Research Proposal
Working Title: Playing for Change: Using Visual Anthropology and Autoethnography to Co‑Design an EDI Game for Arts & Cultural Organisations
Proposed Research Question
How can visual anthropology and autoethnographic methods be used to design a participatory Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) game that supports more inclusive policy‑making and practice within arts and cultural organisations?
Statement of the Problem
Arts and cultural organisations across the UK continue to grapple with how to meaningfully embed Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in their structures, cultures, and everyday practices. While many institutions have adopted EDI frameworks, charters, and action plans, these often remain abstract, compliance‑driven, or disconnected from lived experience. Staff and freelancers — particularly those with marginalised identities — frequently report that EDI initiatives feel performative, overly bureaucratic, or emotionally burdensome (Bridging the Gap, 2026).
At the same time, there is growing recognition that traditional policy‑making processes can unintentionally reproduce the very inequities they aim to address. Hierarchical decision‑making, inaccessible language, and a lack of participatory mechanisms can limit the agency of those most affected by organisational inequity. This project responds to these tensions by exploring whether play — as a creative, relational, and low‑stakes mode of engagement — can open up new ways of thinking about EDI. Specifically, it investigates whether a co‑designed game, informed by visual anthropology and autoethnography, can help arts and cultural workers surface lived expertise, reflect on organisational cultures, and imagine more equitable futures.








