Change isn’t easy - but it’s worth it
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Since we launched our new ten-year strategy last month, Let’s Create, I’ve been reflecting on the Creative Case for Diversity, and what we need to do in the coming years to ensure diversity in all aspects of creativity and culture isn’t the exception but becomes the norm.
Change isn’t easy. It takes hard work and real commitment. But it’s worth it. That’s why I’m glad to be sharing the results of our latest report into the diversity of our funded projects and organisations – and of ourselves here at the Arts Council knowing our new strategy and our upcoming delivery plan can provide the catalyst for much needed change.
This year, we’ve been able to publish much more detail in the Equality, Diversity and Creative Case report. It’s also the first time we’ve included data for the 2018-22 National Portfolio.
Some of what the report shows is great news. Developing Your Creative Practice has been transformational in terms of achieving significantly higher success rates for both Black and Minority Ethnic and Disabled applicants. Encouragingly we’ve also seen a significant increase in the number of first-time applicants to the Arts Council through the fund, which demonstrates how the Arts Council itself is beginning to become more relevant to artists and practitioners who have previously hesitated to apply or didn’t feel there was the right route to access Arts Council funding.
Of course, that’s not the whole picture. Whilst we’ve seen more diverse-led organisations join the 2018-22 portfolio, the rate of change in terms of the workforce and leadership – particularly of our larger organisations – continues to be too slow. Change can’t simply remain an aspiration, more on this later.
It’s my hope that this year’s report proves to be an invaluable resource for the sector to analyse and benchmark their own performance against their peers. I also hope it will influence the tangible actions they will take to respond to the Outcomes and Investment Principles outlined in our new strategy, announced last month. I wanted to take a moment to talk about what that means in practice.
The Creative Case
Back in 2011, we launched the Creative Case for Diversity which has been instrumental in helping to drive change on our stages, our galleries and in our museums. It’s resulted in more innovative and bolder decisions about the work funded organisations produce, present and collect – whilst crucially, at the same time, ensuring this work is meaningful to audiences in these places and spaces, as well.
Just this week we’ve contacted organisations to remind them of the requirements around the Creative Case and what they need to achieve in order to be eligible for funding in the next National Portfolio.
Change needs to permeate boardrooms, influence who is at the table making decisions and be felt across the whole cultural workforce. We also need this change to be reflected in the diversity of audiences and visitors that experience the work presented. That message came through loud and clear as part of the conversations we conducted across the country and online, helping to shape our new strategy.
We can and should do better, our expectations for 2020-30 will be bolder and higher – and if not met, will be reflected in the decisions we make on future funding.
The future
As outlined in Let’s Create, we’ll be asking organisations who receive regular investment from us to agree targets against governance, leadership and their workforce. If they fail to meet these targets, they will lose funding.
We will also judge organisations for the way in which they reflect and build a relationship with their communities, as well as continuing to expect organisations to respond to the Creative Case for Diversity in ensuring that the work they present reflects the talent and stories of all our communities.
We’ve shown that change is possible, we’ve seen that in the applicants who have moved on from Elevate funding to NPO funding and through the impact of programmes such as Developing Your Creative Practice. There remains more to be done. We have a collective responsibility to make that change happen, to ensure greater equity and fairness, both in the distribution of funding and power. There is no better time to do it than now with the launch of Let’s Create.
