We review the demographic make-up of the Studio community once a year, through a Balance and Belonging Survey which we ask all residents to complete. Today we are sharing the 2024/25 data. The results offer a snapshot - giving us insight into the 'balance' of backgrounds in our resident community and the experiences that they have here which do or do not give them a sense of 'belonging'. The report outlines what we found out with some context about the questions we ask and what we share with who.  

Our aim with this report is to continue:

  • To share the survey data in a clear and transparent way
  • To invite the studio community to feedback on how they are experiencing the Studio. Details of how you can get in touch are listed below and at the end of the report.

This year's report

We have been running this survey for 5 years, and it feels like we are in a relatively stable position with the numbers. Any data set will only tell a partial story but looking at the information we have, we think that there is a good balance of people represented in the Studio community. We steer away from too much benchmarking around diversity, believing it can be reductive as explained in this blog - but we are proud that many people who are often marginalised within society are well represented in the resident community. 

As we looked through all of the data and read all of the individual comments we noticed:

  • An increase in the proportion of residents who are Disabled, d/Deaf or have a long term health condition. This is now significantly above the UK average.
  • A slight increase in proportion of working class residents. This is encouraging but still doesn't reflect wider society.
  • No other fluctuations in numbers that we would understand as statistically significant when looking back at a few years of the data.
  • A general slight upward trend in markers of Belonging. There were some important pieces of individual feedback which reflected a range of feelings and perspectives. All of these felt valuable but we weren't able to see a clear pattern in the comments.
  • Less engagement in the survey overall. This was reflected in a lower response rate than recent years, more 'prefer not to say' answers and some frustration expressed in the comments about being asked to share personal data (alongside others expressing their enthusiasm for doing so) . 

What does this mean in terms of action?

  • We have listed our planned actions for the year ahead on Page 7 of the Summary report below. This includes a communications review in the Spring, an ongoing collaboration with JMB Consulting around Reparative Justice, and the continuation of offers like our Resident Advisors, Community Conversations and Resident Time Bank.
  • We also want to acknowledge that the next year is one in which some things may change for Watershed as we work to secure our financial sustainability and ready our leaky old building for the future. Our team will work with our partners and the Studio community to carefully evaluate the intended and unintended consequences of these changes through the lens of this data and feedback.  
  • As we consider 5 years of Balance and Belonging in the Studio we are eager to develop our understanding about the relationship between what we do and who it impacts, the pathways through different elements of our offer and how the space has changed over time. We are currently planning light touch ways of exploring those questions while we look for resources to go deeper. 

Talk to us 

Many of the comments in the survey reflect things that we in the team are thinking about too. The information that reaches us is so carefully anonymised that we, rightly, can't answer people's questions directly or pick up on their desire to offer ideas. 

So Martin, Tony and myself (Jo) will be running drop in sessions from 2-4pm on Wednesday 8 April (in the Studio) and 4-6pm on Thursday 16 April (online) for any residents who want to talk to us about the report or any issues that it raised. Details will be shared through the normal channels (resident newsletter and slack). We will also discuss more with Resident Advisors and in a session at the Annual Gathering later in the Spring. 

In the meantime you can read more in the full report here: Balance and Belonging Report 2024/25

Or a Summary Version here: Balance and Belonging Summary Report 2024/25