Funded by leading event industry professionals,  The REACh Events Scholarship has been established to increase diversity in the Events, MICE & Hospitality sectors.

Robert Kenward

Founder

 “Only 3.5%* of our industry is from a Black or minority ethnic background, whilst 6%* is from an Asian background, and although I have been a recruiter and eventprof for over 21 years, I can count on two hands the number of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic event people I have worked with and on one hand at a senior level.

The initiative was created because I wanted to take action and actually achieve something that would have a lasting and tangible impact on our industry. The pandemic has already meant we have lost many event professionals who now see our industry as just too risky, so we need to act now to ensure that working in events is an attractive and accessible proposition for all young people."

Gabrielle Austen Browne

Founder

“It’s no secret I’m incredibly passionate about diversity and inclusion in events. My mission when I founded Diversity Ally was to help the industry become more diverse, inclusive, and accessible and to change the industry for the better, for the next generation of event professionals, leaving a legacy of equality for all.  The REACH scholarship initiative will help make the events industry more accessible to Black, Asian, and minority ethnic talent who might not normally have access to enter our sector, directly addressing the issue of the event industry talent pipeline. I’m so excited and very proud to be part of this initiative.”

Dale Parmenter

CEO of DRPG

“Our people have always been the core of our business model and we pride ourselves on our family culture at DRPG . However, it didn’t take statistics to see the issue in front of us, in our teams, our suppliers and venues across the industry landscape. The lack of ethnic minority representation is obvious, and we need to work together to make a noticeable difference. We are now invested in the REACH programme as part of our diversity and inclusion efforts which will be a fantastic driver for this industry.”

Michael Gietzen

Managing director, Identity

“Not only is the programme a fantastic opportunity for us to ‘give back’ and begin the journey towards evening the playing field, it also gives us the ability to connect with and encourage future talent from a diverse range of backgrounds.   At Identity, we believe that to truly deliver meaningful events with impact, we need to work towards our workforce composition which reflects our client base.  Our commitment to REACH will not be purely financial; we also intend to give students on the programme the opportunity to work with Identity during and beyond their degree course. We are excited about the relationships we’ll build and the futures we can kick off.”