Hello! I'm a new member - mostly a novelist and playwright - but I also run radio production company and we have a competition going in co-operation with the BBC. Which is awesome! I understand I'm not supposed to go anywhere near advertising projects, so I shan't say anything about who we are or what it is, but I have a problem I'm hoping you can help with. As part of the structure of our competition, which gives all long-listed entries feedback, short-listed entries a performance and the winner the full-cast-audio treatment, I put in special rules ensuring that at least some entrants who identified as BAME (Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority - British term of art) and LGBTQ+ would make it to the longlist/feedback phase (essentially, if the longlist didn't contain any the longlist would be expanded to include some, so nobody lost out and some people from groups that often feel marginalised get a proper shot and hearing.) Now since the BBC got involved we've had a deluge of entries, which is exciting and good. But not a single one has identified as non-white. We've had a couple of LGBTQ+ entries (and I'd still be keen to find more LGBTQ+ groups who might be interested in getting involved), but I'm very worried that we simply aren't getting out to ethnic minorities (of whatever sort or however you want to define it.) Can anyone recommend any BAME writing groups, influencers, or whomever, who would be prepared to help promote our competition so that we can try and diversify our writing room? Obviously I have nothing against white writers (I am a write writer) but I'm really tired of being told we simply can't find any non-white playwrights because I know, know, know that doesn't make any sense. Can anyone point me in the right direction before I start feeling like a total idiot? Thanks for your time - and I hope this hasn't come across as promotion, I really am trying to solve what appears to be a very typical white privilege problem :-(
