Stand Up For Diversity is a series of events bringing together those  championing diversity in arts, heritage and in their communities. They provide regular opportunities for those representing and working with diverse communities, audiences and participants, to come together with peers to discuss and promote diversity on a public platform.

Events engender partnership working and mutual sector support,  delivered in collaboration with strategic partners across the region. The series was first initiated in close partnership with Essex Book Festival in 2016, as part of their Diversity Matters project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

Here is an overview of Stand Up For Diversity events we have organised:

• Stand Up for Diversity Brentwood
  launching the inaugural Brentwood International Festival
• Stand Up for Diversity Thetford
  featuring partners and friends we regularly work with to programme the Festival of Thetford & Punjab
• ART // TECH // PLAY LIVE meets SU4D
  a collaboration with Collusion and Dance East in Ipswich, focused on diversity, movement and creative tech.
• Stand Up for Diversity at Essex Writers House
  as part of Essex Book Festival, for this event we teamed up with Metal and Essex Writers House in Southend-on-Sea
• The Human Library 
  hosted by Colchester Samaritans as part of Essex Book Festival, in partnership with the Human Library Organisation UK
• Stand Up for Diversity Thurrock
  in partnership with Start Thurrock and hosted by Grays Gurdwara (Sikh Temple)
• Women Assemble
  a special long table event with diverse communities in Colchester, taking place at Firstsite for International Women’s Day 2024
• The Human Library
  hosted by Chelmsford Library as part of Essex Book Festival, in partnership with the Human Library Organisation UK
• Stand Up for Diversity Harlow
  taking place at the Gibberd Gallery, as part of Essex Book Festival to celebrate Harlow Arts Trust’s 70th anniversary
• Hear Me Roar,
  taking place at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester as part of International Women’s Day 2023

From the ECDP Archives 2016-2022

• SU4D#11: Nov 2022 – Mercury Theatre in Colchester
• SU4D#10: Jun 2022 – The Human Library, Colchester
• SU4D#09: Mar 2022 – Metal’s Essex Writers House, Southend
  
• SU4D#08: May 2021 – Snapping the Stiletto Special: celebrating women and campaigning for equality, Online
• SU4D#07: Oct 2020 – re:Defining Legacies, Online
• SU4D#06: Jun 2020 – Stand Up For Diversity, Online
• SU4D#05: Nov 2019 – The Cultural Assembly, Southend
  
• SU4D#04: Sept 2018 – The Transition, Chelmsford
• SU4D#03: Sept 2017 – The Mercury, Colchester
• SU4D#02: Feb 2017 – Claim Your Space, Harlow Library
• SU4D#01: Sept 2016 – Ideas Hub, Chelmsford

In photos: Events in the Stand Up For Diversity Series

SU4D#2: Claim Your Space, Harlow Library (February 2017)
An invitation for Essex based communities to meet each other and be part of a large scale artwork for Harlow. Polish street artist Yola (Jola Kudela) creates beautiful murals, claiming public space to celebrate communities around the world. Her work recreates old masters, with locally based people taking the place of those in the paintings. Yola set up a photographic studio in the first floor of Harlow Library, and Storyteller Glenys Newton was on hand to capture participants’ voices, personal stories and opinions about Harlow. The mural was revealed later in March, as part of Essex Book Festival 2017