Arts and Entertainment in a Multicultural Society

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 8:27 pm on 6 November 2000.

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Photo of Lord McIntosh of Haringey Lord McIntosh of Haringey Deputy Chief Whip (House of Lords), HM Household, Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords) 8:27, 6 November 2000

My Lords, I am delighted to respond to this extremely well informed and passionate debate on a subject which I believe everyone agrees is of enormous importance not just to our arts and entertainment but also to our society as a whole. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Rendell, for making it possible.

However, I must start by disagreeing with her slightly. I agree with her that it is unfortunate to talk about "ethnic minorities", and I do not intend to do so. However, she chose to refer instead to "Black or Asian". I suggest that the diversity goes a good deal wider than that. I refer, for example, to Greek and Turkish Cypriot, Irish, Balkan people, Jewish people--to whom the noble Lord, Lord Haskel, referred. Even within the term "Black and Asian", I do not think that it is sufficiently recognised how different a Black African from west or east Africa is from someone from south Asia or China or from the Caribbean.

I take my starting point from the word "diversity". The differences between these different communities and their arts are as great as the difference between them and the older communities who, as the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, rightly said, have been absorbed into British society over hundreds and probably thousands of years. It is the full variety and richness of our national identity which I want to see reflected in our creative and cultural activities. I want to see that applied all the way through our educational system, through our amateur arts and through the professional arts too. From the point of view of government, my starting point must be that if we are talking about resources and funding we must talk about them in total and then about the division for particular purposes.

In July, we announced the highest-ever levels of public support for the arts in England. Funding for the arts will rise from £238 million in 2000-01 to £338 million in 2003-04. The uplift will go to the Arts Council of England for allocation to its funded organisation, primarily through the English regional arts boards. Among others, the noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, made proper reference to that.

The noble Baroness, Lady Rendell, repeated the statement which I first read in the report of the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, that only 0.02 per cent of the first £2 billion Arts Council lottery funding went to fund Black and Asian organisations. I do not contest that figure; neither do I defend it. Those were decisions taken before this Government came into existence. At that time, it is fair to say that the first priority was for capital infrastructure work after many years of neglect. I hope that it can be shown--I am not capable of doing so now--that that capital infrastructure expenditure in the first few years of arts lottery funding is open to artists from all ethnic origins.

However, there has been a substantial change in the policies of the Arts Council of England. The new six-year capital lottery programme is allotting at least £20 million to fund Black and Asian organisations covering new developments, theatres and individual projects. This will feed into the new major initiative of Diversity 2002.

A number of noble Lords made effective reference to the underfunding of the arts, in particular Black and Asian arts. I believe that the funding is there. I believe that it will be directed correctly. I listened carefully to what the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Wakefield said about finance for infrastructure, which is recognised, and the need for proper funding priorities. The noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, spoke of her excellent work in the Arts Council. She will know that Naseem Khan to whom she referred is now doing excellent work in collaboration with the Council of Europe.

The noble Baroness, Lady Howells, spoke of her "alternative Tate Gallery" in Covent Garden. The noble Baroness will know that three out of the four Turner short-listed artists in the Tate Gallery are not UK born. So funding clearly is of enormous importance, and I think that we are responding.

I turn now to the entertainment part of the debate and what we call the "creative industries". That is far less industrial than it sounds. We are talking about the opportunities which exist in a multicultural society to encourage young people to be more innovative and creative and to use their skills for creative and cultural industry.

The noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, asked how we measure whether we are responding adequately. The answer is that there is no strict measure, but I have pages of lists on the creative industries--advertising, architecture, the arts, craft, design, fashion, film, computer and video games, music and the performing arts, publishing, software, television and radio--where it seems to me as an outsider that multiculturalism comes naturally; there is not the same distinction that sometimes exists, regrettably, in the formal artistic institutions. Many speakers, including the noble Baronesses, Lady Rendell and Lady Crawley, referred to the way in which our creative industries are heavily multicultural, and quite right too.

We have made it clear to the Arts Council of England that it has to respect cultural diversity. It has to commit itself, as I believe that it has done, to prioritising cultural diversity. I have referred to the Arts Council of England initiative, Diversity 2002. Throughout that year projects and events will bring lasting benefits to communities throughout England. It is also the year of the Queen's Golden Jubilee and of the hosting of the Commonwealth Games. The noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, referred to the fact that only £0.5 million has been allocated to that. I assure the noble Baroness that that is only the first step. That represents the set-out costs. That is not what will be available in the end. The noble Baroness should not contrast the figure unfavourably with the funding for the Year of the Artist.

Some wise words were spoken about broadcasting. Last year, Chris Smith called on the ITC, the Broadcasting Standards Commission and the BBC to review the way in which broadcasters represented diversity issues and lifestyles in their programme making and in their own operations. The noble Baroness, Lady Howells, is right to say that that is a matter of self-interest for them when they consider the considerable part of their audience who are affected.

I was glad that the noble Lord, Lord Alli, referred to the Cultural Diversity Network which launched action plans in October to encourage the modernisation of the portrayal of ethnic minorities in mainstream programming. All the broadcasters have committed themselves to turning plans into action. Again, I was glad to hear from the noble Lord, Lord Alli, about the plans of his company, Carlton. To take another example, Channel 4 will be raising its target for employees from ethnic minorities from 9 per cent to 11 per cent by 2003; and for senior employees to 8 per cent. It will create six posts for Black and Asian production staff on a fast-track programme to producer. It has instructed producers to include diversity information in all programme proposals.

That applies also to the DCMS. The noble Lord, Lord Alli, made that point; it is fair. I am not entirely satisfied with what I am able to say to him about that. It is true that Paul Udenze from the Drum in Birmingham, whom the noble Baroness, Lady Crawley, will know, has been in the department shadowing the head of arts. It is true also that in the arts division of the DCMS we have had one of the 15 fellows under the ACE special programme, Andy Cheung, and he is here now.

However, my most important answer to the noble Lord, Lord Alli, is that the funding agreements that we have with all those arts bodies stress the need for a clear policy on cultural diversity and that it needs to be reflected in board and staff membership as well as in artists and funding.

I referred to the undoubted difficulty of measuring our achievements and whether we are keeping up. To do so would require many more resources than I have for a debate of this kind; but we recognise that support for the arts in the United Kingdom is central to support for our diverse communities which are the standard-bearers of our nation's cultural identity and history. I passed over the valuable reference of the noble Lord, Lord Alli, to the way in which our museums and galleries reflect our society. The test will be not whether there is toleration of diversity but whether there is enthusiasm about diversity. Again, that is yet to be shown.

The arts and entertainments sectors are at the forefront of multicultural society in the United Kingdom rather than behind. I close by referring to the fourth fundamental belief expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, at the beginning of his report. He talks about the need for society to be cohesive as well as respectful of diversity, fostering a common sense of belonging and shared identity. That is the right way to address these issues.