Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

India is made of several Indias. By this, we mean that multiplicity is at the core of Indian identity, and we are multilingual, multicultural, and multiethnic. Festivals From India makes Indian cultural festivals accessible to those in the country and outside, and represents the diversity that modern India holds while supporting inclusivity, gender equality, women’s empowerment, and sustainability. We emphasise equal opportunity, accessibility, and fair treatment to all, as they are at the core of Festivals From India’s principles. 

While we are respectful of religious and socio-cultural practices, our portal is committed to featuring inclusive arts and cultural festivals. Arts and culture are an intrinsic part of our lives and often cannot be separated. However, bound by our limitations and resources, we pledge to stand firmly for secular festivals across all boundaries and definitions.

Festivals From India firmly believes in being responsible towards people and communities. We stand against all forms of discrimination based on identity or subscription to any groups, including but not limited to age, gender, sexual orientation, caste, class, disability, and language.

Equality Diversity & Inclusion 

Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is a practice or policy that recognises that these aspects are vital to not only organisations but also to society in general. At Festivals From India, we believe that implementing an EDI strategy will help us ensure that every person we engage with is treated justly.

Our approach to EDI is thus: We aim to ensure that wherever possible and feasible, we will guarantee that equal opportunities are given to all and that people engaging with us are protected against discrimination. With equal opportunities come gender equality and the empowerment of women – an area of particular interest to Festivals From India, which is also primarily a women-led organisation. As a testament to our commitment, we are signatories to the Pledge for Progress campaign, led by the British High Commission in New Delhi, as a joint commitment by UK’s India partners to promote gender equality and take practical steps to tackle gender challenges. We believe in diversity as a way of respecting and recognising people of different sexual orientations and gender identities and from varied social, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. As an inclusive organisation, we aim to provide access or opportunities to individuals who may be part of marginalised communities and minority groups or excluded on the basis of social, economic, or cultural identities or physical and mental disabilities. 

Implementation of and commitment to EDI practices translate to the safeguarding of interests and opinions of people and thereby encouraging their growth for us at Festivals From India. We are mindful that to take everyone along the path we are traversing, we need to consider our country’s geographical and linguistic diversities. Our curation of and content around festivals will take into account the diverse perspectives, aspirations, and experiences.

Content

At Festivals From India, we pledge to ensure our content will cover and curate diverse – sometimes unexplored – themes, festivals and narratives from metro, non-metro towns and rural areas, across large and small scale set-ups, and experimental and progressive themes. We commit to foregrounding leadership stories in the festivals sector — from non-dominant groups, including women leaders and the marginalised producers from diverse regions, communities, and cultures. In our position as influencers for festival goers, we will ensure that they are treated to a wide variety of diverse content that is respectful, equitable and inclusive.

Project and activities

In all our projects and activities, we pledge to ensure to celebrate people from the margins, women, as well as those recognising themselves as women and non-binary people. Festivals From India commits to foreground the works of the cultural workers across the spectrum of blue and white collar – ranging from those in production, managerial and technical domains and to ensure safe space for all.

Accessibility

On our portal, we will ensure accessibility for all those who visit. Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. More specifically, people can a) perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and b) Contribute to the Web. In accordance with Government Digital Service (GDS) guidelines, the  Festivals From India portal and services will endeavour to meet level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1). The portal will ensure that the website content in its original language is translated and adapted, often word-for-word, into other languages to make it accessible and usable by regional audiences across India. The portal is also designed to be local. Website localisation on the other hand goes beyond the linguistic word-for-word conversion of conventional translation to create an online experience that resonates within specific markets. Localising a website requires five key elements:

• Language and regionalisms: Word choice is customised to accurately and authentically convey the brand voice to local customers. This includes phrases that may only be used in specific states or regions.
• Cultural elements: Communicating the understanding of local date and time formats, units of measure, and holidays and values will make users feel at home.
• Transactional elements: For accuracy and trust, elements such as currency, payment options, addresses and character sets must be relevant to local customers.
• Communication and trust elements: Local phone numbers, addresses, in-language customer support, legal notices and security banners are all key to earning trust from local customers. It also helps equip in-market sales and marketing teams with information needed to serve your customers.
• Navigation and discovery: It’s critical that users can select the language they need, and immediately start interacting with our site in an authentic way.

All of the above is embedded into the portal.

Internal team

We at Festivals From India are committed to being inclusive by welcoming persons of varied backgrounds  operating in the festivals sector and our workplace. We intend to empower our employees, and we nurture and value people across disabilities, gender, religions/beliefs, sexual orientations and socio-economic backgrounds. We understand that trust is a valuable asset to our organisation, and we work towards increasing and enhancing trust and faith within our internal team. We will also ensure a no-bias workplace and review management practices annually with our internal team members. We strive to take into account every view while keeping our communication and process transparent.
At Festivals From India, we release this Equality, Diversity and Inclusion statement that ensures our core values are rightfully communicated, and offer strength and assurance. This statement will be reviewed every year to accommodate necessary changes and feedback.