We are pleased to announce that we have appointed a new Inclusion, Equality & Diversity Lead.  Claudia Haswell will be joining our Executive Committee in this new role. We look forward to working with her as we continue to move forwards.

“I am thrilled to be joining the COS committee as the new Inclusion, Equality & Diversity Lead.  It is my pleasure to be selected to fulfill the role and I look forward to getting started.  We will shortly be on the look out for ‘Inclusion Champions’, who will be working closely alongside me to ensure the continuity of inclusion within the Society.” 

Claudia Haswell, Inclusion, Equality & Diversity Lead

Our Inclusion, Equality and Diversity Commitment

Colchester Operatic Society wants to proceed as a diverse and inclusive organisation, accessible, welcoming and truly representative of the population of Colchester and its surrounding areas, offering equality of opportunity to our current and potential audiences, creatives and membership. 

Why:

• The Creative Case– with a diverse membership, we will ensure the Society creates high-quality, engaging entertainment that is honest, reflective and rewarding for its audiences and membership. We recognise that diverse teams in all areas of our activity will ensure the Society continues to be effective, adaptive and resilient
• The Business Case– since Colchester Operatic Society was formed over 90 years ago, audiences and society have changed and we want to reach the audiences and members of the future, recognising that our loyal supporters continue to expect best practice in diversity and inclusion
• The Moral Case –Creating a diverse and inclusive community of members and audiences has always been important to the Society. However, in hindsight we are aware that we haven’t always got it right.  Therefore, we will continue to review and improve our processes and understanding to ensure best practice.

For our 2020-25 planning, we are focusing on improving four key areas:

• Ethnic background – seeking continuous improvement in visible representation and diversity across our membership and creative teams. For example, continuing to form strong relationships with the diverse local community groups of Colchester.
• Social background – improving accessibility for audiences and members from the widest possible social backgrounds.  For example, by reviewing our ticket pricing structure and exploring bursary schemes for members.
• Gender, Age and Physical appearance – ensuring these factors do not limit equality of opportunity across our membership and creative teams.  For example, considering non-traditional casting decisions.
• Disability – ensuring equality of opportunity, reaching wider audience groups and promoting accessibility to our rehearsals, events and productions whether onstage, backstage or offstage.  For example, working closely with local venues to ensure accessibility where possible.

The plan will be led by an Inclusion, Equality and Diversity Lead from Colchester Operatic Society Executive Committee and a team of appointed Equality & Inclusion Champions from all sub-committees and within specific areas of our Society and supported by advocates from both Colchester Operatic Society and CO2. Our Inclusion, Equality and Diversity Strategy sets out our long term aims and an action plan to support delivery over the next five years.

As a start to this plan we have created and published a NEW Inclusion, Equality and Diversity policy for our members and updated our complaints policy and procedures, which can both be found on our policies page.

“I am proud to be driving the Society on this journey of positive change.  I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this new commitment and who have pledged to help move our Society forwards with regard to Inclusion, Equality and Diversity over the coming years.” Katie Cutmore, Chair of Colchester Operatic Society

In response to recent events in America, the growing movement #BlackLivesMatter has started important discussions about BAME representation and involvement in theatre, including amateur theatre. As an amateur society with a history spanning 95 years in Colchester, run by a committee of volunteers who, whilst passionate about amateur theatre, are and have historically been mostly white, we have made mistakes. These mistakes have not gone unnoticed and important discussions about them continue to happen.  We have learnt from them and choose to continue to learn from them and move forwards. As current chair I am committed to ensuring our society changes with the times and for the better. The society is run by, and for, its members and needs those members to proactively support change.  To make meaningful change happen we need people with a drive for change to get more involved.  Not just in discussions but in practice, putting the work in, so individuals are not doing jobs and trying to effect change alone.  We welcome new members and new committee members.  If at any time you want to get involved, support and/or become part of the society please contact us.  Our society aims to be inclusive but whilst our members are all unique individuals from a variety of backgrounds, we could always, and want to, do more to ensure our membership is more diverse, in particular more ethnically diverse, and we will continue working towards a better, more inclusive COS.

Katie Cutmore, Chair of Colchester Operatic Society.

Dear Members,

We hope you are all keeping well and staying safe at home as much as possible.  As with the rest of the country, Colchester Operatic Society has had to adapt its usual way of working to align with the current National crisis.

The CO2 workshop for Fame was held just before the Government advised for all clubs and groups to stop meeting.  This was quickly followed by the announcement that Schools were to close, so we instantly postponed all rehearsals and the auditions for Fame.  As things continue to move quickly, the Executive Committee have had to make the difficult decision to postpone all our planned productions for the next year. This includes Fame (CO2) and Shrek (COS).

As we cannot be sure when this crisis will pass and for the security of the Society we have made the decision not to put down any further deposits for services for any productions that may not be able to go ahead.  At this point in time we cannot give any exact dates for when these postponed productions will be able to go ahead but we will be aiming for Fame in September 2021 and Shrek in Jan/Feb 2022. We understand how disappointing this decision is, but it is the right decision to make to safeguard our society financially, and to safeguard our members’ health during this pandemic.

This will be the first gap in productions since wartime in the Society’s history, highlighting just how extraordinary this situation is.

Once the crisis has passed, we will of course look to organising some workshops, as well as potentially organising a smaller scale production, depending on the timing and when it is safe to do so.

We will be keeping in touch with our members regularly through email, social media and this website.

Information and Support

You can find all the current Government advice regarding the coronavirus and forms of support they are currently offering here: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your continued participation and support of Colchester Operatic Society.

Katie Cutmore, Chair of Colchester Operatic Society and Colchester Operatic Society Executive Committee