The arts sector should offer careers advice to Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) school-leavers, learn to seek out BAME talent and create networks of regional ambassadors to enable BAME leaders to progress, according to a report from the Cultural Leadership Programme (CLP). ‘Black, Asian And Minority Ethnic Leadership In The Creative And Cultural Sector’, commissioned by the CLP and Arts Council England decibel, reveals that, for example, only 3.3% of sole directors in the creative and cultural sector and 4.4% of middle managers in national and hub museums are BAME, compared to a national working population of 11.9%. Speaking at the launch of the report, which was timed to coincide with the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the USA, CLP Chair, David Kershaw, said the arts sector should ask itself “what more we can do to break down the institutional structures and organisational barriers that stop people from BAME backgrounds getting to the very top”. He commended the DCMS for appointing BAME trustees to the boards of 600 cultural organisations, but urged the sector to take a more pro-active approach.
