The deep cuts to the Black History Month (BHM) budget allocation by London mayor Boris Johnson signals the steady destruction of the multicultural cloth weaved during Ken Livingstone’s tenure.
In 2003 BHM core funding from the mayor was £25,000, by 2008 this was increased to £76,000. This year the BHM season will receive £10,000 worth of events. That equates to a slash of a whopping 86 per cent. The annual Africa Day budget has been withdrawn completely.
BHM is not alone. Funding for the Chinese New Year and the Asian Mela have also been cut. But both these events have strong external business backing leaving them in a more sustainable position. Perhaps the African Caribbean community should take heed.
All the cuts point in one direction. The mayor’s cultural adviser, Munira Mirza, self-professed as anti-cultural diversity, is seeing ideas akin to hers taking shape.
But how can the increase in St George’s Day funding – from £100,000 to £140,000 be justified? And perhaps most shocking is throwing £100,000 at a USA Day – to coincide with the Superbowl coming to London.
There is understanding about the increase in the St George’s Day budget since some say it was unfairly sidelined by Livingstone. But USA Day; does London really need or want this?
Concerned academics used a national newspaper to register their protest at the BHM cuts. And London Assembly member Jennette Arnold has asked for the funding to be restored. She said: “It seems that the mayor is more interested in wooing wealthy Americans than uniting London’s communities.”
Johnson’s response was to point out that there are budget pressures and taxpayer value had to be addressed.
City Hall’s Cultural Strategy is currently being written. The press office there has confirmed that it won’t be published before the general election. When it is made public, it will be telling how strongly, if at all, cultural diversity features.
