1. ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
NEW GENDER RELATIONS &
THE ARTS
A conversation on contemporary issues
on gender and the arts
Olu Alake for November Ventures
May 2009

2. NEW GENDER RELATIONS & THE ARTS
A conversation on contemporary issues on
gender and the arts
14th May 2009 held at LSO St Lukes, London.
To launch its Gender Equality Scheme, Arts Council England (ACE)
organised a one day symposium for its senior management and art-form
lead officer staff and key stakeholders on contemporary issues of gender
in the arts. The main stated objectives of this symposium were:
• Raise awareness of gender equality issues in the arts;
• Raise the level of debate on these issues and change perceptions;
• Celebrate achievements realised in gender equality and especially
women in the arts;
• Create, promote and encourage new avenues for engagement
within and across the arts on matters of gender relations; and
• Promote ACE’s gender equality scheme.
To achieve these objectives, an array of artists, cultural commentators,
academics and other relevant professionals was invited to lead
discussions and provoke thought and debate on various identified issues
and emerging matters.
Keynote: Dr Alicia Foster
"The arts are not additions to life, but life itself "- Clive James.
The keynote address was delivered by Dr Alicia Foster. Dr Foster
previously worked on a ground-breaking study and subsequent
exhibition at the Tate focussing on the contribution of women in
contemporary visual arts. She set the scene for the day, by relating the
current situation on gender relations in the arts to wider social and
cultural contexts, while simultaneously ensuring focus remained firmly
grounded on and in the arts. A key recurrent theme in her presentation
was the issue of choice as a by-product of the patriarchal establishments
which still hold sway in the arts. She observed that this system produced
processes which forced women into making a choice between dealing
with life and arts, which paraphrasing Clive James, she observed is not a
natural choice. By insisting on this as a choice for women vs. a choice by
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3. society, she believes that we condemn the future of arts to perpetual
inequality.
She also identified other manifestations of this pernicious establishment
system. Some were more subtle, such as the vicious opposition to
current equality initiatives. Others were couched in language and
understandings that straddled other socio-cultural spheres. One such
persisting feature is the use of worn concepts of artistic quality to justify
opposition to promote gender equality and ensure maintenance of the
status quo. Dr Foster also warned ACE staff to be as wary of favouring
feminine orthodoxies as well, because if left un-interrogated, they could
have the same effect of replicating the structures they intend to
eradicate.
She concluded with an exhortation to ACE to recognise the current
urgent need for gender equality efforts as the current economic and
political situation in the UK will most likely result in a retrenchment into
historically established practices, hence making them more likely to
result in perpetuation of the status quo.
A panel chaired by Baroness Lola Young, consisting of writer and
actress Julie McNamara, performance poet Malika Booker, and writer
Lisa Goldman responded to the main points made by Dr Foster. Lisa
Goldman focussed on the class-based aspects of gender inequality, and
particularly on how there was an increased need for leadership roles for
women in all aspects of the arts. She established a causal link between
gender, experience, instincts and arts, and advocated more focussed
training for women to enable them to maximise their talent and potential,
as well as radical restructuring of the bastions of privilege in the arts,
such as boards and management committees, and challenged ACE to
confront the imbalance in funding between classical heritage and
contemporary companies.
Malika Booker called for greater awareness of multiple identities, which
shapes her work as an artist, especially giving a voice for the voiceless.
In her opinion, critical discourse of arts by the ‘other’ is still required.
Julie McNamara identified the mental health system as a last bastion of
oppression and established the inter-relationship of disability and
gender, especially in seeing gender as disability.
Alicia Foster observed that all the panellists had displayed their 'outsider'
status. She encouraged ACE to use the new legal instruments
vigorously in their future work in this area, noting that the new gender
duty forces public authorities to initiate action and the preponderance of
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4. women in the arts is an opportunity that needs to be seized to reshape
this conversation.
The panel elicited from the audience some vigorous comments and
questions. These included questions on the existence, extent, role and
necessity for insider agitation of the system by women in ACE, the
Gender-ing of roles within a male agenda for those working in
institutions, and the great unspoken of inequality in the arts, which is the
impact and inter-relationship of Power and gender. Other key
contributions from this session focussed on:
- the level of ownership of the Gender equality agenda in ACE, and
especially how much scope this gave ACE staff to have the
courage to confront the system;
- Gender equality in a recession, especially pertinent as this will
mean less development time i.e. headspace, for gender equality
initiatives will be required;
- The identification of and support for learning opportunities for ACE
staff as a prerequisite for and catalyst of change;
- Gender pay gap and professional fees (the observation being
made that the lowest paid venue administrator earns more than
many highest paid commissioned actresses).
In summary, this panel set some challenges for ACE going forward,
including the need for a better interface with media about gender issues;
the need to invest in confidence building for women and an
admonishment to beware tokenisms.
Having had such a rich and vibrant opening session, the symposium
proceeded to explore the intersectionalities of gender with other social
and cultural contexts. This was done through a series of interventions.
Sanchita Islam discussed the intersections and cultural flashpoints
immanent in Gender, arts and madness, reciting some of her poetry
which provoked further thought on the topic.
GENDER, ARTS & MADNESS - SANCHITA iSLAM
"Can a mouse fall in love with an elephant?"
"Even when our feet are stapled to the ground, we have to find a way to
fly again..."
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5. Fiona Dodd presented some recent research that had been undertaken
(commissioned by Cultural Leadership Programme) which revealed the
following interesting findings:
- Only 75% of female leaders in culture and arts aspire to remain
as leaders;
- Barriers and enablers are closely related to personal
circumstances and workplace culture
- There is a huge opportunity to build on what's working in peer
support, networking and confidence-building.
GENDER, ARTS & IDENTITY
The afternoon session, chaired by Dr Vena Ramphal, adopted a more
thematic approach and directly explored the intersectionalities of gender
with other key identity formation and representation flashpoints. The key
areas of exploration here were looking at the social, cultural and political
dynamics where gender meets arts, especially in the realms of ethnicity,
disability and media representation.
Reem Kelani, Manchester-born and of Palestinian origin, posited that
the question defining claims to ethnicity, especially for minority
communities, remains defining the ‘Other’. She observed that
Orientalism - as defined by Edward Said - remains a prevalent feature of
Western cultural policy decision-making. This manifests itself in several
ways, such as the ignorant and often wilful homogenisation of minority
communities. She however recognised ‘World Music’ as a potential
catalyst for re-examination of gender equality, and advocated the
strategic utilisation of ‘Other-ed’ identities, in the quest for genuine
responsible equality.
Jenny Sealey in looking at gender, arts and disability posed the
question of the extent to which in not meeting the accepted standards of
beauty, disabled artists still confronted massive hierarchies of inequality
imposed by non-disabled people. She wondered if where mental
institutions traditionally rendered many women genderless and sex-less,
cultural institutions operating from within the same paradigms did not
effectively do the same nowadays. Baroness Lola Young focussed on
media representations of gender in the arts. Particularly interested in the
analysis of power and representation, she outlined how the new equality
bill would dictate legal imperatives for public bodies such as ACE, and
invited ACE staff to begin to re-examine the current state of the arts
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6. within the context of the law. This was particularly pressing when
considering the lack of plurality of images in the media adequately
reflecting the country’s gender diversity. The main consequence of this
she concluded was that this was allowing middle-class white males to go
under-examined in the public sphere.
Referring to research she had recently undertaken, looking over the
course of a week at all TV shows focussed on arts and culture, very few
females had been featured either as guest or presenters or for their
work. This is indicative of serious gender bias in the media. Lola
concluded that there is a need to change by campaigning, challenging
the lack of evidence and indiscriminate use of anecdotes, and support
others to achieve their best. ACE should lead by striving for perfection in
practice and supporting those who do this.
Led by the Chair Vena Ramphal, the panel concluded that dealing with
inequality on a single-issue basis works as a tactic but not as a
comprehensive response, as discrimination is not linear in its
progression. The panel also agreed on the need to transcend labelled
identities.
There was a healthy debate about the perceived or real contradiction
between seeking gender representation, recognition, and gender and
difference blindness. The panel also discussed various ways in which
gendered Others can challenge the system, with the panel giving
examples and sharing lessons from their own experiences. Sanchita
Islam advocated ‘Surreptitious Insurrections’, a succession of micro-
challenges to various aspects of inequality as it is confronted. Lola
Young asserted that she has learnt to be in the system but not of the
system. Reem Kelani advocated having and actively following one’s
passion but not to be a martyr.
On Identity, Recognition & Representation:
“Being who you are shapes who you are” – Reem Kelani.
“Everyone doesn't recognise that everyone is different. We need to ask
what differences matter or not” – Lola Young
“We're not fighting for cake, but crumbs, and we need to bake more
cakes!” - Sanchita Islam
Vena then set a challenge for the audience, asking them to consider the
following questions:
• What would characterise new gender relations in arts – i.e.
structural, behavioural and attitudinal change?
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7. • What's the role of ACE in producing these new relations?
• As an ACE officer, what is my contribution going to be?
This was an interesting process, as it forced ACE officers to internalise
the issues being discussed and identify their own role in bringing about
change. The main points made by officers were:
• Difference needs to be seen more as an opportunity than a
barrier;
• ACE needs to have a more nuanced understanding of cultural
complexities of gender and race;
• ACE needs to focus properly on artistic excellence;
• Improve access to the channels for funding, information, etc.
• There is a need to continuously challenge the cultural context of
society in imposing and reinforcing gender stereotypes.
CONCLUSION
In wrapping the symposium up, ACE Director of Diversity Tony
Panayiotou identified that the challenge for ACE is to use this
symposium as a platform for future action and for bringing about real
systemic change. He asserted that ACE is more progressive on some
dimensions of discrimination than others but the issue of power
dynamics in the arts, which entrenches and sustains inequality, needs to
be challenged. Current and proposed legislation provides ACE with the
opportunity to begin to change things. With the proposed changes to the
organisational structure and commensurate roles and responsibilities,
every ACE officer will now effectively be a diversity officer with the
responsibility for taking on the agenda for gender equality and indeed all
other dimensions of discrimination.
Overall, the symposium met its main objective of raising awareness of
gender equality issues in the arts and raising the level of debate on key
areas of the main issues. ACE’s gender equality scheme was
highlighted and ACE staff began to develop a heightened appreciation
and understanding of how this can be utilised to enable them to be
agents of real change. The keynote speech particularly challenged ACE
to celebrate achievements in gender equality and especially recognise
the contributions of women in the arts, and use this as a platform for
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8. creating and promoting new avenues for engagement within and across
the arts.
Certain key themes emerged at this event which should form the basis
of future attention by ACE. These are Discrimination & Power, Identities
& Representation, and Equipping agents of change. It is imperative that
there is a more inclusive approach to dealing with these issues, in terms
of not just the players involved in formulating approaches and sharing
experiences beyond the recognised and familiar, but also inclusive in
thematic terms, ensuring that the read-across between gender equality
and other dimensions of discrimination is recognised and interrogated.
It is strongly recommended that these emerging themes, form the basis
of a follow-up publication, with a wider array of contributors which will
mitigate one of the obvious limitations of this symposium, should be
commissioned as soon as possible. This can have not just a wider
appreciation of all aspects of physical gender (men, women, trans-
gender), but also adopt an international perspective as well, which will
be very relevant in our globalised world.
There is a palpable sense of urgency about dealing with these issues at
the moment, given the uncertain structural and financial climate in which
ACE is operating. This also provides ACE with a real opportunity to
deliver lasting change and make the arts in England the arena for
creative excellence that it is meant to be.
Olu Alake
November Ventures
June 2009.
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