Tonic Changemakers

A membership programme for people doing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work in the arts and cultural sector

Tonic Changemakers is a community of likeminded people who are committed to driving EDI-related change in the arts and cultural sector. It is also a first of its kind hub of training, support and professional development opportunities designed specifically for EDI changemakers.

As a member of Tonic Changemakers you receive:

• Access to a rolling programme of training, workshops and events, delivered online and in person throughout the year
• A 10% discount on Tonic training and consultancy for your organisation*
• Connection to a network of likeminded colleagues in arts and cultural
organisations. Hear how they are approaching their EDI work and share your insights and achievements
• Regular trouble-shooting sessions. Got a challenge? Come and work it through with other Changemakers and a member of the Tonic team
• Access to specially designed templates, resources and information to support you in your EDI work
• A Tonic Changemakers logo for your organisation’s website and an email signature graphic for you, so you can proudly tell the world you’re a Changemaker
• Exclusive invitations to other Tonic events & opportunities throughout the year

*Excludes Participate student sessions. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount.

Further details, including membership fees, can be found below.

DOWNLOAD FURTHER DETAILS

We are currently accepting sign ups for Tonic Changemakers.

If you’d like to have a conversation about whether Tonic Changemakers is right for you, or would like your employer to have the chance to find out more, contact Charlotte de Paeztron, charlotte@tonictheatre.co.uk to arrange a time for an informal chat with one of our team.

Tonic Changemakers session. Photo by Tom Lovatt

“I absolutely love it! Definitely the highlight in my calendar each time the opportunity comes round for us all to gather as a group.”
Aynsley cowan-young, newcastle theatre royal

“The sessions have helped me keep EDI work at the centre of my focus and carve out time and space to think deeply about it. Halfway through the year, my confidence in taking EDI work forward has increased enormously.”
victoria walker, paul mellon centre for studies in british art

Upcoming Events

Managing Change

Monday 1 December 2025
In-person Workshop
In this session, we’ll examine principles underpinning processes of change and explore strategies for effectively managing it. There will be opportunities to apply tools and techniques from the world of Organisational Change and consider how change management methodologies developed in business can be applied to the arts and to your own workplace.

A Changemaker’s Toolkit

Thursday 29 January 2026
In-person Workshop
Join this hands-on workshop to gain practical tools for driving change. You’ll identify your unique strengths, develop realistic strategies, and explore effective change models. Plus, you’ll learn ways to look after your well-being while making an impact. This is a chance to connect with other changemakers and build your toolkit for sustainable changemaking

NEW for 2026: Creating Equality Action Plans

Thursday 5 February 2026 (Part 1) | Wednesday 25 March 2026 (Part 2) | Thursday 7 May 2026 (Part 3) |
Online Project
Creating an equality action plan that meets funder requirements and works for you and what your organisation wants to achieve takes time. Over three online sessions, we will take a deep dive into laying the foundations for this work, look at the different ingredients you need to build a successful plan and support you to give your action plan the best chance for success.

NEW for 2026: Building High-Performing EDI Working Groups

Thursday 12 March 2026
In-person Workshop
An EDI Working Group can be a great tool for engaging your colleagues in your EDI work, sharing the load, and ensuring a range of voices feed into your plans. However, if not handled effectively, there is also a risk they can generate more, not less, work for you, can suffer from a lack of direction, and lead to internal dissatisfaction. Tonic has supported many arts organisations to establish and maintain high-performing EDI Working Groups over the years, and we’ll be passing on our practical guidance about what works while flagging common pitfalls to avoid.

NEW for 2026: A Menopause-Confident Approach to EDI

Wednesday 22 April 2026
In-person Workshop
At Tonic we’ve noticed how frequently menopause gets missed out of arts organisations’ thinking about EDI, in spite of it being something that impacts around half the population. In this session we’ll take a deep dive into the topic, examining what it is, how it can impact people in the workplace and will look at practical ways organisations can embed menopause confidence and awareness into their wider EDI approach.

Facilitating Sensitive Conversations

Thursday 4 June 2026
In-person Workshop
Facilitating conversations around EDI can be challenging - the subject matter of the discussion can be very personal, emotions can run high and, if not handled adeptly, there is the risk of pain being caused and division growing. When discussing EDI in relation to creative products and creative processes, this can be even more complex. This practical session provides a range of tools and techniques so that Changemakers can facilitate group meetings with confidence and agility and build spaces that feel productive, energised, bold but mindful. 

NEW for 2026: Supporting the Employee Journey

Monday 6 July 2026
In-person Workshop
From seeing a job advertised, through to applying, interviewing, coming on board and developing in a role, what’s the journey that an employee takes through your organisation? This Changemakers session on recruitment will adapt models typically used to capture the ‘Customer Journey’, focusing on mapping the ‘Employee Journey’, examining the experience that employees – or potential employees – may have of your organisation and, crucially, where certain people are likely to either progress or fall away. The session is designed to complement your existing thinking on inclusive practice within recruitment and support you to attract, retain, and progress a broad range of talent.

Building and Delivering an EDI Strategy

Thursday 3 September 2026
In-person Workshop
Delivering a coherent EDI strategy as an individual within an organisation can feel overwhelming. In this session we will zoom out to take a look at the big picture. We’ll explore how your EDI work can align with your organisation’s broader goals, what you need to be aware of in relation to timing and priorities, and how you can communicate your plans clearly and compellingly.

Growing Your Confidence with Data

Thursday 24 September 2026 (Part 1) | Wednesday 11 November 2026 (Part 2) | Tuesday 8 December 2026 (Part 3) |
Online Project
Many of us will be required to capture and present data in relation to EDI and we are all likely to want to measure and demonstrate the impact of the EDI work we are doing. But gathering data and then analysing it to understand how we’re doing can be a daunting task. Where do we begin when it seems there’s so much that could be measured? How do we know whether we’re doing it right? What’s the best way to utilise data once we’ve captured it? Across three online sessions, we’ll be taking you through a series of straightforward frameworks you can adopt, approaches you can take, and tools you can use.

NEW for 2026: Creating an EDI “User Manual”

Thursday 8 October 2026
In-person Workshop
At Tonic we’ve seen individuals do amazing work around EDI. But we’ve also seen that work dwindle and die as soon as they leave their organisation because the methodology for achieving it sat with them, rather than being baked into the processes of the wider organisation. In this session, we’ll explore how you can articulate and record the actions you’re taking around EDI so that, if necessary, it can carry on without you. We’ll create space for you to consider what an EDI ‘User Manual’ could look like for your organisation and reflect on how you can ensure your efforts have longevity and transferability.

NEW for 2026: Constructive and Collaborative Communication at Work

Wednesday 2 December 2026
In-person Workshop
In every workplace there will be moments of friction. How these moments are managed plays a key role in an inclusive environment. Everybody benefits from working in an environment where problems and disagreements are dealt with collaboratively and respectfully. Building on the popular model of Transactional Analysis, this session will help you identify destructive patterns of communication, and give you easy to use tools to build constructive and collaborative communication at work.

Online Sessions

Alternate months
Online Sessions
Online group collaboration sessions
Spaces to share ideas, work through challenges you’re experiencing and hear what’s working in other organisations. Bites sessions
a hit of inspiration, fresh thinking or provocation. We’ll bring a different topic to each session, then give you the chance to digest with others from the Changemakers community.