The arts may be becoming decreasing diverse, but it’s not for a lack of effort from arts leaders. Rebecca Atkinson-Lord thinks it’s time to refocus on lobbying the Government for genuinely equal social structures.
An awful lot has been said about privilege in the arts: the concept of an elite class of privileged artists has become a stick with which to beat the arts sector. Most recently, Chris Bryant, shadow minister for the arts, spoke of the preponderance of artists from wealthy backgrounds to beat off criticism following Labour’s casual announcement on Twitter that it would not repeal Tory funding cuts.
Bryant’s attack on a subsection of the arts community follows more than five years of government built on the principles of divide and rule. Our political elites have become adept at vilifying parts of our society as a tool to direct our attention away from their own failings. Now, we’re so busy hurling rocks at the “benefit scroungers” that there is no critical mass of dissent to topple the under-regulated, tax-avoiding superrich.
And I guess it worked for Bryant, too. All of a sudden, my social media feeds were full of voices attacking the privileged few for taking up valuable space in the arts. A few people criticised Bryant for taking cheap shots, but by and large, they all seemed to agree. To accept the blame. To say: “Yes. We’ve screwed up... Keep reading on The Guardian
An awful lot has been said about privilege in the arts: the concept of an elite class of privileged artists has become a stick with which to beat the arts sector. Most recently, Chris Bryant, shadow minister for the arts, spoke of the preponderance of artists from wealthy backgrounds to beat off criticism following Labour’s casual announcement on Twitter that it would not repeal Tory funding cuts.
Bryant’s attack on a subsection of the arts community follows more than five years of government built on the principles of divide and rule. Our political elites have become adept at vilifying parts of our society as a tool to direct our attention away from their own failings. Now, we’re so busy hurling rocks at the “benefit scroungers” that there is no critical mass of dissent to topple the under-regulated, tax-avoiding superrich.
And I guess it worked for Bryant, too. All of a sudden, my social media feeds were full of voices attacking the privileged few for taking up valuable space in the arts. A few people criticised Bryant for taking cheap shots, but by and large, they all seemed to agree. To accept the blame. To say: “Yes. We’ve screwed up... Keep reading on The Guardian