Government policies ghettoise black artists and brand them as 'second class’

EMBARGO - Thursday 17 May 2007

GOVERNMENT POLICIES GHETTOISE BLACK ARTISTS AND BRAND THEM AS 'SECOND CLASS’

Government cultural diversity policies are unwittingly creating a ghetto for black and Asian artists by pigeon-holing them according to their ethnicity.

Sonya Dyer, a black artist based in London and a member of the Manifesto Club Artistic Autonomy Group, is publishing new research that shows cultural diversity policies aimed at increasing participation by ethnic minorities in the visual arts sector are having the opposite effect.

'It is unusual for me to meet a non-white person working in arts administration whose job does not involve diversity, outreach, community, or similar,' she said.

She adds, 'Many black and minority ethnic artists are cut off from the mainstream and effectively treated as second class because diversity schemes create ghettos connecting them almost exclusively with other non-white practitioners, instead of the wider network of powerbrokers in the mainstream art world.'

Her report finds that culture minister David Lammy has pressured national museums and galleries to set targets for black and ethnic minority (BME) staff - and that two national museums (the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery) have already done so. She is concerned that official policies end up placing greater emphasis on artists’ ethnicity over their talent and ability, and can be patronising to artists.

This report comes at a time when cultural diversity schemes are booming in the arts sector:

* In 2002, Arts Council England designated £29 million to black, Asian and Chinese-led organisations from its lottery-funded Arts Capital Programme; and has committed 10 percent of its Grant for Arts awards to black and ethnic minority artists and arts organisations.

* The Arts Council runs two main 'positive action' schemes called Inspire and decibel, which offer internships at prestigious galleries and museums but only to ethnic minority arts professionals. The budget for decibel was around £10 million, over five years; the budget for Inspire is £411,000 per year.

* The Museums, Archives and Libraries Council (MLA), which funds local museums, will make diversity programmes a mandatory condition for funding in 2008.

But Dyer argues that such government-led targets fail to get to grips with the real reasons why BME people don’t enter the arts. Very few graduates from non-white backgrounds choose to study a 'creative arts' subject at university but this is because of class, not race. The majority of black people, like white working class people, cannot afford the typically low-paid work in the arts.

Dyer suggests that instead of singling black people out for ‘special help’, a new 'colour-blind' approach is needed where opportunities are offered to all people struggling to pay their way through a career in the visual arts. This would be fairer to everyone in the arts and also improve the confidence of black artists to get their work seen. Pigeon-holing them as ‘needy’ will only stigmatise them and keep them apart from the mainstream.

Dyer concludes that a wider and more honest debate is needed in the arts sector: 'We need a greater understanding that practitioners from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are as "diverse" as any other sections of the population.'

The report features interviews with black arts professionals critical of these schemes and who agree there should be a new approach.

* Zoe Whitley, curator of contemporary projects at the V&A, notes that there are several black curators in the mainstream museum sector, yet these examples of success are not generally those heralded by the diversity sector: 'Invisibility is placed upon you. There are [black] people but nobody knows about them because they are in the mainstream.'

* Niru Ratnam, director of Store Gallery and former Inspire coordinator at Arts Council England, noted the tokenism of some placements: 'the (trainee) curators tended to be given "culturally diverse" projects to work on at their institutions.... I did get the feeling that this is all very DCMS/David Lammy driven rather than being any deep-seated intellectual commitment'.

* ‘aladin’, an artist and strategy consultant, and consultant on the Arts Council’s decibel scheme, says, “People feel they have to fit an agenda…We are complex people. Complexity needs to be built into the system as well.”

Jatinder Verma of the prominent South Asian theatre company, Tara Arts, said:
"Sonya's essay is an important contribution to the growing feeling of unease about the state of modern British culture, where - as she details convincingly in her essay - 'diversity' is all-too often a euphemism for stasis...I think hers is a voice that Arts policy makers will be foolish to ignore".

Notes to editors:
1. The report Boxed In: How Cultural Diversity Policies Constrict Black Artists is published by The Manifesto Club Artistic Autonomy Group on Thursday 17 May 2007.
2. The Manifesto Club Artistic Autonomy Group is a network of artists, arts professionals and students who want to defend artistic autonomy in all its forms. It criticises and opposes pressures on artists to work towards the targets of politicians. It also opposes restrictions on freedom of expression.
2. It is part of the Manifesto Club which is a campaigning network that promotes greater freedom in society - www.manifestoclub.com
3. For further information, to receive a copy of the report, or to arrange an interview with report author Sonya Dyer, please contact Munira Mirza on +44 (0)7980 551 945 or +44 07792 795 462 or email press@manifestoclub.com