Let’s Create: The high watermark for inclusion in the arts?

When I was appointed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to the National Council of Arts Council England (ACE) in 2017 there really wasn’t much of a discussion in the arts sector about disability or the ableism most disabled creatives like me experienced on a daily basis.

Disabled people were largely invisible in our national culture and employment of disabled people in ACE-funded National Portfolio Organisations had languished around the 3% mark for a decade or so.

In the eight tumultuous years since, the ground has shifted considerably. And while historians of ACE during this period will no doubt focus on the rights and wrongs of the Let’s Create strategy, the Cultural Recovery Fund and the handling of English National Opera, I’d like to place a spotlight on what has been achieved for disabled people.

The first two years of my term were the most satisfying as we assembled the successor strategy to Great Art for Everyone. The cohort of National Council members who joined in 2017 – including our chair Nick Serota – shared an unusual degree of unanimity on what ACE’s priorities should be in the 2020s.

In this we were in lockstep with the general public and the arts sector who told us exactly what we needed to focus on in the broad consultation that resulted in Let’s Create – which was warmly received on its publication in early 2020.

Existential fears of disabled creatives

But, of course, the world had other plans. Covid, the murder of George Floyd, the cost-of-living crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 7 October attack on Israel and the subsequent humanitarian crisis in Gaza; these global events all presented unprecedented challenges to Arts Council England.

My contribution came in the 2020 formation of ACE’s first Disability Advisory Committee of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent Area and National Council members, which I’ve chaired since foundation. Its creation was a direct response to the existential fears of disabled creatives voiced by the #WeShallNotBeRemoved campaign in the midst of a pandemic that saw disabled people face the brunt of Covid deaths and privations that compounded our already marginalised role in the cultural sector.

The committee was able to extend influence on policy and practice such as ACE’s prioritising of an inclusive recovery, signalling repeatedly to the sector that cultural recovery must be accessible to everyone – the only government arm’s length body to do so.

Increasing demand from disabled creatives

In the immediate post-pandemic period, I believe this intervention contributed to the creation of a unique cultural moment that saw disabled creatives secure high profile casting and commissions, award nominations and wins; disability was mainstreamed on tv networks and even in the West End.

I won’t forget the brilliant moment of having two disabled artists simultaneously leading companies at both the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2022 – Francesca Martinez’s All of Us and Arthur Hughes as Richard III. Or of the delight I felt witnessing two wheelchair users, Amy Trigg and Mathilda Feyisayo Ibini, taking to the ramp to collect their 2024 Olivier Awards for shows at Soho Place and The Bush. More widely, this period also saw the introduction of new access coordinator and access manager roles across the sector.

The committee consistently made the case for increased disabled representation in the arts workforce. National Portfolio Organisations saw a considerable increase in disabled employees in the 2018-23 period from 5% to 9%; and by 2025 there was a more than doubling of disability declaration in ACE’s own workforce from 7% to 17%. By 2025 the number of grant applicant access requests dealt with by the arts council has grown to over 4,400, demonstrating increasing demand from disabled creatives.

Considerable wins

The 2022 Investment Review resulted in the doubling of disabled-led organisations in the National Portfolio, but only from 1% to 3%, while the proportion of overall investment increased from 0.5% to 2% representing a £7m annual spend across 32 organisations including the first £1m disability organisation Unlimited. These statistics present considerable wins for the advocacy of disabled creatives but are still far off any kind of benchmark of real-world representation.

The committee strongly encouraged ACE’s formal adoption of the Social Model of Disability in 2024 – again the first arm’s length body to do so – as well as the development of the UK wide arts access scheme, All In. And just this year, two of our Area Council Committee members, Cherrylee Houston and Tom Ryalls led the cultural sector response to the government’s disability benefit cuts.

Over these last eight years, the sector has made considerable strides to become a more inclusive place for disabled artists, employees and audiences and ACE deserves considerable credit for encouraging this. It’s certainly been one of the privileges of my life to support and track this transformation at close quarters. But that’s not to say a magic wand has been waved to banish discrimination and under-representation.

So, what lies ahead for my successor?

The outcomes of Margaret Hodge’s review will undoubtedly dictate ACE’s focus for the immediate future. Then there are the ill winds blowing in from across the Atlantic that make all of us committed to EDI deeply anxious about our direction of travel; not forgetting the general shortage of money that is leading the government to seek cuts in services to disabled people.

Taken together, these factors will make further inclusive progress challenging. Because as our politics become more polarised and money gets tighter, a tougher operating environment will emerge where institutions like Arts Council England experience unprecedented scrutiny, making the case for inclusion a whole lot harder.

We’ve all seen examples of inclusive and innovative arts practice combine to deliver high quality work, so now is not the time to revert to the old, safer ways. The challenge for all of us going forward must be to ensure the Let’s Create era does not become the high watermark of inclusion in the arts.