Written by: Dr. Grégoire Gagnon, Executive Director, CHRC

We look to the near future and welcome the thought of getting back to normal artistic and cultural production! But what of the “normal” parts that we don’t want to come back?

Two things come to mind when we think of improving cultural HR practices for everyone to thrive:

• eliminating workplace harassment, discrimination, and violence; and
• fostering inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA).

Over the last few years, CHRC, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage teamed up with numerous leaders in the arts community to create a national Code of Conduct for the Performing Arts and a suite of resources that include videos, an anti-harassment and violence tool in our HR Management Toolkit, and workshops to create and maintain Respectful Workplaces in the Arts (RWA). Alongside this work, CHRC and HR consultants conducted two studies on reporting and investigating mechanisms in the cultural sector as well as the Labour Market Information Study of the Cultural Labour Force. While these studies provide a lot of information on what is and what isn’t working in the sector, the future is encouraging thanks to numerous initiatives and actions towards safer and more respectful workplaces.

This article was written for 2021 Summer Safety Scene Magazine.