The International Equality and Diversity Conference, organised by the British Council Diversity Unit, in partnership with ORC Worldwide, on Tuesday 26th February was hailed as a huge success by all involved. The event, which was held at Spring Gardens, was attended by around 90 people including 30 British Council colleagues representing 8 of the 12 regions.
For more information on the event please read the conference agenda, the speaker biographies and view some images from the day.
British Council Bulgaria Media and Diversity Project
British Council Bulgaria recently launched a large scale public campaign as part of their Media and Diversity project, consisting of 5 short cartoon clips (30 seconds each) which aim to challenge public attitudes towards a range of diversity issues. The clips, which can be viewed at www.diversity.britishcouncil.bg, deal with disability, HIV/AIDS, ethnic minorities, sexual orientation and refugees.
The shorts have been carefully designed with the support of, and in consultation with, various partners and relevant NGOs. The creative force behind the animation and overall design comes from local artists - Studio Enthusiasm and Finfilm. The clips will be broadcast on 8 TV channels country-wide, on the capital’s underground, at airports, train stations, on buses, and within selected stores. Five free cards (also available electronically) will be distributed in 10 cities and an online banner campaign will also be launched.
Fun images combined with controversial plots aim to stimulate debate among a variety of groups. They are all fresh and imaginative, but also well linked into a coherent campaign that shares the overall slogan “We are people first, then different”.
The Media and Diversity project aims to enhance the role of the media in helping different communities to be inclusive, successful and tolerant, and to help journalists more fully understand the importance of accuracy and sensitivity in their approach to reporting issues relating to community integration and cohesion.
The clips, combined with the handbook for journalists written by a leading Bulgarian social reporter and featuring vocabulary of banned words and thesaurus of acceptable synonyms, were released on Monday 25th February.
For more information on the project please contact Maria Stanisheva [ Maria.Stanisheva@britishcouncil.org]. The British Council owns the copyright and would be interested in expanding the project and screening the clips outside of Bulgaria.
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