As reported by Hélène Mulholland, it emerged at today’s meeting of the GLA Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee that Munira Mirza could be installed as Chair of Arts Council London.
Be afraid. Be very afraid. At today’s meeting, Munira was claiming that the lead-in for her June 2009 Story Of London “festival” wasn’t long enough as they only took over the mayoral administration in May 2008 and they needed at least a year to plan it. Now, Story Of London wasn’t announced until February 2009 and suffered from abysmal marketing.
I also see from comments on BorisWatch passim that the planned Polish Festival was cancelled with no explanation and in the written answers to questions at May 2009 MQT it was stated: “Black History Month (£107k reduction to £25k. Note: £72k funds carried over to 2009/10)” – a very interesting statement as the GLA events calendar features no events for Black History Month this year. What’s happened to that money?
I had the dubious pleasure of hearing Ms Mirza speak at length about her cultural ideology last night at the debate “Cultural diversity initiatives reinforce stereotypes rather than remove them” at Notting Hill’s Tabernacle. The debate was organised by Cultural Co-operation, a London-based arts and education charity which has over twenty years’ experience of organising events featuring artists from around the world.
The event was chaired by broadcaster and journalist Wesley Kerr (who eschewed the bottled water favoured by the panellists for a can of Red Stripe) and the panel featured Palestinian singer Reem Kelani, journalist and writer Mike Phillips, political and social activist Ranjit Sodhi, long-standing public and charity sector worker Ansel Wong, Arts Council London’s Head of Diversity Valerie Synmoie and libertarian and disciple of Frank Furedi, Munira Mirza.
There follows a summary of Munira’s speech from my copious notes:
She said that London’s arts are open to influences from all around the world, London is a global interchange for culture. People have the freedom to practise their cultural traditions, meet with other people and transcend the ethnic background which they were born into [transcend? She makes it sound as though one's ethnic background's a bad thing]. She believed that there was a distinction between Cultural Co-operation’s and “official” diversity initiatives. Official, State-led authorities and agencies have different agendas – to look for ethnicity first and then cultural value afterwards.
She said that cultural events and audiences were being defined in a rigid way. She said that she had four main problems with the consequences of “official” diversity:
1. Many artists and arts organisations are ambivalent about being labelled; uncomfortable about being called black or Asian or Muslim. Categories like “black artist” are supposed to cover a whole range of arts practices.
2. It reinforces stereotypes of artists and cultural initiatives. Young artists think museums and galleries are all racist and not open to initiatives from other countries. People grow up thinking culture is elite and not open to them. The Jewish community have preserved their identity without any State subsidy. The Jewish Museum has a huge amount of cultural value.
3. It creates stereotypes of the audience and implies that certain communities are not interested in certain types of culture. Margaret Hodge criticised the Proms for being too white and saying that classical music is not relevant – this is stereotyping and “racialised”.
4. “Official” cultural diversity will be out of date in 10-15 years. It doesn’t reflect recent immigration [what happened to that cancelled Polish Festival, then?]. Events at grassroots level have moved far ahead of “official” diversity policy, which still uses the term BAME.
Arts Council London’s Head of Diversity, Valerie Synmoie, said:
Of 280 organisations which are regularly funded by Arts Council London, 230 are predominantly white-led. 84% of the arts workforce in London is white. The Arts Councils have been criticised for having a “tick-box” mentality. However, the arts and cultural sector, like the rest of society, is not a level playing field. She mentioned three Arts Council London programmes which had been set up to aid BAME applicants for jobs in the arts sector:
1. The Inspire programme. aiming to diversify the curatorial workforce in museums and galleries. They had 130 applications for 11 places and aim to roll out the programme nationally.
2. Diversity In Publishing – 190 applications for 11 places.
3. GAME , which aims to diversify the boards of arts and cultural organisations in London, in association with the Mayor of London [excuse me if I titter, only if they're Tories, hmm?].
Munira spoke again, saying that she would like some initiatives to be dismantled. If they’re culturally important to London, that’s OK. She would like to dismantle some of the Arts Council initiatives and remove stereotypes as part of positive discrimination. Valerie countered this by saying that all the applicants for the Inspire programme were over-qualified but unable to break into the arts world.
Munira said that the Notting Hill Carnival is a cultural event, not a diversity event, and should be treated like any other event. She has a problem with events targetted by the ethnicity of the audience [what *is* she on about? I first went to Carnival in 1982, it was all ethnicities even then - indeed, one of the organisers in the audience said he thought there were now more white people on floats than non-whites]. She then said that she wanted to encourage study of the history of art in schools, not just private schools.
Munira ended by bragging that Arts Council London had funded, for the first time, the “English Song & Dance Society”. I think she means the English Folk Dance & Song Society, which should please the BNP. Much as I adore Spiers and Boden and enjoy watching Morris Dancing, have you ever seen a non-white Morris Dancer? I am also ambivalent about Cecil Sharp, founder of the EFDSS, as although he preserved English folk songs and dance in a fashion, he appropriated working-class culture, cleaned it up (removing bawdy lyrics and dance) and presented it as a bland and quaint diversion for the middle classes.
Since taking up her position in the Mayor’s office, Munira Mirza has been appointed to the board of not just Arts Council London but Museums, Libraries and Archives London and she is also a Council Member on the UK Committee Of The European Cultural Foundation.
Tags: 6 Comments
6 responses so far ↓
… have you ever seen a non-white Morris Dancer?
Yes of course. Sort of. It’s been going on for 200 years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Morris
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/morris-dancers-face-ban-over-black-makeup-715386.html
It is with horror that I read Helen’s email and her reference to the recent funding of the English Folk Dance and Song Society by Arts Council England as pleasing the BNP.
EFDSS is not about preserving and promoting white heritage which her comment implies; it is about preserving and promoting the indigenous cultures of England; and while our emphasis is on the songs, music and dances that have emanated from England over the past 300 to 400 hundred years we also work with folk cultures from around the world and those of the multi-cultural population of this country.
Our library has a substantial collection of folk dances and music from every corner of the planet, EFDSS was responsible for staging the first international folk dance festival and conference in 1935, we have a culturally diverse range of dance classes taking place in our building every week, and we are currently working in partnership with Asian and Eastern European dance and music organisations.
Over the past 12 months we have been working in schools in Lancashire on projects that brought together the traditional songs of the county with the Asian cultures that 90% of these children experience in their homes and their temples and mosques. Is it wrong to want to preserve and celebrate the intangible heritage of the British Isles along side the rich cultures of eg Asian, Africa, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe?
Helen, do not bring EFDSS in to your rant against Munira Mizra and the cultural programme and policies of the Mayor’s Office or the Arts Council, and do not align us and the folk arts with the BNP.
“Helen, do not bring EFDSS in to your rant against Munira Mizra and the cultural programme and policies of the Mayor’s Office or the Arts Council, and do not align us and the folk arts with the BNP.”
Karma.
Like Katy Spicer, I find the association of British folk music and culture with the BNP misleading and unhelpful. If you have a look on the website above, you’ll see that Folk Against Fascism is all about the efforts of the folk community to distance itself from the BNP and far-right politics. Our vision of Britain is an open and inclusive one, and we welcome participation from anyone living in Britain who loves folk music and culture, regardless of their heritage.
Yes, I have seen and met non-white morris dancers, as it happens. The more people from diverse backgrounds that engage with the indigenous culture and folk heritage of these islands, the better. Why should British folk culture not be celebrated alongside all the other diverse traditions present in London? It’s just one part of the mix.
Judging Cecil Sharp using 21st century standards and values is rather daft, I’m afraid. Sharp, like most of the other collectors involved in the early-20th century folk revival, was from a particular background and class. Pillioring him for behaving in a way that was typical of that background and class is not particularly clever or helpful. He certainly did far more that was positive than he ever did damage. If not for his “bland and quaint diversions”, much of our current folk music and dance would have been lost forever.
Thank you for your responses, which I’m pleased to read. I certainly didn’t intend to align the EFDSS with the BNP but I’m very much aware of their attempts to appropriate parts of English folk arts. I’m delighted to hear about the EFDSS’s current programme; I’m of the generation which grew up with Dave & Toni Arthur on TV and I’ve never lost my interest in English folklore.
I hadn’t come across the Folk Against Fascism website and I was interested to read the article by Jon Boden.
I attended Boris Johnson’s self-publicity session at Leadenhall Market on St George’s Day this year and I can tell you that the largest cheer he received during his speech was when he stated that England was better than France for a number of reasons, including having more words in its language. The film The Battle Of Britain was playing on a screen behind the stage. I do find the jingoistic tendencies of the current Mayoral administration disturbing; personally I’d prefer May Day had been chosen as a traditional English celebration rather then St George’s Day. Indeed, I once went on a march of massed Morris Dancers from Trafalgar Square to present a petition to 10 Downing Street when the Tories were threatening to abolish the May Day bank holiday (traditional since 1978,off the top of my head, but still…).
Earlier this year, I attended the London Lore conference at the Bishopsgate Institute and also the showing of recently-recovered early folk dance films (one featuring Cecil Sharp himself) and other relevant films at the BFI Southbank and didn’t see the Mayor’s Advisor On Arts & Culture at either event. I remain unconvinced that City Hall’s cultural programmes will concentrate on anything other than those arts considered “high” – I’m sure most primary school children would much prefer folk music (of any origin) to opera.
Helen,
I’d like to pick up on one small point….
The denial of celebration for may day comes from it historically being ”labour day’ where workers of the world vent their anger at the destructive force of Capitalism.
This is a tradition followed in many of our European counterparts – and yet strangely not celebrated here.
I am not surprised Boris selected the nationalism associated with St Georges day rather than the socialist agenda of the May day celebrations – after all he is a (wannabe) Bourgoisie and it’s much better to be re-affirming your ‘Britishness’ through Nationalism than showing support for a celebration for the workers you are about to try and impose a ‘no strike’ agreement on (i.e. the Tube workers)
As for Morris dancers – they are a strange breed – unlike you or me, a very strange lot indeed.
We tried to explain what a Morris dancer is to a Sri-lankan girl at work – not very successfuly either and the look on her puzzled face was priceless when we finally found pictures on the internet to show her.
….still they made us all laugh in the process so it’s not all bad.
It is a harmless tradition (albeit a bit wierd) – and the blackening of the faces has nothing to do with race. It’s just a shame that in the current climate the BNP seem to be infecting everything at the moment and bringing all debates down to race.