Arts Council England (ACE) has issued plans for an ongoing commitment to the decibel project following a critical evaluation of the initiative?s year-long attempts to raise the profile of cultural diversity in the arts. A team at ACE will be funded to run the decibel legacy until 2008 and will organise a showcase and international symposium in 2007. ACE has also stated a commitment to ?increase the amount of culturally diverse artists that receive Arts Council funding? and ensure the implementation of the organisation?s Race Equality Scheme.
The move follows a report into the impact of the original decibel project which ran from 2003 to 2004. The review, carried out by consultants TMPL, looked at the impact of decibel among the arts community, on audiences and within ACE itself. It found that some gains had been made by the initiative: nearly 60% of all respondents said their knowledge of African, Asian and Caribbean artists and culturally diverse work had increased and 80% of the 130 organisations that responded reported that they planned to develop their programming of culturally diverse artists as a result of the scheme. However, the report suggests that within ACE, the £5m decibel year was dogged by ?widespread and general confusion both about the overall decibel ethos and the detail of delivery?. It also states that the scheme was under way before any performance targets were established. The report highlighted the exclusion felt by white-led organisations with good track records in producing diverse work and also found that a quarter of respondents had described the initiative as ?unsatisfactory?.
Published: 10-10-2005