Diverse challenges
Julie Nightingale talks to a number of senior sector figures to gauge their views on multiculturalism as a social policy
Patricia Allan
Curator of World Cultures
Glasgow Museums
Asking a curator of world cultures whether multiculturalism still has value seems like a redundant question but, as Patricia Allan says, the idea that one culture or a group of cultures is superior to others still holds sway.
From there, it’s not hard to see how that inequality filters down, albeit unconsciously, through to judgements about audiences and workforce.
“Art reflects the culture and history of the person or people who made it,” says Allan, the curator of World Cultures at Glasgow Museums.
“To put a value judgement on western or eastern art being any more valuable than the other is patronising and out-dated. But we still hear it, it’s constant.”
She points to what happened when Glasgow was bringing artworks from India for its Renew capsule collection project on Indian folk art.
“We collected three types of art in India: truck art, tribal art in the form of sculptures from West Bengal, and what you would call ‘contemporary’ Indian art in the western definition. When the Indian specialists transported it, everything that could be defined as western art – sculptures and paintings – was packed to the standard you’d expect for valuable objects.
But the tribal sculptures, in particular a lifesize impression of Mahatma Ghandi in brass alloy on a plinth by the artist Subho Karnakar, came packed in newspaper. It was driven from West Bengal to Delhi in the monsoon season and when it arrived its leg had fallen off.”
Curators who become involved in outreach work for engaging different audiences also need to take on board different perceptions of what’s “good” or of value, says Allan. They should not allow their own critical view to influence the selections of a group putting together an exhibition, for example.
“If you open the doors of your museum and stores and take the approach of inclusive multiculturalism, as a curator you must accept others’ judgements as well. If you don’t suspend your ego and allow the group you’re working with to make their own choices it doesn’t really work.”
Abid Hussain
Senior Manager Diversity
Arts Council England
Diversity, not multiculturalism, is the key term for Arts Council England (ACE), as it is elsewhere in the sector, says Abid Hussain, the organisation’s senior manager in diversity.
“Multiculturalism is quite often linked to cultural diversity and ethnic diversity – it’s a very narrow lens,” he says.
“Our definition is much broader, in line with the Equality Act’s list of protected characteristics, including race and ethnicity, faith, sexual orientation. We add to that class and socio-economic barriers.”
He points to the British Museum’s Hajj exhibition in 2012 as an example of what a successful approach to diversity looks like. “It’s very embedded in the work, part of how they curate, how they programme and what they put forward as part of the artistic and cultural offer. It had amazing visitor numbers and brought people in who had not come to the museum previously.”
As far as government rhetoric on “multiculturalism” goes, Hussain says there may be a tougher line on extremism and radicalisation, signalled by Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech on extremism in Birmingham in July, but that it is positively embracing aspects of other cultures that it sees useful to the UK.
“There are going to be conversations in government around immigration, Islamophobia and preventing extremism,” Hussain says. “But look at the other conversations, like arts minister Ed Vaizey championing diversity across the arts sector. So when it comes down to departmental level, there seems to be recognition in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that diversity is important.”
Sukhy Johal
Chairman, New Art Exchange, Nottingham
Nottingham’s New Art Exchange is the largest gallery in the UK dedicated to culturally diverse contemporary visual arts.
Sukhy Johal, its chairman, rejects the idea that multiculturalism has failed and points out that government isn’t necessarily the best or only arbiter of whether multiculturalism is working.
“Just because government policy has changed direction, it doesn’t mean that society does,” says Johal.
“But I think it is disappointing that the government sometimes frames multiculturalism around communities living parallel lives. Some policies worked, but they were badly implemented.”
Johal rejects the argument that multicultural approaches have, in some areas, been at the cost of the white working-class, as an oversimplification.
“I think the issues around under-representation of the working class and promotion of multiculturalism have been conflated. Race and colour become the argument when there’s more that unites those deprived communities – poor housing, poor education – than divides them. Policymakers don’t see through that.”
Johal applauded the recent acknowledgement by Arts Council England (ACE) chairman Peter Bazalgette of the failure of ACE and others in the cultural sector to support diverse practice, and promising renewed energy in addressing issues around access and funding.
But if the arts council and the government are serious about wanting to tackle the problems
of division that persist among communities then they need to reflect on the role that culture plays in bringing people together, This is all the more relevant as Britain receives new immigrants from areas of conflict, he says.
“The culture sector is brilliant at bringing people together to learn about other people in the public sphere, whether it’s a big outdoor festival or a small exhibition,” Johal says.
“If the sector is at the vanguard of engaging and bringing communities together but its services are cut back, then it won’t be surprising if we have issues down the line when people begin to live even more separate lives as a result.”
David Fleming
Director, National Museums Liverpool
On one level, David Fleming, the director of National Museums Liverpool, believes that government policy on multiculturalism is immaterial. Museums and galleries have been working to widen audiences, engage different groups of all kinds, not only ethnic minorities, and generally pursue a diversity agenda for many years.
“Multiculturalism is not a function of government policy,” Fleming says.“It’s something many have been working on for many decades, driven by a quest for an integrated society.
“My own definition of it, is that it’s not just about ethnicity and religion, but also gender, class and other issues where people may find themselves outside the mainstream. Nobody can claim that it’s failed because it’s a neverending process.”
On the other hand, if government ceases to make it a priority, it might well have an impact on funding.
“Funding always comes with strings attached,” he says. “The risk is that as institutions find themselves under financial pressure they will be less able to allocate resources towards diversifying audiences.”
In Liverpool at least, there is no obvious cry from the public for culture to be more mainstream and less diverse, he adds.
“Cultural activity is very high profile – Liverpool and Glasgow are probably the two places in the UK where fights would break out over a cultural activity but they never have and I like to think that’s because we’re in tune with the public,” Fleming says.
“There has never been more than the occasional squeak from the extreme right. So I always remain optimistic about public opinion.”
Sarah Levitt
Head of arts and museums
Leicester City Council
Nearly 50% of Leicester’s population is classed as “ethnic minority” and the city is now regularly cited as a model of multiculturalism, where people of different races and faiths, long- standing settlers and new arrivals, live, work and play together.
The word “multicultural” doesn’t do Leicester justice, says Sarah Levitt, the head of the city’s arts and museums service, who prefers the word “intercultural” as a way to explain its all-embracing vibe.
“Using the term multiculturalism tends to make people feel excluded rather than included, whereas being intercultural is about encouraging people to be interested in each other’s heritages.
"It recognises that everyone has their own culture and that they can all come together in one place, rather than living parallel existences with little cross-over. So we feel, to some extent, that national thinking needs to change to catch up with us.”
She points to the city’s two-week festival programme during August, which features a sports festival, the South-Asian festival of Mela and a whole programme of events in festival time in Leicester, where half of the population is classed as being from an ‘ethnic minority' museums, which all form part of Leicester’s interculturalist agenda and show its approach to different religions.
“Local authorities are traditionally secular but you can’t ‘do’ diversity properly if you don’t engage with faith,” Levitt says.
She also points to the way the city council has pursued a cultural policy that is deliberately inclusive, shaped in part by data in the early 2000s that showed that the intercity areas of greatest deprivation were white working-class estates.
Some of those who have doubts about multi- or inter-culturalism argue that a focus on minority communities has been at the expense of traditional British cultures and values.
Leicester’s data changed the focus of the council’s work, and led to projects such as that with the Royal Leicestershire Regiment Association on a redisplay of Newarke Houses Museum, which opened in 2007.
“It focused on the regimental story, and Leicester in the two world wars, a subject important to the city’s traditional communities,” Levitt says.
Conference calling
Multiculturalism will be high on the agenda at this year’s Museums Association (MA) Annual Conference (5-6 November) in Birmingham, reflecting the fact that it is one of the most diverse cities in Britain.
One conference session, Understanding Diversity, looks at the challenges and opportunities for engaging communities in diverse cities such as Birmingham.
The speakers are Angela Creese, a professor at the University of Birmingham; consultant Izzy Mohammed; and Toby Watley, the director of collections at Birmingham Museums Trust. The chair is Simon Taylor, the head of learning at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery.
Another session will look at Muslim communities, a significant element of British society that is rarely fully represented in museum audiences. Speakers will ask how far museums should focus on consultation and engagement with these communities in the context of anti-radicalisation agendas and growing Islamophobia.
This session will be chaired by Andrew Fowles, the learning and access manager at Birmingham Museums Trust. The speakers are Abid Hussain, senior manager, diversity, at Arts Council England; Mohammed Ali, an artist from Soul City Arts; and Rebecca Bridgman, the curator of Islamic and South Asian Art at Birmingham Museums Trust.
Other sessions will look at the issues surrounding diversity in the workforce, including a debate about what can be done to attract a wider range of people to begin careers in the sector.
Simon Stephens, the head of publications and events at the Museums Association
Curator of World Cultures
Glasgow Museums
Asking a curator of world cultures whether multiculturalism still has value seems like a redundant question but, as Patricia Allan says, the idea that one culture or a group of cultures is superior to others still holds sway.
From there, it’s not hard to see how that inequality filters down, albeit unconsciously, through to judgements about audiences and workforce.
“Art reflects the culture and history of the person or people who made it,” says Allan, the curator of World Cultures at Glasgow Museums.
“To put a value judgement on western or eastern art being any more valuable than the other is patronising and out-dated. But we still hear it, it’s constant.”
She points to what happened when Glasgow was bringing artworks from India for its Renew capsule collection project on Indian folk art.
“We collected three types of art in India: truck art, tribal art in the form of sculptures from West Bengal, and what you would call ‘contemporary’ Indian art in the western definition. When the Indian specialists transported it, everything that could be defined as western art – sculptures and paintings – was packed to the standard you’d expect for valuable objects.
But the tribal sculptures, in particular a lifesize impression of Mahatma Ghandi in brass alloy on a plinth by the artist Subho Karnakar, came packed in newspaper. It was driven from West Bengal to Delhi in the monsoon season and when it arrived its leg had fallen off.”
Curators who become involved in outreach work for engaging different audiences also need to take on board different perceptions of what’s “good” or of value, says Allan. They should not allow their own critical view to influence the selections of a group putting together an exhibition, for example.
“If you open the doors of your museum and stores and take the approach of inclusive multiculturalism, as a curator you must accept others’ judgements as well. If you don’t suspend your ego and allow the group you’re working with to make their own choices it doesn’t really work.”
Abid Hussain
Senior Manager Diversity
Arts Council England
Diversity, not multiculturalism, is the key term for Arts Council England (ACE), as it is elsewhere in the sector, says Abid Hussain, the organisation’s senior manager in diversity.
“Multiculturalism is quite often linked to cultural diversity and ethnic diversity – it’s a very narrow lens,” he says.
“Our definition is much broader, in line with the Equality Act’s list of protected characteristics, including race and ethnicity, faith, sexual orientation. We add to that class and socio-economic barriers.”
He points to the British Museum’s Hajj exhibition in 2012 as an example of what a successful approach to diversity looks like. “It’s very embedded in the work, part of how they curate, how they programme and what they put forward as part of the artistic and cultural offer. It had amazing visitor numbers and brought people in who had not come to the museum previously.”
As far as government rhetoric on “multiculturalism” goes, Hussain says there may be a tougher line on extremism and radicalisation, signalled by Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech on extremism in Birmingham in July, but that it is positively embracing aspects of other cultures that it sees useful to the UK.
“There are going to be conversations in government around immigration, Islamophobia and preventing extremism,” Hussain says. “But look at the other conversations, like arts minister Ed Vaizey championing diversity across the arts sector. So when it comes down to departmental level, there seems to be recognition in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that diversity is important.”
Sukhy Johal
Chairman, New Art Exchange, Nottingham
Nottingham’s New Art Exchange is the largest gallery in the UK dedicated to culturally diverse contemporary visual arts.
Sukhy Johal, its chairman, rejects the idea that multiculturalism has failed and points out that government isn’t necessarily the best or only arbiter of whether multiculturalism is working.
“Just because government policy has changed direction, it doesn’t mean that society does,” says Johal.
“But I think it is disappointing that the government sometimes frames multiculturalism around communities living parallel lives. Some policies worked, but they were badly implemented.”
Johal rejects the argument that multicultural approaches have, in some areas, been at the cost of the white working-class, as an oversimplification.
“I think the issues around under-representation of the working class and promotion of multiculturalism have been conflated. Race and colour become the argument when there’s more that unites those deprived communities – poor housing, poor education – than divides them. Policymakers don’t see through that.”
Johal applauded the recent acknowledgement by Arts Council England (ACE) chairman Peter Bazalgette of the failure of ACE and others in the cultural sector to support diverse practice, and promising renewed energy in addressing issues around access and funding.
But if the arts council and the government are serious about wanting to tackle the problems
of division that persist among communities then they need to reflect on the role that culture plays in bringing people together, This is all the more relevant as Britain receives new immigrants from areas of conflict, he says.
“The culture sector is brilliant at bringing people together to learn about other people in the public sphere, whether it’s a big outdoor festival or a small exhibition,” Johal says.
“If the sector is at the vanguard of engaging and bringing communities together but its services are cut back, then it won’t be surprising if we have issues down the line when people begin to live even more separate lives as a result.”
David Fleming
Director, National Museums Liverpool
On one level, David Fleming, the director of National Museums Liverpool, believes that government policy on multiculturalism is immaterial. Museums and galleries have been working to widen audiences, engage different groups of all kinds, not only ethnic minorities, and generally pursue a diversity agenda for many years.
“Multiculturalism is not a function of government policy,” Fleming says.“It’s something many have been working on for many decades, driven by a quest for an integrated society.
“My own definition of it, is that it’s not just about ethnicity and religion, but also gender, class and other issues where people may find themselves outside the mainstream. Nobody can claim that it’s failed because it’s a neverending process.”
On the other hand, if government ceases to make it a priority, it might well have an impact on funding.
“Funding always comes with strings attached,” he says. “The risk is that as institutions find themselves under financial pressure they will be less able to allocate resources towards diversifying audiences.”
In Liverpool at least, there is no obvious cry from the public for culture to be more mainstream and less diverse, he adds.
“Cultural activity is very high profile – Liverpool and Glasgow are probably the two places in the UK where fights would break out over a cultural activity but they never have and I like to think that’s because we’re in tune with the public,” Fleming says.
“There has never been more than the occasional squeak from the extreme right. So I always remain optimistic about public opinion.”
Sarah Levitt
Head of arts and museums
Leicester City Council
Nearly 50% of Leicester’s population is classed as “ethnic minority” and the city is now regularly cited as a model of multiculturalism, where people of different races and faiths, long- standing settlers and new arrivals, live, work and play together.
The word “multicultural” doesn’t do Leicester justice, says Sarah Levitt, the head of the city’s arts and museums service, who prefers the word “intercultural” as a way to explain its all-embracing vibe.
“Using the term multiculturalism tends to make people feel excluded rather than included, whereas being intercultural is about encouraging people to be interested in each other’s heritages.
"It recognises that everyone has their own culture and that they can all come together in one place, rather than living parallel existences with little cross-over. So we feel, to some extent, that national thinking needs to change to catch up with us.”
She points to the city’s two-week festival programme during August, which features a sports festival, the South-Asian festival of Mela and a whole programme of events in festival time in Leicester, where half of the population is classed as being from an ‘ethnic minority' museums, which all form part of Leicester’s interculturalist agenda and show its approach to different religions.
“Local authorities are traditionally secular but you can’t ‘do’ diversity properly if you don’t engage with faith,” Levitt says.
She also points to the way the city council has pursued a cultural policy that is deliberately inclusive, shaped in part by data in the early 2000s that showed that the intercity areas of greatest deprivation were white working-class estates.
Some of those who have doubts about multi- or inter-culturalism argue that a focus on minority communities has been at the expense of traditional British cultures and values.
Leicester’s data changed the focus of the council’s work, and led to projects such as that with the Royal Leicestershire Regiment Association on a redisplay of Newarke Houses Museum, which opened in 2007.
“It focused on the regimental story, and Leicester in the two world wars, a subject important to the city’s traditional communities,” Levitt says.
Conference calling
Multiculturalism will be high on the agenda at this year’s Museums Association (MA) Annual Conference (5-6 November) in Birmingham, reflecting the fact that it is one of the most diverse cities in Britain.
One conference session, Understanding Diversity, looks at the challenges and opportunities for engaging communities in diverse cities such as Birmingham.
The speakers are Angela Creese, a professor at the University of Birmingham; consultant Izzy Mohammed; and Toby Watley, the director of collections at Birmingham Museums Trust. The chair is Simon Taylor, the head of learning at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery.
Another session will look at Muslim communities, a significant element of British society that is rarely fully represented in museum audiences. Speakers will ask how far museums should focus on consultation and engagement with these communities in the context of anti-radicalisation agendas and growing Islamophobia.
This session will be chaired by Andrew Fowles, the learning and access manager at Birmingham Museums Trust. The speakers are Abid Hussain, senior manager, diversity, at Arts Council England; Mohammed Ali, an artist from Soul City Arts; and Rebecca Bridgman, the curator of Islamic and South Asian Art at Birmingham Museums Trust.
Other sessions will look at the issues surrounding diversity in the workforce, including a debate about what can be done to attract a wider range of people to begin careers in the sector.
Simon Stephens, the head of publications and events at the Museums Association