Bristol art gallery curator - no whites please
MikeinCamden
bother applying. The gallery is funded with public money. Mail today.
Mike CJ
news:20040404060842...@mb-m25.aol.com...
> White applicants for the job at the Arnolfini gallery have been told not
to
> bother applying. The gallery is funded with public money. Mail today.
And your evidence for this statement is...?
Mike.
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MikeinCamden
Oh go on say they made it all up...
Stephen Glynn
> The evidence is the statements made by the gallery. Try p35 of the Mail.
>
> Oh go on say they made it all up...
They didn't. The job advert reads
"Arnolfini wishes to appoint a Curatorial Fellow to organise a season of
international work curated by Isaac Julien, David A Bailey and Arnolfini.
The historical context of the Blaxploitation movement (the 60s and 70s
Afro-American film genre) will be used as a starting point. The season will
include an exhibition, commissions and is likely to span Arnolfini's
multi-disciplinary programme areas. The Fellow will be responsible with the
Curators for devising the season's work, and selecting and supervising five
new commissions.
The salary or fee is offered in the region of a Grade 5 (£18,889 - £21,408 -
full-time per annum) depending on experience (Please note we usually appoint
at the bottom of this scale). However, this post is open to freelance
curators and curators who wish to take a secondment as part of a development
programme.
Arnolfini is taking positive action to address under representation of Black
and Asian artists in accordance with Sections 35 and 37 of the Race
Relations Amendment Act 2000. The post is only open to African, *Asian and
Caribbean curators based in England.
*Asian' in this context, is taken to cover the continent of Asia from Turkey
in the west, to Japan in the east.
The Fellowship is funded by Arts Council England's decibel programme as part
of the Visual Arts Platform Investment in Artists Programme."
Sounds distinctly odd. According to the CRE's website the relevant
exceptions to the general rule that you can't descriminate on the grounds of
race or nationality are to be found in sections 5 and 29 of The Race
Relations Act 1976
http://www.cre.gov.uk/gdpract/employ_ads.html
and there doesn't seem to be anything there, at least from the CRE's
account, that would exempt this advert.
In any case, the main purpose of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 was
to bring various public bodies under the scope of the 1976 Act (see
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/en2000/2000en34.htm).
At least according to the Home Offices explanatory notes,
"The Amended Act supports Positive Action measures permitted by the 1976 Act
(Section 35), such as the making facilities or services available to meet
the specific education, training or welfare needs of particular racial
groups. For example:
1. Providing English language classes for refugees
2. Seeking to attract ethnic minorities through targeted publicity to inform
of opportunities and services provided."
and section 37 is to do with providing special training opportunities to
under-represented groups, which doesn't seem toapply to this advert.
http://www.cre.gov.uk/gdpract/employ_cop.html
Steve
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Stephen Glynn
"Huge" <hu...@ukmisc.org.uk> wrote in message
news:c4oqhg$bhu$4...@anubis.demon.co.uk...
> mikein...@aol.com (MikeinCamden) writes:
> >The evidence is the statements made by the gallery. Try p35 of the Mail.
> >
> >Oh go on say they made it all up...
>
>
> Do you have any actual evidence that the Arnolfini is breaking the
> Race Relations Act?
>
See my post below. At least on the face of it the Arnolfini's advert
doesn't appear to be covered by the exceptions they cite.
Steve
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MikeinCamden
we are all supposed to be content. I did not say they broke the law merely that
they said no whites.
MikeinCamden
Well that was the position of the Nazis who passed laws against the Jews
including bans from jobs.
MrMoor
that one instead of visiting ours. After all we wouldn't want to share
exhibits with them in our galleries where non whites no longer need to
go, it would be insulting for them would it not?
Stephen Glynn
The law allows racial discrimation in favour of (not against) anyone under
very specific circumstances. Normally, at least according to the CRE's
employment guidelines this normally applies to things like specialised
social work posts, acting and modelling roles, and domestic care. It also
covers things like insisting that a cook in a Chinese restaurant should be
able to speak Chinese if that's the language they use in the kitchen.
I can't see how the Arnolfini advert can possibly be legal. As I said, the
two sections they quote refer respectively to things like local authorities
providing special English classes for immigrants and to
organisationsoffering training schemes -- under very limited
circumstances -- for people from groups the organisation feels are
under-represented.
Neither of these seem to apply here.
Why not forward the advert to the CRE and see what they make of it? I
don't think it's legal.
BOEDICIA
>From: harr...@yahoo.co.uk (MrMoor)
>Date: 4/4/04 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time
>Message-id: <af161e0f.04040...@posting.google.com>
Non-whites are very thin on the ground in Britains Art Galleries, except as
guards.
You will find very few of them attending Covent Garden or The National Opera
either. Apparently British culture is not their cup of tea.
Stephen Glynn
> "Stephen Glynn" <stephe...@ntlworld.com> writes:
> >
> >"MikeinCamden" <mikein...@aol.com> wrote in message
> >news:20040404092650...@mb-m18.aol.com...
> >> Ah hah so we got there! The law ALLOWS racial discrimination against
> >whites so
> >> we are all supposed to be content. I did not say they broke the law
merely
> >that
> >> they said no whites.
> >
> >The law allows racial discrimation in favour of (not against)
>
>
Yes there is. You can, for example, advertise for a female
Bengali-speaking social worker with a good understanding of Bengali culture
and religion if you want someone to run and assist with councilling at a
hostel predominantly used to accomodate Bengali girls who've run away from
home. You can't advertise for a Bengali secretary, though, unless you can
show you need someone with fluent Bengali.
Similarly, you can advertise for a white actors to appear in your
forthcoming drama about the Wars of the Roses. You can't, though,
advertise for black or white cameramen to film it just because you prefer
working with blacks or with whites.
MikeinCamden
discrimination is allowed under the Race Relations Act 1976.
Stephen Glynn
> The gallery claimes it was a training position and thus direct race
> discrimination is allowed under the Race Relations Act 1976.
It might claim that, certainly, but it doesn't look much like a training
position to me.
AIUI you're allowed to discriminate in very specific circumstances when it
comes to training. That, though, is essentially a matter of laying on
extra or special facilities. Thus, for example, the Welsh Assembly might
decide that while it's necessary to insist that various local authority jobs
in Wales require the ability to speak Welsh this effectively discriminates
against people from anywhere in the UK other than North Wales. They could
legally lay on on special training facilities for employees or job
candidates to learn Welsh without having to worry about North Walians
complaining that since these South Walians -- and, even worse, the Sais --
were getting time off for training courses, the North Walians wanted time
off for training as well.
But the job as advertised doesn't make any reference to training. The
Arnolfini Gallery could, AIUI, address what they see as " under
representation of Black and Asian artists" by laying on special training
courses in curating for Black and Asian candidates -- I know this because a
sometime girlfriend of mine got extremely vexed when she heard about a
special course in radio journalism and news production for "speakers of
minority languages" and was told Welsh didn't count, so I ended up in
correspondence with the CRE on the matter --but I don't think this advert
qualifies.
Tell you what. I'll forward it to the CRE and ask for their comments,
which I'll post here if and when I receive them. Why don't you do the
same?
Believe it or not, I dislike abuses of anti-discrimination as much as you
do, though possibly for different reasons.
Steve
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H. Wake
> "Huge" <hu...@ukmisc.org.uk> wrote in message
> news:c4pth8$jin$1...@anubis.demon.co.uk...
> > "Stephen Glynn" <stephe...@ntlworld.com> writes:
> > >
> > >"MikeinCamden" <mikein...@aol.com> wrote in message
> > >news:20040404092650...@mb-m18.aol.com...
> > >> Ah hah so we got there! The law ALLOWS racial discrimination against
> whites so
> > >> we are all supposed to be content. I did not say they broke the law
> merely
> that
> > >> they said no whites.
> > >
> > >The law allows racial discrimation in favour of (not against)
> >
> > No such thing.
> >
>
> Yes there is. You can, for example, advertise for a female
> Bengali-speaking social worker with a good understanding of Bengali culture
> and religion if you want someone to run and assist with councilling at a
> hostel predominantly used to accomodate Bengali girls who've run away from
> home. You can't advertise for a Bengali secretary, though, unless you can
> show you need someone with fluent Bengali.
>
> Similarly, you can advertise for a white actors to appear in your
> forthcoming drama about the Wars of the Roses.
As a bit of an aside, a while ago the CRE said that all dramas should
include non-whites, regardless of historical authenticity. So they
would want a drama about the Wars of the Roses to include non-whites.
Fortunately, I don't think anything came of this particular idiocy.
You can check with Writers Against Repression, who've got a website
somewhere.
MikeinCamden
The advertisement (copied below) for a curator's assistant, published by
Arnolfini Gallery, was publicised by the Mail on Sunday of April 4, as you are
aware.
I cannot see how excluding white people from this job can be lawful.
If the gallery is claiming that direct racial discrimination is allowable on
grounds that the job involves training, then the same could be said to apply to
any position since everyone learns from doing a job. This would drive a coach
and horses through the specific legal requirement that appointments to jobs
cannot be on the basis of race. This is an appointment to a paid job not to a
training position.
I would be grateful for your comments since, if this advertisement is
permitted, it seems to me that any employer can exclude white people from any
position if they wish to by a similar argument.
I look forward to hearing from you.
CURATORIAL FELLOW
Arnolfini wishes to appoint a Curatorial Fellow to organise a season of
international work curated by Isaac Julien, David A Bailey and Arnolfini. The
historical context of the Blaxploitation movement (the 60s and 70s
Afro-American film genre) will be used as a starting point. The season will
include an exhibition, commissions and is likely to span Arnolfini's
multi-disciplinary programme areas. The Fellow will be responsible with the
Curators for devising the season's work, and selecting and supervising five new
commissions.
The salary or fee is offered in the region of a Grade 5 (£18,889 - £21,408 -
full-time per annum) depending on experience (Please note we usually appoint at
the bottom of this scale). However, this post is open to freelance curators and
curators who wish to take a secondment as part of a development programme.
Arnolfini is taking positive action to address under representation of Black
and Asian artists in accordance with Sections 35 and 37 of the Race Relations
Amendment Act 2000. The post is only open to African, *Asian and Caribbean
curators based in England.
*Asian' in this context, is taken to cover the continent of Asia from Turkey in
the west, to Japan in the east.
The Fellowship is funded by Arts Council England’s decibel programme as part
of the Visual Arts Platform Investment in Artists Programme.
Closing date: 28 April 2004 Interview date: 25 May 2004
Stephen Glynn
"H. Wake" <hw...@freeispshares.co.uk> wrote in message
news:a2a0b4c4.04040...@posting.google.com...
The website's at
http://www.tabragg.supanet.com/page4.html
The quote is
"
Historical Revisionism: though there is a complex argument surrounding the
casting of black actors in historical white roles and vice versa - are we
seeing the thin end of the wedge of historical revisionism applied to
English history? The Royal Shakespeare Company has just cast a black actor
as an English monarch for the first time. This is certainly in the spirit of
the recent recommendations of the CRE which wants to see an end to casting
on grounds of race. Anybody interested in seeing my correspondence between
the CRE, Home Office and their replies please drop me a line with a SAE."
(go to the website for the address)
That's not quite the same as saying "all dramas should include non-whites,
regardless of historical authenticity" -- as he says, there is a complex
argument surrounding this one, particularly with the classics and especially
with live performances. Josette Simon, for example, was the best Duchess
of Malfi I've ever seen, even though Webster probably didn't think the
Duchess was black and I doubt we were supposed to think that her mum had
been having a bit on the side (her brothers, the Duke and the Cardinal, were
both white).
For what it's worth, this is what the CRE has to say on the subject:
" being from a particular racial group is a genuine occupational
qualification for a job only in the following circumstances [one of which
is]:
To achieve authenticity [Section 5(2)(a) and (b)]
The job involves a dramatic performance or other entertainment, or modelling
for artistic or photographic work, and someone from a particular racial
group is needed to achieve 'authenticity'; that is, the role cannot be
reasonably or realistically presented by someone from another racial group.
Advertisements based on this exception should make it clear why actors or
models from a particular racial group only should apply.
Section 5(2)(a) and (b) cannot be used to achieve integrated casting, or to
ensure racial balance either within a company or organisation, or between
the performers and a multiracial audience.
Example: A film company is auditioning for A Passage to India and requires
actors of Asian ethnic origin. Section 5(2)(a) of the Race Relations Act
1976 applies.
Example: A theatre company requires black actors for street scenes in a
multiracial neighbourhood. Section 5(2)(a) of the Race Relations Act 1976
applies."
http://www.cre.gov.uk/gdpract/employ_ads.html#occupation
I've had a quick look at their press releases and can't immediately find
anything that looks relevant to "ending casting on grounds of race". In
any event it would be unenforcable. How would anyone go about establishing
he didn't get the role because he was the wrong colour?
Steve
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H. Wake
Yes I know what you mean. There are three issues coming in here.
One, you can have a new interpretation and nuances by casting women as
men, and vice versa, adults as children, white as black, etc. Two,
you can have colour-blind (oops, Macpherson has outlawed
colour-blindness) casting where the essence is the thing rather than
the way people look. And three, and I do happen to know that this is
what he is referring to, wanting to get non-whites faces in just
because they are non-white, which is really quite different from the
other two things because it has nothing to do with art. I did have
copies of the correspondence somewhere, G-d knows where, I am
surrounded by papers.
Stephen Glynn
I'd be interested to see what the CRE had to say about it. I'll try to
remember to drop the guy a SAE and get hold of a copy.
Once I heard Josette Simon give a talk on this subject (just after she'd
opened at the National as the Duchess, as it happens). She made what I
thought was a good point that she was very fortunate that live theatre in
classical roles was what she'd always wanted to do (though she did say she
had huge fun as Dayna in Blake's 7). This gave her the chance to develop
her range in a way black actresses in TV and film don't often get the
opportunity to do. She contrasted her experience with that of Cathy Tyson,
who's apparently a good friend of hers, who'd recently been a huge success
with Bob Hoskins in Mona Lisa. As Josette said, normally after a
performance like that you'd expect Cathy Tyson to get all manner of offers
but almost all the roles she was asked to read for were still prostitutes,
battered wives and occasionally cops. She wasn't complaining about this
particularly -- just making the point that it's in the nature of the genre
that a black actor is going get a crack at a far wider range of roles in
live classical theatre than most other media.
She doesn't like, btw, interpretative productions that rely on her being
black -- I found a profile of her in The Village Voice which sounds very
much like what she was saying when I heard her talk:
" Simon felt it necessary to reject the label "black actress" and remind
journalists that she was an actress who "happened to be black." Discussing
her career and her current roles prior to a London performance of A
Midsummer Night's Dream earlier this year [2000], Simon explains, "I didn't
want to be confined or defined by my color because then it would somehow
dehumanize me. I just wanted to do good work."
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0020/raymond.php
I think she's one of the best classical actresses around at the moment.
In vaguely related vein I once heard an interview with the opera singer,
Willard White. He said the only role he'd ever been turned down for
because of his colour was Mephistophiles in Gounoud's Faust since the
director didn't want to cause offence by having a black devil!
Steve
Steve
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Stephen Glynn
And a copy of mine ...
I wonder if you could help me with some general advice about what is and
isn't permitted in the way of job avertising. I have in mind the following
advert placed by the Arnolfini art gallery in Bristol:
CURATORIAL FELLOW
Arnolfini wishes to appoint a Curatorial Fellow to organise a season of
international work curated by Isaac Julien, David A Bailey and Arnolfini.
The historical context of the Blaxploitation movement (the 60s and 70s
Afro-American film genre) will be used as a starting point. The season will
include an exhibition, commissions and is likely to span Arnolfini's
multi-disciplinary programme areas. The Fellow will be responsible with the
Curators for devising the season's work, and selecting and supervising five
new commissions.
The salary or fee is offered in the region of a Grade 5 (£18,889 - £21,408 -
full-time per annum) depending on experience (Please note we usually appoint
at the bottom of this scale). However, this post is open to freelance
curators and curators who wish to take a secondment as part of a development
programme.
Arnolfini is taking positive action to address under representation of Black
and Asian artists in accordance with Sections 35 and 37 of the Race
Relations Amendment Act 2000. The post is only open to African, *Asian and
Caribbean curators based in England.
*Asian' in this context, is taken to cover the continent of Asia from Turkey
in the west, to Japan in the east.
The Fellowship is funded by Arts Council England's decibel programme as part
of the Visual Arts Platform Investment in Artists Programme.
Closing date: 28 April 2004 Interview date: 25 May 2004
I've looked at the relevent bits of your website and I can't see how
someone's background is relevent to this post in that it's not immediately
obvious -- at least to me -- that the cultural background of someone from
Japan or Turkey has much more in common with "Blaxploitation movies" than
does the background of someone from Norway. And this hardly looks like a
training post.
I'd always been under the impression that it would be illegal for a company
to seek to address the problem of the under-representation of various
minorities in -- for example -- management positions by advertising
management jobs as only being open to African, Asian and Caribbean
candidates, though it could seek to remedy this under-representation in
other ways such as where it advertised the jobs and laying on special
management training courses for existing employees. Have I got this
wrong?
I'd be very interested to have your comments on this advert. Is it legal?