Akin is pleased to announce that in collaboration with our anti-oppressive practice and meaningful inclusion consultant, Rania El Mugammar, and with generous input from our members through many conversations and through Akin's demographics and equity survey, Akin has revisited our Code of Conduct in order to create a robust, actionable and clear policy that centres the most marginalized members of our community.

Click here to read the Code of Conduct.

As a part of the new Code of Conduct we are also introducing new protocol for conflict resolution as well as a method for reporting conflicts and concerns.

We have also created a list of resources for Akin members and members of the public. This list was developed with Rania's help as well as with suggestions from the Akin community and other consultants. We hope to keep expanding this list, so please send us a message if you have a suggestion for a resource we can include.

All of these changes are a part of our ongoing effort to work towards building safer, more inclusive spaces for all of our community members. We conducted a demographics and equity survey, using Ontario Human Rights Code consistent grounds, to better understand the makeup up of our spaces, as well as the needs and experiences of our diverse community. Through this survey, and our ongoing work, we were able to identify gaps in our services and learnings, and to reaffirm our commitment to continuing the work of equity through an anti-oppressive lens.

Akin staff continue to cultivate new skills in order to support our efforts towards building better communities. To date we have received training on the following topics: Anti-Oppression for Artists and Cultural Producers, Queer and Trans Inclusion, Mental Health First Aid, Emergency First Aid and CPR, Conflict Resolution and Empathetic Communication. We will continue this training and skill development so that we may critically reflect on our work interpersonally and institutionally.

We understand that this work is very important, and that we will inevitably make mistakes, as a result, we are committed to a process of accountability and transparency. We welcome your feedback and reflections, please visit www.akincollective.com/contact to leave comments, questions, suggestions or feedback.

All of the information included in this email can be accessed on our website under the heading ‘Equity and Inclusion’.

This is the beginning of an ongoing process and these documents and resources, like all policies governing Akin’s spaces and events, are open to revisions and updates to adapt to the needs of our community and organization. The code of conduct as well as all of the policies governing Akin spaces will continue to evolve and change to adapt to the needs of our community and organization over time. We look forward to continuing this work to make Akin a safer and more inclusive space!

Many thanks to our members, consultants and everyone involved in this process so far,
Akin. Akin also appreciates the support of the Ontario Arts Council's Compass Grant Program in the development of these policies.