Sector galvanised to tackle lack of diversity
Arts council to encourage greater diversity in Major Partner Museums. Patrick Steel reports
Arts Council England (ACE) will publish 2014-15 diversity figures for Major Partner Museums (MPM) this month, for the first time since annual reporting of these statistics became a requirement of MPM funding agreements.
The latest analysis of diversity in the MPM workforce by ACE, published in July 2014, shows that attempts to diversify board and management positions in particular have had little impact, while the number of staff from black, Asian and ethnic minorities (BAME) and museum workers with disabilities or long-term illness remain disproportionately low.
ACE currently has no data on people in the museum sector who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer/questioning, and a lack of quantitative data on the diversity of front-of-house roles as compared with curators or conservators.
The lack of decent monitoring data is pathetic, says Sara Wajid, the public programmes manager of the National Maritime Museum, given the sector has been debating the subject for years.
Wajid organises Museum Detox, a network for BAME museum professionals “who occasionally tire of being one of the few”.
Pointing to the inertia around this issue, she says that although the sector sees itself as liberal, “most of us non-white people would reflect the sector as being institutionally racist”.
Better and more consistent data is a key recommendation of an independent report by the Museum Consultancy last month into diversity in MPMs.
ACE has endorsed the report and is “working closely in partnership with the MPMs to find practical ways of delivering”.
ACE’s focus on what it calls the “creative case for diversity” seems to be galvanising museums, with MPM directors reporting close scrutiny of their equality action plans and discussions about progress at quarterly meetings.
The first formal meeting of the MPM workforce and leadership group last month involved discussions over a delivery plan for the report’s 20 recommendations, with timescales and targets. This was being finalised as Museums Journal went to press.
The recommendations include more opportunities to expand career development within museums, rescoping specialist roles and job descriptions to boost diversity, and a national programme of management-level traineeships from April 2018.
This last recommendation is important, says Caitlin Griffiths, a consultant with the Museum Consultancy and one of the report’s co-authors, because although entry-level programmes exist, “we need more diversity in middle and senior management roles, otherwise we’re just tinkering around the edges”.
As funding cuts continue, the question of resourcing the recommendations remains. ACE’s July 2014 equality analysis report reveals that “continued reduction of funding available for the MPMs from 2018 onwards” would have a “high” negative impact on diversity.
But cuts cannot be used as an excuse for failing to address diversity, says Steve Miller, the director of Norfolk Museums Service, who argues that a changed mindset is not reliant on funding.
ACE has responded to the Museum Consultancy report by pledging to create a vision and framework for the workforce, in consultation with the sector, by April 2017. Could this be the beginning of the end of the inertia?
The latest analysis of diversity in the MPM workforce by ACE, published in July 2014, shows that attempts to diversify board and management positions in particular have had little impact, while the number of staff from black, Asian and ethnic minorities (BAME) and museum workers with disabilities or long-term illness remain disproportionately low.
ACE currently has no data on people in the museum sector who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer/questioning, and a lack of quantitative data on the diversity of front-of-house roles as compared with curators or conservators.
The lack of decent monitoring data is pathetic, says Sara Wajid, the public programmes manager of the National Maritime Museum, given the sector has been debating the subject for years.
Wajid organises Museum Detox, a network for BAME museum professionals “who occasionally tire of being one of the few”.
Pointing to the inertia around this issue, she says that although the sector sees itself as liberal, “most of us non-white people would reflect the sector as being institutionally racist”.
Better and more consistent data is a key recommendation of an independent report by the Museum Consultancy last month into diversity in MPMs.
ACE has endorsed the report and is “working closely in partnership with the MPMs to find practical ways of delivering”.
ACE’s focus on what it calls the “creative case for diversity” seems to be galvanising museums, with MPM directors reporting close scrutiny of their equality action plans and discussions about progress at quarterly meetings.
The first formal meeting of the MPM workforce and leadership group last month involved discussions over a delivery plan for the report’s 20 recommendations, with timescales and targets. This was being finalised as Museums Journal went to press.
The recommendations include more opportunities to expand career development within museums, rescoping specialist roles and job descriptions to boost diversity, and a national programme of management-level traineeships from April 2018.
This last recommendation is important, says Caitlin Griffiths, a consultant with the Museum Consultancy and one of the report’s co-authors, because although entry-level programmes exist, “we need more diversity in middle and senior management roles, otherwise we’re just tinkering around the edges”.
As funding cuts continue, the question of resourcing the recommendations remains. ACE’s July 2014 equality analysis report reveals that “continued reduction of funding available for the MPMs from 2018 onwards” would have a “high” negative impact on diversity.
But cuts cannot be used as an excuse for failing to address diversity, says Steve Miller, the director of Norfolk Museums Service, who argues that a changed mindset is not reliant on funding.
ACE has responded to the Museum Consultancy report by pledging to create a vision and framework for the workforce, in consultation with the sector, by April 2017. Could this be the beginning of the end of the inertia?