Diversifying Creative Industry: 5 Practical Steps

Written by Daisie Team

Published on 18 July 2023 6 min read

Diversity has become a buzzword in today's creative industries. Yet, breaking barriers and truly diversifying the creative industry for all voices is a challenging journey that requires strategic planning, committed execution, and continuous refinement. In this blog, we'll walk through five practical steps to initiate and sustain this process. Let's dive into it.

1. Identify Potential Areas

Before you can diversify, you need to understand where opportunities for diversity exist. This involves a careful examination of the current industry, untapped sectors, and evolving market trends. Let's explore these areas one by one.

Evaluate Current Industry

Take a good look at the creative industry as it stands today. Understand its strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, identify where diverse voices are missing. Seek to answer questions such as:

Which areas are dominated by a particular group or perspective?
Which areas lack representation?

By doing this, you're breaking barriers and laying the groundwork for diversifying the creative industry.

Pinpoint Untapped Sectors

Next, identify sectors within the creative industry that have been overlooked or underutilized. These could be anything from digital art forms to indigenous storytelling, or even historical narratives from minority communities. Remember, diversifying isn't just about adding more voices—it's about amplifying voices that have been historically silenced. This step is crucial in broadening the scope and reach of creative content, thereby truly breaking barriers for all voices.

Analyze Market Trends

Finally, stay current with market trends. What's in demand? What's falling out of favor? What's the next big thing? Understanding these trends will help you align your diversification efforts with what audiences want to see, hear, and experience. For instance, if there's a rising demand for eco-conscious fashion, consider bringing in designers who specialize in sustainable materials and practices. In this way, you're not only diversifying the creative industry but also catering to evolving audience preferences.

2. Plan Diversification Strategy

After identifying potential areas for diversification, it's time to strategize. This involves setting clear objectives, outlining resource allocation, and establishing a realistic timeline. Let's delve deeper.

Set Clear Objectives

First and foremost, define what success looks like in terms of diversity. Do you want to include more artists from marginalized communities in your gallery? Or perhaps you aim to feature more gender-diverse voices in your podcast series? Whatever your goal, make sure it's specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound—what many refer to as a SMART goal. This will give your diversification efforts a clear direction and help you stay focused.

Outline Resource Allocation

Next, determine what resources you'll need to achieve your diversity objectives. This includes everything from financial investments and human resources to technology and training. For example, if you're planning to host a film festival featuring works from underrepresented filmmakers, you'll need a budget for advertising, venue rental, and possibly translation services. By outlining these resources beforehand, you'll be better prepared to manage potential challenges and ensure your diversification strategy runs smoothly.

Establish Timeline

Finally, set a realistic timeline for your diversification efforts. Remember, meaningful change takes time. You can't expect to break barriers overnight. Instead, aim for incremental progress, setting milestones along the way. For instance, you might aim to increase the diversity of your production team by 10% in the next six months, or to feature works from at least five new artists from marginalized communities in your next exhibition. By establishing a timeline, you're giving yourself a roadmap to diversifying the creative industry for all voices, one step at a time.

3. Execute Diversification Plan

With a solid plan in place, we're ready to dive into action. Let's explore how to initiate pilot projects, monitor progress, and adjust the strategy as needed.

Initiate Pilot Projects

Now, this is where the rubber meets the road. Start small with a pilot project that aligns with your diversity objectives. For instance, you could organize a small-scale event showcasing the work of diverse creatives or launch a mentorship program for aspiring artists from underrepresented groups. These pilot projects serve as a testing ground — they provide valuable insights, help identify potential roadblocks, and allow you to fine-tune your approach before scaling up.

Monitor Progress

As you initiate your pilot projects, it's essential to keep a close eye on progress. Regular monitoring allows you to track whether you're moving closer to your diversity objectives or if adjustments are needed. Keep asking yourself: "Am I breaking barriers? Am I diversifying the creative industry for all voices?" If the answer is yes, great! If not, it's time to revisit your strategy.

Adjust Strategy as Needed

Don't be afraid to switch gears if things aren't working out as planned. Perhaps you need to allocate more resources to a particular area, or maybe you need to redefine your objectives. The key is to stay flexible and adaptable. Remember, the goal is to create an inclusive creative industry where all voices are heard, valued, and celebrated. And sometimes, that requires a bit of trial and error.

4. Evaluate Diversification Success

After executing your plan, it's time to take a step back and evaluate. How did things go? Did you manage to make a real difference? Let's look at how to measure both quantitative results and qualitative impact, and compare them with your initial objectives.

Measure Quantitative Results

Numbers can tell a compelling story. When it comes to evaluating your diversification efforts, you'll want to consider factors like the number of diverse creators involved in your projects, or the percentage increase in diverse voices in leadership roles. This data not only provides a clear picture of your progress but also helps identify areas for future growth. Remember, every step towards breaking barriers and diversifying the creative industry for all voices counts!

Assess Qualitative Impact

While numbers are important, they're not the whole story. It’s also about the quality of change. Have you fostered an environment where diverse voices feel valued and heard? Are people from different backgrounds feeling more included in the creative process? Conversations, feedback, and personal stories can offer invaluable insights into the real impact of your diversification efforts.

Compare with Initial Objectives

Finally, it's crucial to circle back to the beginning. How do your results measure up against your initial objectives? If your goal was to increase diversity in leadership roles by 10%, and you achieved a 15% increase, that's a big win! But if your objective was to organize ten events showcasing diverse creatives, and you only managed five, there's room for improvement. Remember, this isn't about being perfect. It's about continually striving to break barriers and diversify the creative industry for all voices.

5. Refine and Expand Diversification Efforts

The journey to diversifying the creative industry doesn't end with evaluation. It's an ongoing process. With the insights gained from the evaluation, it's now time to refine your strategies and expand your efforts. Let's dive into how to identify areas for improvement, seek new opportunities, and keep on top of your progress.

Identify Areas for Improvement

Improvement begins with identifying where you're falling short. Maybe you've found that your current strategies aren't reaching as many diverse voices as you'd hoped. Or perhaps your events aren't as inclusive as they could be. Recognizing these areas isn't a sign of failure, but an opportunity for growth. It's all part of the process of breaking barriers and diversifying the creative industry for all voices.

Seek New Opportunities

Once you've identified areas for improvement, the next step is to seek new opportunities. This could mean partnering with organizations that foster diversity, tapping into new talent pools, or providing mentorship programs to support emerging creatives. Keep your eyes peeled for new ways to bring diverse voices to the forefront of the creative industry.

Continue Monitoring and Adjusting

Last but not least, remember that diversification is not a one-and-done deal. It requires continuous monitoring and adjustment. Keep tracking your progress, gather feedback, and don't be afraid to tweak your strategies as needed. After all, breaking barriers and diversifying the creative industry for all voices is a journey, not a destination. So, let's keep moving forward, shall we?

If you're eager to learn more about diversifying the creative industry, be sure to explore Rosa van Iterson's workshop, 'Building A Sustainable Career As A Multidisciplinary Artist'. This workshop offers practical advice and insights on how to build a dynamic career by embracing multiple creative disciplines. Don't miss out on this opportunity to broaden your horizons!