The Stage

Black theatre ‘crisis’ under review by campaign group

Published Tuesday 20 September 2005 at 14:25 by Alistair Smith

Anton Phillips will lead a new campaign group launched to combat what it perceives as a crisis of underfunding for the black theatre sector.

Phillips, also head of Black Theatre Act Now, insists that claims made by Arts Council England that it gave £5.5 million to black theatre in 2004/05 were grossly exaggerated.

He commented: “The misinformation that is given out about arts council funding of black theatre is shocking - they include theatres such as the Theatre Royal Stratford East and it’s utterly misleading. We need a campaign for a number of black theatres in the country, not just one.

“Institutional racism is embedded in the theatre industry - it’s one of the most racist institutions in the country, but there’s this liberal veneer. There is a reality of ticking boxes in this business to make the theatre world seem quite right. It’s all a front. There are very few genuine people in that sense. That’s been the case as long as I’ve been in the business. Every time we think we’ve made some significant progress we realise we are back where we started.”

A spokesperson for the arts council admitted that the Theatre Royal, which received £768,000, was included in the overall figure, as were all organisations where more than 50% of board members were black or from a minority ethnic group and other organisations that ACE judged to be focussed on black, minority or ethnic work.

Speaking to The Stage, executive director for ACE London Sarah Weir explained that the council was undertaking a consultation process with black theatre practitioners to see how best the £4 million withdrawn from Talawa’s capital project could be channelled back into the black sector. She added that all the money was still available.

She explained: “We feel that the whole landscape of theatre is changing and we need to think about everything for the whole decade ahead. We consider that the best way forward is to ask people who are a part of it. We are on that track and the fact that people want to be a part of that is positive.”

However, Doctor Alan Tomkins, chairman of Arts for Labour, insisted that the sector was grossly underfunded and that he would be meeting with government ministers Tessa Jowell and David Lammy to discuss the issue.

He added: “The sector is so small now. The idea of a black theatre is 20 years overdue. From a Labour party perspective, this has to be rectified. The Talawa issue needs to be looked into to make sure it was handled correctly. How can it be right that 30% of London’s population [the black and minority sector] is supported with only 2% of public funding?”