Equality

Manchester Museum staff will be trained as social justice researchers for a pilot addressing understanding of poverty and disadvantage.

Led by University of Manchester researchers, Local Matters will explore local and national poverty and use its findings to influence museum practice and policy.

“Too often policy makers and practitioners see poverty as having a simple beginning, middle and end. It is viewed as something that can be fixed if we all just 'do better,'” research fellow Carl Emery explained.

The museum will then make decisions with social justice, poverty and disadvantage in mind, according to Director Esme Ward.

Manchester Museum is currently closed whilst work on the final phase of its £13.5m restoration is completed. It is expected to reopen next year.

Freelands Foundation has awarded £800,000 to two projects addressing racial inequality in the visual arts.

Wysing Arts Centre’s Syllabus artist development programme has received £500,000 to support it over the next decade. 

Every year, the project offers 10 artists from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds mentoring, artistic development and peer networking to create pathways into the sector.

University of the Arts London's (UAL) Decolonising Arts Institute will receive £300,000 towards its three-year 20/20 programme, which places 20 Black and Brown artists in residencies across the UK.

Since 2020, Freelands Foundation has awarded over £2m to organisations boosting opportunities for Black and Brown artists.

“These two new grants are a landmark in terms of our continuing commitment to addressing racial inequality throughout the visual arts,” said Diversity Action Group Chair Sonita Alleyne.

Museums should be brave, accountable and "aim for justice" in decolonising their practices and collections.

The Museums Association (MA) has released Supporting Decolonisation in Museums, offering ten guiding principles and advice on how to reach these objectives.

The association says statues and the names of buildings, streets, and galleries "send a clear message of whose presence is considered important and whose is not".

"Although this issue can cause controversy and debate in the media, it is an important part of decolonising work.

"Decolonising museums requires creating spaces that no longer celebrate historic and ongoing acts of colonial violence, whether through removing names, removing or recontextualizing statues, or commissioning artists to engage critically with this inheritance." 

The guidance was produced by MA’s Decolonisation Guidance Working Group, established following a 2019 report into the growing field.

Group Chair Rachael Minnot said working group members "challenged one another" throughout the process.

"I’m excited to keep learning and growing with the wider sector as they engage with this tool."

UK Theatre and Society of London Theatre (SOLT) have updated their ten principles for creating safe and inclusive working spaces in theatre.

First launched in 2017, the principles were created largely in response to the #MeToo movement.

They have now been updated to cover discrimination across all protected characteristics, asking theatres to prevent racism and all other forms of discrimination and bias.

Head of UK Theatre and Workforce Development Sebastian Cater says the pandemic has provided an opportunity to examine old practices and create a more inclusive culture in theatres.

“It’s so encouraging to have the support of our members and boards as well as the main unions and trade bodies in disseminating and upholding the new Principles. Together we can make them become industry standard.”

A new fund to improve the diversity of London’s public spaces has been announced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Untold Stories will offer community-led organisations between £1,000 and £25,000 to develop new murals, street art, street names and programmes.

Recent research into London’s sculptures found huge gaps in representation. More than a fifth of London's statues are dedicated to named men, whilst only 4% are dedicated to named women. Just three of almost 1500 public monuments depict named women of colour.

Khan said London’s statues, street names and buildings have shown a limited perspective of the city’s history for “far too long”.

“I’m determined to do everything I can to ensure our public realm presents a more complete picture of everyone who has made London the incredible city it is today.”

Untold Stories opened its first application round Thursday (October 21), with a deadline of January 12.

A giant box bearing the slogan "break in case of arts emergency" has appeared in London as part of a campaign highlighting inequalities in the arts.

The boxes showcase artworks by young people involved with charity Arts Emergency as well as statistics on the arts workforce. 'Break the glass' is a euphemism for joining the mentoring network.

Only 4.8% of people working in music or the visual or performing arts are from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority background and only 12% are working class, Arts Emergency reports.

The box has debuted at the Museum of London and will tour several local venues before arriving at Liverpool's World Museum in time for its 2022 launch event.

The campaign is supported by organisations including the BFI, Whitworth Gallery, Strawberries and Creem Festival and professional website Linkedin.