Speaking on Black Outdoor Art at People Like Us

People-Like-Us-Greg-Bunbury-Black-Outdoor-Art

Last month, I had the amazing opportunity to be one of the speakers at a People Like Us event.

People Like Us is a movement promoting, showcasing and celebrating diversity in the media, marketing and comms industries. Snap Inc. (Snapchat) sponsored the event this year, hosting at their London offices in Soho.

In the audience was a raft of media organisations and agencies. Including People Like Us partners PrettyGreen, Working Wonder Consultancy Ltd, The Romans, and Censuswide to name a few.

Founded by brothers Darain Faraz and Sheeraz Gulsher, People Like Us works to make the marketing and communications industries more inclusive.

Diversity and representation in the above industries, has long been an issue. Black or minority ethnic group employees make up less than 7% of thoseemployed by many Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs). For the design, advertising, and marketing industries, this figure is the same.

Such data highlights the need for spaces where marginalised professionals can support each other, cultivate connections, and share our perspectives.

This year, we were invited to present a campaign, or piece of work that we were proud to have contributed to. The only constraint was that we each had three minutes to speak. 

I spoke about our Black Outdoor Art project. How it began, the ethos of empathy and connection that continues to drive it, and the impact we’ve managed to create.

It’s work that I will be forever proud of. In addition to being an example of innovative advocacy, it brought so many of us together. 

My thanks to Darain and Sheeraz for inviting me to participate, and for their heroic and visionary efforts.

Thanks to my fellow speakers. To share the stage with them was an honour:

Arun Lloyd, Valerie Oladeinde, Josh Akapo, Serhat Ekinci, Sunim A., Franchesca Allen, Veronica Adenuga, Simran Samra, and .

And thanks to Balwinder Bhatla (AKA Mr Whisper) for the event photos (© Balwinder Bhatla/Mr Whisper Studios).

Watch the full talk below:

If you’d like to attend the next event, or for more information on People Like Us, please visit www.plu.org.uk.

– GB

#BlackOutdoorArt

*SOURCE: – Are the Creative Industries meritocratic? An analysis of the 2014 British Labour Force Survey

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