Airey Pledges to Centre Arts Council Diversity Work — SkimNews
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- The Arts Britain Ignores, Naseem Khan's 1976 report commissioned by organisations including the then Arts Council of Great Britain, is being commemorated at a Wednesday conference at Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage in Leicester.
- Dawn Airey, new chair of Arts Council England, delivers her inaugural speech at the event, calling Khan's work 'seminal' and pledging that the journey Khan set out 'will sit at the centre of my work.'
- Airey is expected to state that racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism remain 'part of daily life for too many people in our sector,' sometimes in 'subtle and deniable' ways, and call on those who don't experience it to act with 'action, not just words.'
- Pawlet Brookes, chief executive of Serendipity Institute, says a timeline investigation for a new accompanying book shows funding has flowed to culturally diverse organisations but 'hasn't been sustainability and growth.'
- Brookes argues dance and theatre deserve recognition in the way visual arts have gained it, noting artists like Frank Bowling, Sonia Boyce and Anish Kapoor are now critically acclaimed and in demand.
- A new book, The Arts Britain Ignores at 50, published by Serendipity Institute with essays and new research, launches at the conference alongside a panel featuring Khan's daughter Amelia Torode, theatre director Jatinder Verma, broadcaster Brenda Emmanus and crossbench peer Lola Young.
Why it matters: The conference lands at a moment when community and independent cultural spaces face financial pressure, redevelopment and gentrification, and Serendipity Institute's own research frames the anniversary as a structural warning: funding has reached diverse organisations but failed to deliver sustainability or growth over 50 years. Airey's pledge to centre Khan's agenda signals a directional test for how Arts Council England will allocate its next funding cycle under fresh leadership.
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