Diverse City was awarded the Clore Duffield Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Prize in 2014, which enabled us to fund community engagement work throughout the Extraordinary Bodies tour of Weighting. We set out to develop a national network of Unexpected Leaders.
These Leaders are creative-thinking activists, who are passionate about social change delivered through the arts. They are Unexpected because they are people who may not usually get the chance to show their true potential to the world.
Between 2015 and 2016, our 10 Unexpected Leaders were selected from Southwark, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool & Wyre, Stratford London and Bristol.
Each leader gained experience working with the local community and Extraordinary Bodies circus company. They also received professional coaching to develop their leadership skills and a bursary to continue their personal development.
What next for the Unexpected Leaders programme?
This model is one we are keen to roll out with our other activities. Developing Unexpected Leaders is key to changing and diversifying the arts sector and also offers opportunity to develop the skills, talent and experience of those previously ignored or marginalised.
We are currently running a programme with Clore Leadership to develop disabled coaches to work across the arts in 2017-2018.
