The Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, CIISA, is today launching âThe CIISA Standardsâ (âthe Standardsâ), which set out the minimum standards of behaviour expected across the UKâs creative industries to enable safe and inclusive working environments. This includes preventing and tackling all forms of bullying and harassment, including behaviour of a discriminatory nature.
The CIISA Standards were developed in collaboration with individuals and organisations across the creative industries, including Theatre and Dance NI. Providing a framework for a single, unified vision of professional standards of behaviour within the creative industries, they outline what a safe and inclusive working environment, that treats people with dignity, looks like, and are scalable to any size of organisation, production or project. There are four Standards in total which are summarised here:
- Safe Working Environments: Everyone working in the creative industries must be able to do so in a professional environment, free from exposure to psychological, sexual and physical harm.
- Inclusive Working Environments: All those working in the creative industries have the right to be treated fairly and without prejudice at all stages of their career. Active steps must therefore be put in place to prevent discrimination and exclusion, ensuring that roles and the working environment are genuinely accessible to all.
- Open and Accountable Reporting Mechanisms: Everyone should feel confident that any concerns they raise will be taken seriously and resolved at the earliest opportunity. They should know how to raise a concern, and be able to do this without fear of being victimised, silenced or experiencing adverse outcomes for their career.
- A Responsive Learning Culture that enable those working in the creative industries to see concerns raised as an opportunity not just to address harmful behaviour, but also to capture learning and to act on it.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, Chair, CIISA says;
âWe are delighted to be launching our Standards today, which have been crafted with great care and consideration through detailed and extensive collaboration with key bodies in the film, television, theatre and music sectors, including our wonderfully supportive Standards Advisory Committee.
âDespite much work in this area, we know that bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment and behaviour of a discriminatory nature, remains prevalent in the creative industries. Power imbalances, informal working practices and environments, and job insecurity are all contributing factors. The particular impact on freelance and self-employed members of our creative industries workforce is especially acute so the need for CIISA is ever deeply felt.
âSo these Standards represent a landmark moment, to provide consistency and coherence to what can be a challenging environment to navigate in terms of what constitutes harmful behaviour within the creative industries and how this can be prevented and dealt with.â
Niyi Akeju, CIISAâs Head of Standards Development says;
âWe hope these industry-endorsed Standards will be a helpful reference for anyone who experiences or receives reports of harmful behaviour. Our next step for the Standards will be to provide tailored, practical guidance and illustrative examples to support the application of the Standards in real-life situations.
âWeâre so grateful to everyone who contributed to the creation of these Standards, from the Standards Advisory Committee to the many other organisations and individuals who engaged with us from the initial draft through to the consultation. We will continue to work with industry to ensure that the Standards remain relevant and effective.â
Jen Smith, CIISA CEOÂ says;
âCIISAâs work is a collective endeavour with leading organisations across the creative sectors coming together to support the inception of a much-needed independent body that will give impartial advice and support to those facing bullying, harassment and discriminatory behaviours across all of the creative sectors, starting with in film, TV, music and theatre. Setting out clear and very practical Standards for our sector to socialise and embed is an important first step as we move towards providing CIISAâs full range of services such as mediation, dispute resolution and safely and confidentially being able to report behaviours of concern.â
CIISA will capture insights from use of the Standards to benchmark how the creative industries are embedding safe and inclusive working environments against these expectations and will identify and produce tailored, practical guidance based on them. This guidance will outline advice, support and good practice on how individuals, organisations, productions and projects can meet the expectations set by the Standards in practice, in a way that is tailored to the size and nature of their work.
Once CIISA is fully operational, creative industries workforce will be able to report concerns to CIISA related to potential breaches of the Standards and, where appropriate, CIISA will support these individuals, organisations, productions or projects with appropriate advice and signposting to resources that will help them to ensure that their concerns are addressed. In due course, CIISA will look to introduce services aimed at resolving concerns where possible.
From the reports received, CIISA will begin to establish insights into the range of experiences across the creative industries. CIISA will then look at developing training and accreditation products to support professional development for individuals in the creative industries workforce in areas relevant to the Standards.