diversity by numbers

My latest blog post about diversity in arts policy over at Hybrid...

"Fears that projects championing multiculturalism and diversity will suffer from restructuring in the Arts Council and become sidelined by other concerns have been fed by the fact that ACE seems to have distanced diversity from artistic excellence in their draft strategy for the future (Jatinder Verma, Arts Professional 21 June 2010.) Does this mean diversity will no longer be a policy priority, but an agenda confined to separate developmental work with no place within the wider culture of excellence ACE seeks to promote?"

Refugee Art

Link to a recent article I wrote on the Hybrid blog about Refugees and Imaginative Space:
"In the same way that work by black artists has become ‘black art,’ work by refugees and asylum seekers is considered ‘refugee art’ with expectations that it will contain certain themes – pain, loss, displacement, marginalisation. These are comfortable themes for what Rotas describes as a “right on” culture that wants to pat itself on the back for its commitment to diversity and giving voice to ‘others.’"