The Myth of Inclusivity: exploring barriers to representation in stand-up comedy through Leicester Comedy Festival's archive (1994-)

总部位于莱斯特的注册慈善机构Big Difference Company使用喜剧来实现社会变革，这一目标部分是通过莱斯特喜剧节这一研究背景实现的。在2023年庆祝成立30周年之际，LCF于1994年作为DMU的一个学生项目启动。BDC的LCF由其创始总监Geoff Rowe BEM领导，是英国最大的专门喜剧节日。BDC的慈善目标意味着它通过与莱斯特水星年度喜剧演员奖DMULocal的合作和喜剧培训研讨会来培养新兴人才。这一博士学位的目的之一是对喜剧中“无法言说”的平等障碍进行理论化，从而为BDC/LCF如何针对干预措施提供信息。作为DMU的战略合作伙伴，BDC的LCF音乐节为学士和硕士学生的实习和研究项目提供了一个支持性的研究环境。杰夫·罗是DMU的荣誉成员，每年都会在该大学讲课。2014年，罗引入了“我说喜剧对话”，这是对著名喜剧演员的采访，内容是关于喜剧的历史和实践，为学生和研究人员提供了独特的见解。这项CDA是DMU和LFC近30年合作的顶峰。从2008年到2014年，喜剧研讨会为喜剧的社会影响提供了一个学术重点，确定了它代表不同视角和转变叙事的能力，作为赋权的来源。一年一度的Beyond a Noke研讨会计划(2015-现在)继续推动将喜剧实践理论化，将其作为文化干预、批评和促进行业专业人士、学者和漫画之间的对话。喜剧行业所有领域之间的这些对话对于探索参与的障碍和扩大对LCF作为喜剧行业的一个缩影的理解至关重要。2021年，虚拟小组聚焦于东米德兰兹郡的行业和喜剧经济，为这一合作铺平了道路，其重点是喜剧制作的条件及其对喜剧实践的影响。

Leicester-based registered charity Big Difference Company uses comedy to produce social change, an aim partly achieved through the context for this research - Leicester Comedy Festival. Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023, LCF started as a DMU student project in 1994. Led by its founding director, Geoff Rowe BEM, BDC's LCF is the UK's largest dedicated comedy festival. BDC's charitable objectives mean it nurtures emerging talent through collaborations with DMULocal, the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year award, and comedy training workshops. One aim of this PhD is to theorise the 'unspeakable' barriers to equality in comedy so informing how BDC/LCF target interventions. A DMU strategic partner, BDC's LCF festival provides a supportive research environment for BA and MA student placements and research projects. Geoff Rowe is a DMU honorand and lectures annually at the university. In 2014 Rowe introduced the 'I say Comedy Conversations', interviews with significant comedians regarding comedy's history and practices, providing unique insights for students and researchers. This CDA is the culmination of nearly three decades of collaboration between DMU and LFC. From 2008-2014, the Playing for Laughs symposia provided an academic focus on comedy's social impacts, identifying its ability to represent different perspectives and transform narratives as sources of empowerment. The annual Beyond a Joke seminar programme (2015 - present) continues this push to theorise comedic practice as cultural intervention and critique and foster dialogue between industry professionals, academics and comics. These conversations between all areas of the comedy industry are vital in exploring barriers to participation and in widening understanding of LCF as a microcosm of the comedy industry. In 2021 virtual panels focused on the industry and the comedy economy of the East Midlands, paving the way for this collaboration with its focus on the conditions of comedy production and their impacts on comedy practices.