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The Three Streams Framework Interactive Tool

Use this interactive tool to clarify the difference between EDI+ Inclusive practice, anti-racist practice and decolonisation.

 

 

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Many cultural organisations group these areas under a single “EDI” label. The result is often unclear scope, mixed methods, and weak accountability. This tool helps you identify what kind of change your current work is designed to achieve and what your organisation needs in place to implement it properly.

 

Who it is for

Designed for UK museums, heritage organisations and cultural institutions, including trustees, senior leadership teams, HR, learning, engagement, and interpretation teams.

Take the Space  |  Jenny Williams BEM

The Three Streams Framework

A diagnostic model for understanding the difference between EDI + Inclusive Practice, Anti-Racist Practice, and Decolonisation — so organisations can be clear about what they are delivering, why, and how to hold themselves accountable.

Many organisations group EDI + Inclusive Practice, Anti-Racist Practice, and Decolonisation under a single 'EDI' umbrella. While related, they are distinct disciplines with different origins, objectives, and methodologies. The Three Streams Framework provides the clarity to understand what kind of change each initiative is designed to achieve.

Inclusive Practice — In Detail
Who is excluded from our processes, environments, and opportunities — and why?
What This Stream Addresses
EDI + Inclusive practice goes further than the Equality Act 2010 and its nine protected characteristics. It extends to socio-economic status — recognising that advantage and disadvantage shape who can access, participate in, and benefit from cultural institutions. This is about designing organisations where everyone can belong.
Typical Outputs
Language and communication guidance
Inclusive practice policy and action plans
Accessibility and inclusion audits
Inclusive recruitment and retention frameworks
Governance
Board-level inclusive practice lead with cross-departmental accountability
How You Measure It
Compliance with the Equality Act, access data, workforce and audience demographics, socio-economic reach, feedback from underrepresented groups
In Practice
A museum reviews its front-of-house language, signage, and physical access to ensure disabled visitors, neurodiverse audiences, and people experiencing socio-economic disadvantage can engage fully with its programme. It updates its recruitment processes to remove barriers for candidates without traditional qualifications or sector networks.
Anti-Racist Practice — In Detail
Where does racial inequity persist in our structures — and what are we going to change?
What This Stream Addresses
Anti-racist practice moves beyond individual attitudes and awareness to address how racism operates through organisational systems, policies, and cultures. It requires organisations to identify where racial inequity is produced and sustained — and to make measurable, publicly accountable commitments to structural change.
Typical Outputs
Board and workforce diversity targets
Commissioning and procurement equity frameworks
Ethnicity pay gap analysis and action
Community partnership and co-production models
Governance
Named accountability at senior leadership and trustee level, with published targets and reporting
How You Measure It
Representation data across board, staffing, commissions, pay, and partnerships; published targets with progress reporting
In Practice
A heritage organisation sets specific, published targets for ethnically diverse representation on its board and in senior leadership. It reviews its commissioning pipeline to ensure equitable access for artists and suppliers from underrepresented backgrounds, and publishes annual ethnicity pay gap data with an accompanying action plan.
Decolonisation — In Detail
Whose knowledge and perspective shapes what we present — and whose is missing?
What This Stream Addresses
Decolonisation is about reframing knowledge and interpretation. It confronts the colonial foundations of how institutions were built, what they collected, and whose narratives they centre. This is not simply adding diverse content — it is fundamentally questioning and reshaping the lens through which an organisation presents knowledge.
Typical Outputs
Collection reinterpretation programmes
Provenance research and transparency
Community co-curation and co-production models
Heritage and institutional acknowledgement frameworks
Governance
Advisory structures and decision-making roles for communities of origin and historically marginalised voices
How You Measure It
Narrative diversity in interpretation and programming, provenance transparency, proportion of decision-making held by communities of origin, public acknowledgement of institutional history
In Practice
A museum re-examines its colonial-era collections, invites source communities to co-curate interpretation, and publishes provenance research that acknowledges how objects were acquired. Its acknowledgement framework addresses the institution's specific historical relationship with colonialism, not a generic statement.
Why Clarity Matters
The Three Streams Framework does not ask organisations to produce three separate action plans. It asks them to be clear about what kind of change each initiative is designed to achieve — because without that clarity, strategy lacks focus and accountability lacks teeth.

Use this tool to map where your organisation's current work sits. Most institutions discover they are heavily concentrated in one stream while neglecting the others — or conflating different types of change under a single initiative, which dilutes the impact of all of them.

EDI+Inclusive Practice
Protected characteristics, socio-economic advantage and disadvantage, equitable access
Ask yourself: Who is excluded from our processes, environments, and opportunities — and why?
What this stream produces
→ Language and communication guidance
→ Inclusive practice policy and action plans
→ Accessibility and inclusion audits
→ Inclusive recruitment and retention frameworks
How you know it's working
Compliance with the Equality Act, access data, workforce and audience demographics, socio-economic reach, lived experience feedback
Anti-Racist Practice
Representation, structural equity, measurable targets
Ask yourself: Where does racial inequity persist in our structures — and what are we going to change?
What this stream produces
→ Board and workforce diversity targets
→ Commissioning and procurement equity
→ Ethnicity pay gap analysis and action
→ Community partnership frameworks
How you know it's working
Representation data across board, staffing, commissions, pay, and partnerships; published targets with progress reporting
Decolonisation
Reframing knowledge, interpretation, and institutional narrative
Ask yourself: Whose knowledge and perspective shapes what we present — and whose is missing?
What this stream produces
→ Collection reinterpretation programmes
→ Provenance research and transparency
→ Community co-curation models
→ Heritage acknowledgement frameworks
How you know it's working
Narrative diversity in interpretation, provenance transparency, community voice in decision-making, public institutional acknowledgement
If your EDI action plan contains board representation targets, language guidance, and collection reinterpretation in a single document with no distinction between them — you have a clarity problem. You don't necessarily need three plans. You need to understand what kind of change each commitment is designed to achieve, and hold yourself accountable accordingly.

While the three streams are distinct disciplines, they share a common foundation. Effective work in any stream requires all four of these commitments. Without them, initiatives remain performative regardless of how well-intentioned they are.

01
Power Redistribution
Shifting who holds decision-making authority and influence within the organisation
02
Structural Change
Altering the underlying policies, processes, and systems — not just adding programmes
03
Accountability
Clear, public mechanisms for responsibility, measurement, and reporting
04
Resources
Committed funding, staff time, and organisational priority — not goodwill alone
The Strategic Principle
Organisations need clarity about which streams apply to their specific context, whilst understanding that doing one well strengthens the others. The framework is not prescriptive — it is diagnostic. Start where your history, mission, and stakeholders demand it.
Inclusive Practice Anti-Racist Practice Decolonisation SHARED CORE

The Three Streams Framework is the starting point, not the end. It gives organisations the clarity to understand what they are doing and why. The Public Accountability Framework provides the structure to articulate those commitments publicly, with the right governance and measurement behind them.

1
Diagnose
Use the Three Streams Framework to understand what kind of change your current initiatives are designed to achieve. Identify where your work is concentrated, where the gaps are, and where you may be conflating different types of change under a single label.
Tool: The Three Streams Diagnostic
2
Define
For each stream that is relevant to your organisation's history, mission, and stakeholders — define what it means in your specific context. What does inclusive practice look like at your institution? What does anti-racist practice require? Is decolonisation work appropriate to your collections or history?
Tool: Guided Implementation Framework (digital or in-person)
3
Commit Publicly
Use the Public Accountability Framework to articulate your commitments externally — on your website, with funders, in annual reports. This is not an internal document. It is a public statement of what you will do, how you will measure it, and how you will report on progress.
Tool: Public Accountability Framework Template
4
Implement and Account
Deliver against your commitments with the right governance, resources, and accountability structures in place. Report publicly on progress. Review and update annually. This is ongoing organisational work, not a project with an end date.
Supported by: Audits, training, action planning, and consultancy partnership
The Principle
Clarity first. Then commitment. Then accountability. Most organisations try to jump straight to action without understanding what kind of change they are trying to make. The framework ensures you start in the right place.

Take the Space supports organisations across all three streams — from diagnostic to implementation. Our services are designed to match where you are and what you need, whether that is a self-guided digital framework or an embedded consultancy partnership.

We work with museums, galleries, theatres, heritage sites, and cultural organisations across the UK. Our work includes organisational audits, policy development, governance review, action planning, training, and the development of public accountability frameworks. Every engagement begins with a clarity call to understand your context and identify what kind of change you are trying to make.

EDI+Inclusive Practice
Guided Inclusive & Anti-Racist Practice Framework
Digital & In-Person
Inclusive Practice Policy Development
Consultancy
Accessibility and Inclusion Audits
Consultancy
Inclusive Recruitment and Retention
Consultancy
Anti-Racist Practice
Anti-Racist Practice Audit
Consultancy
Anti-Racist Practice Training
In-Person & Digital
Action Planning and Target-Setting
Consultancy
Representation, Commissioning & Procurement Review
Consultancy
Decolonisation
Heritage and Institutional Acknowledgement Guidance
Consultancy
Guided Decolonisation Support
Consultancy
Guided Inclusive, Anti-Racist & Decolonisation Framework
In Development
Across All Streams
Public Accountability Framework
Template & Guided
Organisational Partnership Programme
Embedded Consultancy
Work With Us
Every engagement begins with clarity. We help you understand what kind of change you are trying to make, build the infrastructure to deliver it, and develop the public accountability to demonstrate it.
www.takethespacetraining.com
© J Williams t/a Take the Space | Framework developed by Jenny Williams BEM
www.takethespacetraining.com