A Reflection on MixednessPosted in Arts, New Media, United Kingdom, Women on 2010-07-13 06:06Z by Steven |
Runnymede Trust
July 2010
Sabrina Mahfouz, Poet, Writer and Playwright
On the 27 May Runnymede and the Arts Council held a joint seminar in which they invited a group of arts practioners and policy makers to come and debate the nature of ‘Arts and Mixedness’; as well as what—if anything—the Arts Council should be doing to encourage, fund or facilitate engagement with people racialised as mixed. Several of the participants subsequently provided reflections on the meeting and on the subject of mixedness and the arts.
The following submission was kindly provided by the writer, playwright and poet Sabrina Mahfouz.
‘Mixedness’ in it’s definition is so complex that it is often shied away from or regarded as being catered for via more specific diversity categories. I think the arts are somewhere to explore the possibility that this is not enough. In a Britain where ‘mixedness’ will one day be the majority minority (if it isn’t already) the arts should be reflecting this in its content, commissioning and – perhaps most importantly, in its casting (without it being a box-ticking exercise). Mixedness of course goes further than race – social class, religion and sexuality are some of the most obvious factors and for the moment it seems that discussion and awareness are much more important than policy and targets…
Read the entire article here.