BMC Equity Symposium

The BMC's Equity Symposium is to be held at YHA Llanberis from Friday 30th September to Sunday 2nd October 2016. This year’s symposium aims to give outdoor activity providers an in depth understanding of the barriers faced by black, asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities when getting active outdoors.

The BAME population in the UK is growing. According to the 2011 Census 14% of the UK population are from minority ethnic backgrounds and this figure is set to rise to 30% by 2050. Despite these high percentages within the population, participation in outdoor activities amongst BAME communities remains particularly low. The majority of BMC members, 97%, are white British, therefore the potential to engage new participants from these communities is huge.

For BAME communities there are some real barriers to getting active outdoors, including awareness of what’s available, confidence and safety concerns. There is a lot of latent demand for outdoor activities and the health and wellbeing benefits of getting outdoors are well known. As experienced providers of outdoor activities you can help to break down some of the barriers faced by some sections of our community and help us increase engagement amongst BAME communities. The BMC Equity Symposium aims to explore the barriers to develop a better understanding of BAME communities and to ensure attendees are able to implement actions that will better engage with this community. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to get active outdoors.

We have some exciting workshops and speakers at this years symposuium. Pammy Johal from Backbone will eliver a workshop titled ‘How to Entice & Excite BME and marginalised communities to engage with the Great Outdoors’. This promises to be a lively, challenging and meaningful discussion based workshop with practical tips on working with BAME groups.

Sporting Equals work with the principles of a faith centre model when engaging BAME communities. They will be at the symposium to further explain their models and projects for engaging BAME groups and give you the knowledge and confidence to engage within your local communities.



The panel discussion will take place on the Sunday morning. We know you probably have lots of questions, and we believe in the benefit in hearing from other peoples experiences so we're putting together a varied panel to answer your questions. More details of panel members will be announced.

You can find out more about the workshops and speakers by visiting the BMC website.

The cost for the full weekend is £30 for BMC members, £40 for non BMC members which includes 2 nights accommodation, all meals, all workshops and activities. To book your place please complete the expression of interest form below.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Jo Rowbottom, BMC equity and partnerships officer by email Joanna@thebmc.co.uk or call 0161 438 3313.

We look forward to seeing you at the symposium.