ACE lobbies to protect artistic freedom from religious hatred bill

Published Tuesday 30 August 2005 at 14:45 by Nuala Calvi

Arts Council England has entered into talks with the Home Office to clarify that artistic freedom will be protected under the controversial Racial and Religious Hatred Bill.

The move has been prompted by what the organisation calls a “climate of anxiety” among artists, who believe their freedom of expression is under greater threat than it has been for decades, as a result of the planned legislation and campaigns by religious groups against shows such as Behzti and Jerry Springer - the Opera.

Head of public affairs for ACE David McNeill said: “This is legislation which at face value could be seen to restrict freedom of expression, and we are seeing a growing ability of the religious right in this country to campaign effectively on issues, which is a cause for concern.

“There is a genuine background for this anxiety, but actually the arts has nothing to fear but fear itself. It is important the arts retains confidence in its ability to deal with challenging and provocative issues.”

ACE representatives want the government to make it clear that artists will not be at risk of prosecution under the legislation. The funding body is keen to be seen to be taking an active role in the censorship fight, particularly following suggestions in the press that it bowed to pressure from religious groups in refusing to fund the regional tour of Jerry Springer - the Opera.

McNeill said the incident had given the false impression that the organisation would not support challenging work, adding: “Concerns have been heightened in the last few weeks by the false suggestion that ACE was influenced by the Christian lobby against Jerry Springer and that that formed part of the reason we didn’t fund the tour, which is wrong.”

But Jon Thoday, producer of Jerry Springer - the Opera, told The Stage that he believed ACE had not given an adequate explanation of its decision.

He said: “It’s pretty rich for the arts council to be saying this. By and large, producers and creative people will do everything they can to defend their freedom of expression. Producers by nature are used to going through difficult times to get things on the stage. Public bodies are often the ones who swing in a negative direction.”

Meanwhile, Equity ruling council will this month discuss setting up a new committee addressing members’ concerns over the Racial and Religious Hatred bill. The union follows in the footsteps of the Writers’ Guild, which recently revived its anti-censorship committee.

The Home Office has moved to calm fears among the artistic community and has stressed that the new law is not targeted at the telling of jokes or the writing of novels and plays. A spokesman explained: “The new offence prohibits the inciting of hatred in others against people because of their beliefs. It does not prohibit ridicule, criticism or debate of religion.

“It does not prohibit anger towards a religion or its followers. Indeed, it does not even prohibit a person hating a religion or its followers - merely taking actions which cause others to do so. The racial hatred offence already covers Jews and Sikhs and it has not stopped writers composing works, or criticising, those faiths.”