COVID-19: Impacts on the cultural industries and the implications for policy

 Dear Colleagues,

On Tuesday 30th March I have organised the first stage in a root-and-branch review of the way in which Equity develops and implements all aspects of equalities, diversity and inclusion policy, strategy and communications. I am very pleased to say that the keynote speaker is Dr. Dave O'Brien of Edinburgh University (https://tinyurl.com/4fsk4c3c) as a result of his critically important and valuable insights on the emerging implications of Covid-19 on the creative and cultural industries workforce, and of the equalities and diversities impacts also.

Some of Dr. O'Brien's output around this includes the following:

Class, Covid-19 and cultural occupations: https://www.pec.ac.uk/blog/class-covid-19-and-cultural-occupations

A jobs crisis in the creative and cultural industries: https://www.pec.ac.uk/blog/why-is-understanding-inequality-important-to-understanding-the-creative-economy

Why is understand inequality important to understanding the creative economy? https://www.pec.ac.uk/blog/why-is-understanding-inequality-important-to-understanding-the-creative-economy

The emerging impacts of the pandemic on the work undertaken to advance the equalities and diversity agenda are deeply worrying. As noted in the May '20 publication (listed above) it was clear that, for example, the trends of diminishing opportunities for workers of working class origin were hardening, and that there presence was declining even further.

The work to address this is on-going within Equity, and sister unions representing workers across the creative and cultural industries. Recently, for example, our work has included an open letter to Arts Council England demanding greater attention to the way in which grant funding ensures diversity in the workforce of funded activity: https://www.equity.org.uk/news/2021/february/equitys-equalities-committees-open-letter-to-ace/

There is, of course, much more to be done. Our event on Tuesday is part of the process of strengthening the work of the union in resisting any way in which there is a return to 'business as usual' in the industry, and a worsening of the opportunities to get in and get on across the industry for under-represented groups of workers.

In Solidarity

Ian

Activist organizing and organizing activism: A post-pandemic world in the making

Dear Colleagues,

I am still having problems accessing this blog on a routine basis. This explains the last three posts all published closely together, and then nothing 'til this weekend. I am thinking of shifting over to a more stable platform like WordPress.

For now though, here is introduction to an abstract that I have submitted to an online conference planned for June/May by the journal Ephemera. More details are here: http://www.ephemerajournal.org/events/activist-organizing-and-organizing-activism-post-pandemic-world-making

Abstract: An activist scholar’s account from the UK of the maintenance of institutional racism within the legacy of a pandemic

This paper proposes an activist scholar’s account of the changing, divergent nature of institutional racism across the UK from January 2020. 

It pinpoints the important dimensions of resistance, encompassing direct and indirect forms involving workers and civil society, whilst acknowledging strong oppositional forces spanning a spectrum of resurgent Neo Nazi movements and volatile reactionary forces in government. 

Importantly also, from the perspective of movement theory and practice this is an account of how anti-racist movements shift their gaze and appreciation of the fabric of modern-day institutional racism, and its location in the historical and global context of capitalist political economy.

I will confirm if my paper is accepted, and share the full, final version here.

In Solidarity

Ian