Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

The Royal Choral Society (RCS) aims to inspire and enrich the lives of every generation of music lover, bringing world-class choral music to the widest possible audience.

The RCS is a sociable and welcoming community, with a common love of singing great choral works in some of the world's finest venues. Together, we continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages and celebrates the diverse experiences and perspectives of our members.

We recognise the importance of promoting diversity in the choir’s membership and in the audiences that we reach*. We recognise that in many of these areas we could do more or better. This includes increasing the diversity in our membership, removing barriers to access, increasing the diversity of those we perform with, those we perform to, and those
whose works we perform.

To do this, with support from our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group, we aim to:

• Continue to develop the choir as a welcoming and inclusive family of musicians.
• Widen and diversify the audiences that we perform to, including by keeping ticket prices low where possible, and performing in a variety of venues.
• Preserve the quality of music making and the things that make the choir a unique and special place, so that as wide a range of people as possible can experience high-quality choral music. Members are required to pass an audition and to be able to attend in-person rehearsals.
• Identify and, where possible, remove barriers to access based on protected characteristics for members and audiences.

*As determined by the Equality Act 2010