Coming up on two years since the event, we reached out to Gavin Barrett of Barrett and Welsh about the progress he's made since our Exploring DEI and its Impact on Design event.
DM: It's almost been two years since you spoke at our event on DEI. At that time, you talked about a "POCAM report card." Where is that today? Was it something that you had just begun to work on?
GB: In terms of POCAM there are three report cards really.
The first: What are we (POCAM) doing as an organization? and what we are planning to do.
DM: Is there anything happening or progress made in the DEI space that you are excited about? And on the flip side of that, is there anything you're worried about?
GB: Excited about: A public, transparent report card on the progress made by organizations that signed the Call for Equity. You can find this Call for Equity Progress Tracker on the POCAM website.
The third report card is also where my worries reside: POCAM’s annual Visible and Vocal study reports on the experience of BIPOC professionals in the industry. Our most recent study shows that discrimination against BIPOC professionals in our industry has been rising. You can download the full report here.
DM: Is there anything you would like to promote that you're doing?
GB: My personal project, which I spoke about at DesignMeets, Creativity with a Conscience, is a proper website now and continues to grow as a portal of resources for an anti-racist, pro-inclusion creative practice.
Gavin Barrett
Gavin is the CEO of the award-winning Toronto agency Barrett and Welsh. He’s also a co-founder of People of Colour in Advertising and Marketing (POCAM) and of the Multicultural Marketing Alliance of Canada.