Show latest news, more from December 2005.
Lib Democrat attacks ACE
Liberal Democrat spokesman for culture, media and sport Don Foster recently attacked the Arts Council England for its record on ethnic minorities. The attack came after the publication of ACE’s annual report, which revealed that ethnic minority attendance and participation has fallen over the past 4 years. Claims in the report by ACE chief executive Peter Hewitt about the progress of ethnic minority artists were also attacked. Foster said: “It is shocking that instead of taking one step forward, the arts council and Department for Culture, Media and Sport have taken two steps back. If the arts council considers this progress, I would hate to see what failure looks like. The arts council’s increase in grants to ethnic minorities is admirable but it seems this is merely papering over the cracks of a much wider problem. The arts council must acknowledge that there is a problem before they can tackle the problem.” ACE has insisted the results should not be read as a decline and that the drop relates to the change in the way the numbers were measured, which occurred after the spending review in 2004. For more information, CLICK HERE.
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