Arts Council England launches annual diversity report

The 2018-19 report is published to coincide with the launch of the third in a series of Diversity Webinars organised by the Arts Council.

ARTS COUNCIL England have published thier its fifth annual diversity report – featuring data from 2018-19, it is the first to cover the 2018-22 National Portfolio, which now includes Libraries, Museums and Sector Support Organisations.

Equality, Diversity and the Creative Case outlines the progress that the Arts Council and the organisations it funds are making in implementing diversity. Despite the inclusion of many new diverse led organisations into the portfolio, the rate of change for workforce, leadership and governance is slow.

The representation of Disabled people and those with a Black and minority ethnic background across National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) remains too low. Only 11 per cent of the NPO workforce are not white, compared with 16 per cent of the working age population; the percentage of Artistic Directors and Chairs are both also 11 per cent – although overall board representation is slightly higher at 15 per cent – and Chief Executives is slightly lower at 10 per cent.

Disabled representation is also concerning, with only six per cent of people across the NPO workforce identifying as disabled, compared with 21 per cent of the working age population. There is slightly better representation at leadership level, with nine per cent Chief Executives and eight per cent Artistic Directors, although board representation is seven per cent and only five per cent of Chairs are disabled.

The picture for gender is better, with 52 per cent of NPOs run by female Chief Executives (41 per cent male) and 45 per cent of Artistic Directors identifying as female (41 per cent male) – although there is more to be done at board level, as only 40 per cent of Chairs are female (55 per cent male).

This year’s report includes several changes, allowing readers to analyse the data by geography, discipline/artform and level of Arts Council investment for the first time, revealing some interesting data. For instance, Dance has the highest percentage of black and minority ethnic workforce, at 18 per cent, but the lowest of disabled workers at three per cent. Museums had the highest female workforce, at 57 per cent, with Music the lowest at only 37 per cent.

Geographically, London had the highest number of black and minority ethnic workers, at 15 per cent, and disabled workers at six per cent (the remaining Areas are all at five per cent).

We also introduced a new four-point scale for Creative Case ratings and have included the ratings for all NPOs in this report, having previously only published aggregated data.

Introduced in 2011, the Creative Case for Diversity has been instrumental in driving change about the work that funded organisations produce, present and collect.

This year we’ve reminded Band two and Band three NPOs that they must achieve a rating of at least ‘strong’ by 2021; if they don’t this will be taken into consideration at decision making for the next National Portfolio. Any organisation that receives two ‘not met’ ratings across 2018-22 will be ineligible to apply for next portfolio.

Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said: “This year’s annual diversity report reveals a disappointing picture. A key tenet of our new strategy for 2020-30, Let’s Create, is that the organisations we fund, and that the Arts Council itself, should be representative of society.

“In the new strategy, organisations that receive regular investment from ACE will need to set themselves stretching targets for representation in governance, leadership, workforce, participants and audiences.

“Failure to meet these targets will have an impact on future funding. Over the years there has been progress – and since launching the Creative Case for Diversity in 2011 much has been done by organisations to focus on the work they produce, collect and present – but we must now all act with greater determination to remove the persistent inequalities in our boards, our workforce and our audiences that are holding back opportunity and achievement in our sector.”

The webinar is being livestreamed from Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) and is available to watch from 11:15 here.

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