Everyone Welcome, 2019-2021

RCMG is working in collaboration with the National Trust to support a programme of learning designed to advance the Trust’s long-term ambition to be inclusive and welcoming for all and to embed leading-edge approaches to diversity and inclusion in all that it does. 

A research and values-led programme of experimentation – entitled All In – runs from 2019-2021 and will support the National Trust to identify, hone and embed leading-edge approaches to inclusive practice, diversity and equality in all that it does.  All In refers to both the underlying ambition of the programme (to support the Trust to be inclusive for all) and the process (collaborative, inclusive, ethically-informed, transparent, rigorous, and reflective) that will foster change across the organisation as well as generate new insights for the wider field. 

All In comprises 10 experiments in practice, built around research questions that were co-created with RCMG out of discussions with staff and volunteers across the Trust. Each experiment will be taken forward with a mix of Trust staff and volunteers (working on properties and in strategic regional and national roles), RCMG, and individuals with diverse forms of specialist expertise.  Experiments are grouped under the three main headings:

Create a culture and environment where everyone feels welcome:

1. How can we work collaboratively and ambitiously with disabled people, going beyond basic standards of legal and policy compliance, to create National Trust sites renowned and celebrated amongst diverse groups for their commitment to developing leading edge approaches to access and inclusion for all?
2. How can we develop and use inclusive language (both written and verbal and in terms of both content and format) and imagery to become more welcoming to everyone by transforming the ways we talk about our sites and stories and engage our visitors?
3. How can we better understand how and why diverse communities might want to use our outdoor spaces, so that we can support underrepresented groups to use and occupy these spaces on their own terms?
4. How can we listen to, actively involve and work collaboratively with our volunteers in creative ways to drive forward our work to foster inclusion?
   
   Be more relevant to the nation and society
   
   
5. How can we better understand the needs of (and barriers to access for) underrepresented BAME and lower income communities living near our properties and work with them to explore how they would like to use our places so that we can become more relevant to them and their lives?
6. How can we work collaboratively with underrepresented audiences to research and share previously untold stories of our places so that we better understand what drives relevance for them and increase our relevance for all?
7. How can we identify and build partnerships with external organisations based on reciprocity and mutual interest and benefit and in ways which enhance our relevance and make a meaningful contribution to the lives of more diverse groups?
   
   Increase the diversity of our people and supporter base
   
   
8. How can we redesign our staff recruitment and talent management processes to identify and remove barriers that disadvantage underrepresented groups so that we increase our workforce diversity?
9. How can we learn more about the needs of families with children on the autism spectrum, develop specific provision for those families, and embed that learning across all aspects of our sites and experiences to become autism-friendly?
10. How can we demonstrate our support for LGBTQ+ audiences by sharing our LGBTQ histories ethically and visibly through on-property programming that engage all visitors?