Two weeks ago I produced an online event with MeWe360 ‘Funding BAME Creativity – Exploring The New Normal’. The aim of the event was to ‘dig deep’ into the systemic racial bias in UK arts funding. Bringing together major funders in the sector, our panelists included Francis Runacres, Executive Director, Enterprise & Innovation, Arts Council England; Dame Caroline
Kevin Osborne helped launch urban music stars such as Plan B. Now the entrepreneur plans a new investment in talent from minority backgrounds. As a musician, Kevin Osborne played in bands that supported the likes of Prince, Chaka Khan and Curtis Mayfield. As a social entrepreneur, he has helped a new generation of stars to
The full report on the experience of black, asian and minority ethnic creative entrepreneurs during covid-19 is available to download here. Foreword Before the Covid-19 pandemic, many BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) creative entrepreneurs existed in an invisible space between the public and private sectors. Both sectors had consistently undervalued what they do. In
IMPACT INVESTMENT AND DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS: OUTLINING THE CHALLENGE I WANT TO SOLVE Racial inequality in arts funding will not be resolved by grants alone. A BAME-led investment fund would be a pragmatic and transformative solution. It is widely acknowledged, including by the UK’s large arts funders, that our funding system is racially
“Just as people cannot live without eating, so a business cannot live without profits. But most people don’t live to eat, and neither must businesses live just to make profits.” – John Mackey, Whole Foods In his introduction at MeWe’s 2020 online member’s retreat, our CEO Kevin Osborne talks about the importance of knowing your
Dear Darren / Sir Nicholas, Arts Council England (ACE) has tried everything it can think of to improve diversity. The effort has been immense (this should be acknowledged) but the results, in your own words, have been ‘disappointing’. Your recent calls for the Arts Council to do judi slot online jackpot terbesar better on racial
“ACE needs to create a £12.38m BAME investment fund that will support creative enterprises and entrepreneurs” The renewed energy and publicity across the world being poured into the fight for racial equality is colliding with the Covid crisis, taking us to a crossroads for arts funding in the UK. All funders – especially Arts Council
MeWe360 (‘MeWe’) is a not-for-profit organisation, set up to develop BAME entrepreneurs – and their enterprises – in the arts and creative industries. It was a project motivated by anguish and hope. Anguish, born of my frustration at the underachievement and under-representation of BAME leaders; and hope that, through MeWe, we can help unlock the
On Tuesday, 9 June 2020, HBO Max temporarily removed Gone with the Wind (1939) from their platform. I’ve never watched it (it’s four hours long!) but if, as the studio said, it had negative representations of black people and glorified the role of slave owners then I’m glad it’s gone for now – as I’m