Public art

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.

Two arts companies whose commission was censored by their council are hosting a public talk on the decision.

Gabriella Hirst's artwork An English Garden was deemed "a left wing attack" by local politicians for its interrogation of Britain's nuclear history. 

Arts company Metal said councillors' "fundamental misreading" threatened to distort the actual meaning of the work and agreed to remove it.

An online conference on October 23 presented by Metal and The Old Waterworks will "continue the discussions that were silenced through the censorship".

A workshop in September taught participants to graft the offending Atom Bomb roses, which are now on display outside Southend's Focal Point Gallery.