We firmly stand against racism and support the Black Lives Matter movement.

At Clearleft we hold a unique position in our industry where we can — and should — make it more diverse through the events we run, the speakers we host and the people we hire.

In order to address the lack of diversity in this line-up, we’ve opened up a number of new speaking slots. Some of these will feature new talks, some will be talks we already had lined up but were yet to announce, and some will be from our back catalogue. All will be from BAME speakers we have worked with over the years and admire.

We've already planned for a donation initiative to take place during SofaConf. In addition to attendees who have already supported Covid-19 related charitable causes when purchasing tickets, we intend to provide the opportunity for everyone to make a voluntary donation during the event. We will also be donating to Mentor 300 Black Businesses, a wonderful organisation dedicated to mentoring Black Businesses and providing opportunities to build bridges, invest in communities and develop new relationships.

Here is link to find out more or make a donation.

In February we launched our diversity & inclusion scholarship programme for our UX London event. The event had to be postponed due to COVID-19, however, everyone who applied was offered a complimentary ticket to SofaConf.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been firming up our diversity and inclusion commitments. We will consult with BAME diversity and inclusion specialists to support us in addressing areas where we believe we can have an impact - recruitment, tackling unconscious bias and at our events. This includes committing to a target of 25% BAME speaker representation at all new events.

We’re sure there are more things we can be doing, so we’re determined to learn, to improve, and to make the design industry a more diverse and inclusive one. If you have any thoughts or questions please email Andy.

Andy, Richard and the Clearleft team