Petitions call for the renaming of Hertfordshire arts complex

The trustees of The Rhodes Arts Complex are preparing to rename the venue. Three petitions have called for the organisation to dissociate itself from former British businessman and politician Cecil Rhodes who founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, on the grounds that his "racist and white supremacist motives 'will never represent the views of the people of Bishop's Stortford'". The organisation was already planning to change the name following its conversion to a charitable incorporated organisation, a process which began five months ago.