Economic climate hinders diversity push
ACE says financial pressures have weakened focus on diverse workforce. By Gareth Harris
The issue of diversity in the museums workforce is an ongoing concern for culture professionals, especially in the current economic climate.
“The sector has, perhaps, taken its eye off the ball regarding diversity because of economic pressures,” says John Orna-Ornstein, the director of museums at Arts Council England (ACE).
ACE recently launched a museums resilience fund with a budget of £10m for 2015-16 – and promoting a “skilled, knowledgeable, professional and diverse workforce in the culture sector” is one of its priorities.
“We want diversity to run through all our funds,” says Orna-Ornstein. “There needs to be an increased focus on diversity and equality.”
He adds that sharing best practice in this area by collecting “robust data” from ACE’s Major Partner Museums is a key objective.
ACE’s Equality and Diversity Within the Arts and Cultural Sector in England report, published in September, revealed some significant statistics.
Across the creative sector, 7% of staff in 2011-12 were from a black or minority ethnic background, compared with 12.3% of staff and managers across ACE’s National Portfolio Organisations and Major Partner Museums in 2012-13.
Between 1998 and 2011, the Museums Association’s (MA) Diversify programme aimed to make museum careers more accessible to people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. The scheme later encompassed disabled people and those from low-income households.
More than 130 participants and about 50 museums took part. A survey of participants in 2012 found that three-quarters were employed in museums within six months of completing the programme. Diversity as an aim is also implicit in Museums Changes Lives, the MA’s vision for the future of museums.
Meanwhile, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) launched its Skills for the Future programme in 2009. The HLF has awarded grants totalling £47m under the initiative, which is intended to increase the diversity of the heritage workforce. More than 800 work placements have subsequently been created.
A recent key initiative, Learning Museum, has been launched by the British Museum under the Skills for the Future umbrella.
“Learning Museum seeks to recruit 20 museums across the UK that will offer year-long supported traineeships, grounded in core collections skills to 20 18- to 24-year-olds from communities under-represented in the heritage workforce,” says a British Museum spokeswoman.
There are museums looking at other strategies. “Some museums, such as Thinktank in Birmingham, are focusing on diversifying their volunteers with a long-term aim of some of them crossing over to the paid workforce,” says museum consultant Caitlin Griffiths.
Despite these initiatives, poor pay and the competition for jobs will continue to hinder workforce diversity.
It is important that museums reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. A diverse workforce that is experimental, prepared to take risks and thinks differently is a key element to an organisation becoming more entrepreneurial and, therefore, more resilient.
It is great that diversity is at the core of the British Museum’s Learning Museum. Such programmes can have an impact. The MA’s Diversify scheme succeeded in getting people from diverse backgrounds into the sector, and it led to organisational change at some museums that took part. But it is arguable as to whether Diversify alone resulted in a significant shift in the sector’s workforce diversity.
A combined approach, not one-off intervention, is needed. Another lever is the one that external funding bodies can exert. It is appropriate that ACE expects its funded organisations to show how they are working towards a more diverse workforce, as it is public money being allocated.
Increasing diversity through training schemes and funding is important, but the driver to change must come from within.
Lucy Shaw, the manager at Oxford Aspire, coordinated the MA’s Diversify scheme
“The sector has, perhaps, taken its eye off the ball regarding diversity because of economic pressures,” says John Orna-Ornstein, the director of museums at Arts Council England (ACE).
ACE recently launched a museums resilience fund with a budget of £10m for 2015-16 – and promoting a “skilled, knowledgeable, professional and diverse workforce in the culture sector” is one of its priorities.
“We want diversity to run through all our funds,” says Orna-Ornstein. “There needs to be an increased focus on diversity and equality.”
He adds that sharing best practice in this area by collecting “robust data” from ACE’s Major Partner Museums is a key objective.
ACE’s Equality and Diversity Within the Arts and Cultural Sector in England report, published in September, revealed some significant statistics.
Across the creative sector, 7% of staff in 2011-12 were from a black or minority ethnic background, compared with 12.3% of staff and managers across ACE’s National Portfolio Organisations and Major Partner Museums in 2012-13.
Between 1998 and 2011, the Museums Association’s (MA) Diversify programme aimed to make museum careers more accessible to people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. The scheme later encompassed disabled people and those from low-income households.
More than 130 participants and about 50 museums took part. A survey of participants in 2012 found that three-quarters were employed in museums within six months of completing the programme. Diversity as an aim is also implicit in Museums Changes Lives, the MA’s vision for the future of museums.
Meanwhile, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) launched its Skills for the Future programme in 2009. The HLF has awarded grants totalling £47m under the initiative, which is intended to increase the diversity of the heritage workforce. More than 800 work placements have subsequently been created.
A recent key initiative, Learning Museum, has been launched by the British Museum under the Skills for the Future umbrella.
“Learning Museum seeks to recruit 20 museums across the UK that will offer year-long supported traineeships, grounded in core collections skills to 20 18- to 24-year-olds from communities under-represented in the heritage workforce,” says a British Museum spokeswoman.
There are museums looking at other strategies. “Some museums, such as Thinktank in Birmingham, are focusing on diversifying their volunteers with a long-term aim of some of them crossing over to the paid workforce,” says museum consultant Caitlin Griffiths.
Despite these initiatives, poor pay and the competition for jobs will continue to hinder workforce diversity.
Combined approach
It is important that museums reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. A diverse workforce that is experimental, prepared to take risks and thinks differently is a key element to an organisation becoming more entrepreneurial and, therefore, more resilient.
It is great that diversity is at the core of the British Museum’s Learning Museum. Such programmes can have an impact. The MA’s Diversify scheme succeeded in getting people from diverse backgrounds into the sector, and it led to organisational change at some museums that took part. But it is arguable as to whether Diversify alone resulted in a significant shift in the sector’s workforce diversity.
A combined approach, not one-off intervention, is needed. Another lever is the one that external funding bodies can exert. It is appropriate that ACE expects its funded organisations to show how they are working towards a more diverse workforce, as it is public money being allocated.
Increasing diversity through training schemes and funding is important, but the driver to change must come from within.
Lucy Shaw, the manager at Oxford Aspire, coordinated the MA’s Diversify scheme