It is 50 years since cultural historian Naseem Khan’s challenge to the British arts establishment was first published, and the question of who and what counts as British continues to be contested. The Arts Britain Ignores – Khan’s groundbreaking 1976 report, commissioned by organisations including the then Arts Council of Great Britain, presented a vision of a pluralistic national culture, in which the creativity of Britons of diverse ethnic backgrounds – from bhangra music, to black painters and Ukrainian dance – should be recognised, supported and respected. Today, when polls, debates and cultural and political moments present differing notions of British identity – whether it is the diversity of the England football team, or how political figures choose to define their own identities – Khan’s work retains its relevance.
On Wednesday, Dawn Airey, the new chair of cultural funding and development agency Arts Council England, will give her inaugural speech at a conference celebrating Khan’s legacy – The Arts Britain Ignores: 50 Years On – at Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage in Leicester. Today, the work of black and Asian British visual artists, such as Frank Bowling, Sonia Boyce and Anish Kapoor is critically acclaimed and in demand. But in 1976, Khan documented how grassroot arts and cultural practices that thrived in UK ethnic minority communities were largely ignored by funders and critics.
This week’s conference, bringing together artists, organisations, experts and policymakers, will explore how much progress has been made in 50 years and comes at a time when community and independent cultural spaces face pressures over finances, redevelopment and gentrification. Contributors to Wednesday’s conference include Khan’s daughter, Amelia Torode, the theatre director Jatinder Verma, the broadcaster Brenda Emmanus and the crossbench peer and chancellor of the University of Nottingham, Lola Young. The conference also marks the launch of a new book, The Arts Britain Ignores at 50, published by Serendipity Institute, including essays and new research.
Pawlet Brookes, the chief executive and artistic director of Serendipity Institute, said: “We had Cool Britannia, we’ve had the ‘ain’t no black in the union jack’. We’ve had all of that narrative. But the reality is British is diverse – whether that diversity is layered with colour or layered in other ways.
We can go down a negative road, or we can celebrate what we have, which is fantastic, the best in Europe – although we still have some way to go.” Describing Khan’s work as “seminal”, Brookes said it was time to “see how far we’ve travelled, and what we need to do for the next 50 years.” She added: “We did a timeline investigation [for the new book] and what it shows is that, there has been funding for culturally diverse organisations, but what there hasn’t been is sustainability and growth. Those of us who don’t experience this – and I include myself – have a responsibility to stand with you: to stand up for the work you want to make, and to back that with action, not just words.”
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