It’s a big question and one we’ve been thinking about for a long time.
Intersectional feminism can mean different things, but for us it’s about collective leadership; it’s about power; it’s about kindness; it’s about learning; it’s about collaboration; it’s about being brave; it’s about being equitable and accessible; it’s about always questioning who isn’t at the table. All of this makes our work more meaningful and the cities we work in, better to live in. And we’re lucky to be based in Liverpool, Peterborough and Southend, three cities with a history of community-led action to learn from.
We could go on and on, and when we brought this question back to a staff meeting, our discussions on this took over the agenda. As we said, it’s big. We’ve started to unravel some of the conversations and provocations to begin to think about how we can turn our post-it note ideas into an intersectional feminist framework for Metal. Off the back of International Women’s Day we thought we’d share some of where we’re at so far…
1. Always question who isn’t at the table
We want to include as many voices as we can in the conversations we have so the conversations are better. It’s important that we don’t default to our own experiences or assume they’re representative of all. We want to amplify quiet, marginalised and diverse voices at our table, challenge binaries and boundaries, and make sure all voices are heard. Make the table beautiful, and the food delicious. Move away from the table sometimes. We’ve been thinking about who’s on our panels, from recruitment to creative decision making and more.
2. Power
We’re interested in how more people can feel powerful where they live. We are working to involve different voices and moments of collective leadership through citizen-led decision making started in 2025, inviting our communities to select what we programme and commission; collaborating with partners across our cities; our new Structural Change Artist; joining the Citizens in Power Network, and more.
3. Policies & Frameworks
We love policies. We need them and frameworks to support our work and make sure we’re all on the same page. What did we say we were going to do and are we doing it? If not, why not? We need to embed social frameworks, including accessibility, LGBTQIA+ and ethnicity, in our work and throughout the organisation.
We’re working on developing new policies and frameworks, but so far, we’ve updated our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Policy and EDI Action Plan, we’ve introduced an Ethical Fundraising Policy, an Access Policy, an Equitable Recruitment Policy and have updated our Fair Pay Policy and policies around Parental Care. We launched an Artists for Future Policy programme working with artist José García Oliva to reimagine a Metal Welcome.
4. Kindness
We want to embed positive working practices for our team, our Board, our artists, our communities and everyone else who comes into contact with Metal. We try to listen to, care for and uplift those we support, entering every interaction with understanding and curiosity. We have a cross-site buddy system for regular check-ins between staff, and we’re continuing to work a 4-day week so rest doesn’t feel so radical. Our partnership with Studio 459 offers rest for socially engaged artists and we’ve begun conversations with valued partners about the expectations placed on socially engaged artists.
This is all a work in progress, but we hope you enjoyed hearing about some of the work that can be a little hidden. We’d love to learn from other organisations also working towards being intersectional feminist organisations.
If this sounds like you or you’d like to have a discussion, please get in touch by emailing our Executive Director, Bobbi bobbi@metalculture.com, or our Director, Susie susie@metalculture.com
