving at our offices in person. We can then arrange for the right member of staff to be available to meet you, deal with your query and any requirements that you may have.
Further details on accessibility can be obtained by contacting our Facilities team.