Can using public money to make BAME* entrepreneurs successful be in the public interest if it makes them wealthy too? Kevin Osborne sets out the challenge.
The more you look at the cultural aftermath of this year of lockdowns, the clearer it becomes that current thinking around arts funding is a missed opportunity, Anthony Sargent writes.
'We’ve only been here because you’ve been with us': as ArtsProfessional heads into its third decade, Liz Hill reflects on what’s gone before – and what lies ahead.
With a Government report recommending the dropping of the term BAME, people have been challenging Kevin Osborne’s continued use of it. He remains ambivalent about the proposed change.
The distribution of Arts Council England’s Culture Recovery Fund has attracted widespread criticism, not least from those campaigning for greater diversity. Kevin Osborne calls for urgent action.
DCMS’ new model for measuring culture’s economic value shows no understanding of how public policy has developed in recent decades, writes Anthony Sargent. Basing funding decisions on it would be "worse than bankrupt".
As we say good riddance to 2020, Liz Hill takes a glass-half-full look at progress in the cultural sector this year, and what the year ahead might hold.
UK Music has published its industry-wide ten-point plan for a diverse music ecosystem. But it’s actions, not words, that will bring about lasting change, says Ammo Talwar.
By cutting bursaries for teacher training, the Department for Education will make a career in teaching an unreachable dream for some musicians, says Roz De Vile.
An ongoing and unspoken sense of crisis has driven those working in the performing arts to accept an intolerable range of behaviours as the norm. Emma Jayne Park questions the underlying structures supporting a system that requires endless resilience simply to survive.
A DCMS report asserting that ‘the arts can,’ ‘music can,’ and ‘dance can’ improve arts and health includes highly flawed studies that should not be relied upon to guide policy, says Stephen Clift.
Masking for a friend
Arts venues might lose out by mandating masks and other Covid-19 mitigations but it's the only socially responsible option.