On 23rd October 2018, in the Waldorf’s beautiful Palm Court, 7 inspiring speakers debated with the public about the importance of ‘Diversifying Heritage’.
Dr Ben Cowell, Deputy Chair of The Heritage Alliance and Director General of Historic Houses, kicked off the debate. His introductory speech highlighted the need of diversifying audiences, narratives and workforce.
Andrew Miller, the Government’s first UK Disability Champion for Arts & Culture, called for a greater inclusion of people with disabilities: “…these acts of exclusion are choices.” There’s still a lot to do to make heritage sites more inclusive, even though there have been some strides. The funding to do that? It’s already there, we just need to reallocate it.
Dr Corinne Fowler (University of Leicester) runs a child-led project in collaboration with the National Trust. Today in England one in every three children in school is BME, how can heritage be reinterpreted by them, through their lenses? It is necessary to build new narratives together.
Abigael Flack (University of Oxford) works with refugees at the Pitt Rivers Museum, which becomes a space for inclusion, building social relationships, learning English and new skills.
Jonathan Badyal, Head of Communications at Universal Music UK, opened his speech with the thought-provoking point: “If you don’t have diverse staff, you won’t get diverse audiences”. Offering free spaces for creativity (especially for young people) will also foster inclusion.
“Contemporary art is tomorrow’s heritage”: Errol Francis, CEO of Culture&, stressed the need to make heritage and art work together to achieve new creative ways of inclusion. He recalled that the word “museum” comes from “Muses”, champions of free thinking: museums shouldn’t be only places for objects but provide food for thought.
Sasha Coward (Royal Museums Greenwich) advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusion. Every museum has collections with queer stories, a “queer eye” will easily find them: LGBTQ+ people have always been there and are part of the story, not just footnotes. Also, he notes, they are faithful audiences.
“Diversity and inclusion are integral to excellence.” With these words Professor Margot Finn, President of the Royal Historical Society, closed her discourse about the worrying “Race, Ethnicity & Equality report”. History in schools is still predominantly white, as is the academic the workforce.
Check out the live tweeting at the event at #heritagedebate.
Slides and recording of the event will soon be available on THA website.
The event was generously sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance.