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Publicly funded arts: Equity, collective thinking and societal transformation

How can we promote fairness, spark collective imagination and work towards a more just and resilient future together? asks Rachel Gnagniko, an anti-oppression management consultant and collaborator with Heart of Glass.

Rachel Gnagniko
7 min read

I joined the arts sector because of its ability to ignite meaning and drive change. Still, I can’t ignore the privileges required to freely and fully enjoy its immense potential for reflection and transformation.

The sector’s past failure to acknowledge the contributions of less traditional voices made me welcome the long-overdue reckoning with inequalities exposed both by Covid’s disproportionate impact on historically marginalised groups and by the global response to George Floyd’s murder. These forced us to stare at the reality.

Aimé Césaire’s prophetic warning, evoking an Orwellian critique of societal and structural failures, accurately described the existential ambition we sought to address when the equality movement re-emerged:

“A civilisation that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilisation. A civilisation that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a stricken civilisation. A civilisation that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilisation.”

I don’t know a better encapsulation of the deeper goals of the equality movement that urges us to re-centre the value of life over the profit-driven, uncaring and extractive industrialisation of people and nature.

An era of profound disruption

Unfortunately, organisations have been struggling with the difficult self-reflection required. Instead, they often reduced these humanist considerations to performative slogans, with a depoliticised focus on ‘EDI’. For many, even articulating what those three letters aim for – equality – often seems too much to ask, contributing to making their voices easy targets of reactionary defensiveness.

I long for a serious reflection on the lessons of recent years and a collective commitment to a healthier path forward. This means reclaiming the arts and its capacity to enable collective dreaming, challenge how we relate to one another, and prepare us for the societal shifts ahead.

We live in an era of profound disruption, marked by climate disasters, deepening social inequalities and erosion of trust in politics and economics. Each crisis exposes the fragility of our current structures and their inability to protect those made vulnerable.

At the same time, reactionary narratives, fuelled by social media algorithms designed to exploit fear and outrage, distract us from the collective work needed to address these existential issues.

Through riots and protests, communities have consistently shown their readiness to confront difficult questions and explore new ways of living. We continue to call for spaces that enable genuine, inclusive dialogue. Recognising the learning and progress of recent years is essential for the sector to move towards a resilient future where equity is not a negotiable factor.

Lessons from the past

The events of 2020 highlighted how systemic inequalities and structural violence -whether through policies, institutions or societal norms – shape the lives of marginalised people.

In the arts sector, many stepped forward to drive meaningful change, sharing knowledge, skills and experiences long overlooked or dismissed. Drawing on my background in management consultancy, I developed frameworks for widening audiences and creating more inclusive spaces within arts organisations.

Similarly, many leaders sought to embed fairness and integrity in their work. It was an exciting time, fuelled by hope and urgency. But it was also exhausting. The labour of change fell disproportionately on marginalised professionals, often left to navigate this work without sufficient support or resources.

Much of that momentum has now faded. Equality efforts have been reduced to symbolic gestures, stripped of their political urgency and disconnected from the systemic changes they were meant to achieve.

In many organisations, professionals with diverse expertise – writers, managers, policymakers – have been relegated to ‘EDI people’, their contributions essentialised and their roles diminished. This essentialism has paved the way for a backlash with reactionary narratives reframing EDI as a barrier, rather than a tool for fairness.

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etchingroom1: What A Wonderful Day In A Wonderful World – Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop . Photo: Lewis Gourlay

Progress and pitfalls

The arts now stand at a crossroads, where progress and backlash collide. While organisations that have invested in widening audiences, adopting inclusive recruitment practices and fostering reasonable adjustments have made strides in creating more equitable spaces, these gains are often undermined by a lack of structural support, inadequate funding and a depoliticised understanding of what equality requires.

The backlash against EDI, often disguised as ‘fatigue’, reflects both the discomfort with change and the success of these efforts in challenging entrenched power structures. If EDI work were ineffective, it wouldn’t provoke such intense resistance.

Phrases like ‘EDI fatigue’ obscure the stakes, making it easier to dismiss the fundamental principles of fairness, accountability and integrity that underpin this work. But the backlash also highlights the limitations of our strategies.

Too often, the assumption has been that moral reasoning alone will inspire action. But morality and decency have no value in a system that prioritises capital over humanity.

Reclaiming a new vision

If the arts sector is to remain relevant, it must move beyond surface-level commitments and embrace a deeper, more transformative vision. This involves:

  • Re-politicising equality: Rooting goals in systemic accountability and addressing the power structures that perpetuate inequality. This means moving beyond EDI slogans to confront historical and political realities.
  • Valuing diverse expertise: Recognising and supporting the full range of skills and contributions in the sector, rather than reducing individuals to labels or single-issue advocates.
  • Addressing economic barriers: Ensuring fair compensation and sustainable working conditions to make the arts a viable career path for people from all backgrounds, particularly those excluded from generational wealth.
  • Fostering collective dreaming: Leveraging the unique capacity of socially engaged arts to facilitate shared imagination and co-create futures rooted in justice and creativity.

This vision requires courage – not only to challenge existing systems but to confront the discomfort of imagining alternatives. It means creating spaces for genuine dialogue, where complexity is embraced and the binary thinking that dominates most politics is shifted from our collective focus.

Facilitating collective dreaming

Publicly funded arts have a unique responsibility to enable collective dreaming. By reflecting on the past and acknowledging the legacies of colonialism, capitalism and exclusion, the sector can help communities imagine futures that prioritise resilience and justice.

Socially engaged arts hold the tools to bring people together, fostering co-creation and rebuilding the critical thinking eroded by divisive narratives.

This is not about imagining utopias. It’s about developing the emotional and intellectual capacity to confront the existential threats we face. Climate change, social inequality and political instability require more than reactive solutions; they demand re-negotiated ways of living, working and creating together.

Becoming the ancestors

The choices we make today will determine the world of the future. The arts sector must rise to this moment, embracing its role as a space for collective dreaming and transformative action.

Our task is simple yet profound: to become the ancestors we wish we’d had. Through socially engaged arts, we have an opportunity to build a future that reflects our shared humanity, fosters resilience and creates space for dreaming. Our choices will shape not just the arts but the world they serve, equipping it to face the challenges ahead.