“We’re getting to a place where we’re thinking across the whole experience: How do we welcome people in? And there’s something really joyful about that. So it’s not just the spreadsheet of it being a good business decision. It is the experience of the festival being enriched.”

– Anita Gaffney, Executive Director, The Stratford Festival

Here at DiversiPro, we love hearing our clients’ success stories with diversity, equity and inclusion. DiversiPro has been a ‘trusted advisor’ to the world-famous Stratford Festival for more than a decade. In this interview, Hamlin Grange, talks with Stratford’s Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino and Executive Director Anita Gaffney for whom diversity, equity and inclusion has had a huge impact on what’s on the stage and behind the curtains. – and why there’s a sense of joy as they look ahead to a new season.  

The journey to making DEI a core value: The Stratford Festival made diversity, equity, and inclusion a core value throughout the organization. But how has that worked? What are the successes, challenges, and lessons learned? And how does the current social and political environment affect the Festival’s efforts?  Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino and Executive Director Anita Gaffney explain. 

Click here to find out how you can use the IDEA Organizational Assessment to measure the diversity and climate within your organization, as well as how to use the IDEA Dashboard to identify where improvements can be made.

Click here for information on the 2025 Stratford Festival plays: https://www.stratfordfestival.ca/WhatsOn/ThePlays