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01/08/2022
A white woman with glitter on her face, dressed in 70s clothes strikes a pose in front of a huge discoball.

Spotlight on Claire Hodgson

We are fortunate, here at Diverse City, to have not one, but two Artistic Directors: Claire Hodgson, and Jamie Beddard. On paper, their role is to lead the company’s…
25/07/2022
A young, white man with midlength dark hair, and a beard.

Humane Employment: A Conversation with Jonny Leitch

At Diverse City, we believe wholeheartedly in Humane Employment. By that, we mean that work should not be something you have to endure. We want everyone we work with…
21/06/2022
Camp Bestival logo: a yellow background packed with bright cartoon images - hot air balloon, rocket, flowers and hearts

We’re Going to Bestival 2022!

We are very excited to be heading to Camp Bestival in Dorest this year. Our very own Claire Hodgson is leading the charge as we help Bestival try to…
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17/06/2022
A middle-aged white woman waving a rainbow-coloured scarf above her head on a dark stage. Behind her, a black middle aged woman and a white middle aged woman, a young black woman, and a young white woman BSL interpreting. They all celebrate, hands up in the air.

Mid Life: The Skin We’re In celebrating Pride 2022 with WOFFF

We’re so pleased to be celebrating Pride 2022 not just in our hearts, but by contributing to this year’s Women Over 50 Film Festival (WOFFF) Pride Shorts at Riverside…
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14/06/2022
A group of women in bathing suits hug and leap at the water's edge. They are on a Swanage beach on a bright sunny day.

SW!M

Diverse City, in collaboration with The Mowlem Theatre in Swanage, were proud to present SW!M, a live event that took place on Midsummer’s Day. Inspired by the open conversations…
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06/12/2021
National Lottery Community Fund Logo: crossed fingers and the phrase 'community fund' in pink.

National Lottery supports Connecting Communities through Diverse Leadership

Diverse City is happy to say that last month The National Lottery agreed a £197,397 grant for our 3 year, national Connecting Communities programme: “We are delighted to build…
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24/11/2021

Culture Recovery Fund Announcement

We are delighted to announce that we will be benefitting from the third round of the Culture Recovery Fund. We will receive £69,940 on behalf of Extraordinary Bodies. This…
08/09/2021
Black background. A photo of a woman and a man swinging in the air like a pendulum, looking powerful and graceful. They share a wheelchair which is held up in the air by black circus straps. She has frizzy brown hair, muscular arms and wears a grey tank top She is kneeling on his thighs and one of her arms holds the straps above her head while the other points down towards the floor. He has a neatly trimmed brown beard, muscular arms and wears a black tank top. He holds the straps to the sides of his chest with both hands. The image captures them at the highest point of the swing, to our right, bringing the man to an upside- down position with the woman above him. Their bodies are doing something hard, but their strength makes it look effortless. One word written in white, thick, brush-style letters above the photo: 'Human'.

The View From Here – a return to live performance

Written by Claire Hodgson Co-Artistic Director of Diverse City and Extraordinary Bodies  We are about to premiere a new circus show called Human and I have never felt so human. This past…
13/07/2021
"#WeShallNotBeRemoved" written in bold capital letters on a purple background.

Freedom day: freedom or folly?

The planned re-opening on July 19th, or ‘Freedom Day’, shows a blatant disregard for the efforts made by so many to ensure an inclusive recovery. The government’s plan to…
07/07/2021
Four women standing in line. On the left, a black woman with a Pride rainbow flag on her shoulder smiles, she is looking at the two in the middle who are hugging. One of them wears a black Diverse City t-shirt and has grey curly hair and the other wears a pink one piece and has black skin. The fourth woman on the right looks in front of her with a proud and determined smile.

Mid Life Meets the Next Generation

The team who brought you Mid Life and Mid Life: The Skin We’re In are back again to complete a triptych of explorations into the female experience.   We…
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15/06/2021

Women Leaders South West: Meet Vandna

Women make up around 70% of arts audiences and 70% of the arts workforce, but only about 30% of arts leadership (Elizabeth Freestone and The Guardian). This sort of…
01/06/2021
Close up photo of a puppet being held by performers. It shows a young woman with blonde hair, an orange top and sea shells and blue and yellow fish scales on her face.

Global Day of Parents: how we support parents and carers in our workforce

Today is Global Day of Parents. Over the past year, reduced childcare has made it deeply challenging to be a working parent. Supporting those who care for children and…
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06/05/2021
Harry, Berni and Jess, three of Diverse City's Unexpected Leaders on a teal background.

Unexpected Leaders – building a new, fairer world

What is the Unexpected Leaders programme? We think that by transforming leadership and shifting power, we can change the arts. There are rafts of passionate, well intentioned, white, straight,…
04/05/2021

Diverse City and PiPA – how we’ve committed to supporting parents and carers in our workforce.

At the end of 2020, we were delighted to formalise our ongoing friendship and professional relationship with PiPA (Parents and Carers in Performing Arts) by becoming a Charter Partner….
04/05/2021

Amplifying Unexpected Leaders’ voices

This year, we have been amplifying Unexpected Leaders’ voices through Connecting Communities, a proactive and optimistic response to the isolation of the past year. We’ve been working with community…
30/04/2021
Karen Spicer, a petite woman with curly grey hair, holds two ripe tomatoes up in front of her chest, as she stands in her allotment.

Mid Life: The Skin We’re In

Following the enormous success of Mid Life as Diverse City entered 2020, we were already thinking of ways that we could continue exploring that world. When 2020 turned everything…
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30/04/2021
A middle-aged white woman raising her hand above her head on a dark stage, a rainbow-coloured satchel to her side. Behind her, a black middle aged woman and a white middle aged woman and a young black woman. They all hold their hands up in the air.

Mid Life

Hold tight. There’s a change coming. Claire was the south east of England disco dancing champion in 1982. Surely, she can’t be menopausal? Jacqui’s busy looking after the grandkids…
05/04/2021

Culture Recovery Fund Round 2

Last week, Diverse City received £69,940 from the second round of the government’s Culture Recovery Fund. We are among more than 2,700 recipients to benefit from the latest awards from…
08/03/2021

International Women’s Day: a look at Women Leaders South West

For International Women’s Day, we look at how leadership roles are still being kept away from women and how Women Leaders South West aims to claim these back. Please…
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29/01/2021
Artistic Co-Directors Claire and Billy watch young artists as they perform.

Introducing: Connecting Communities

This year has been particularly tough on those reliant on face to face community arts services. Extraordinary Bodies’ Connecting Communities is filling the gaps that Covid-19 has exposed. The…

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