Cautious welcome for Arts Council England report that shows striking increase in disabled leaders

Arts Council England (ACE) has reported a significant increase in the number of disabled people in leadership positions within the organisations it is funding, although leading figures in the disability arts world say there is still much more to do.

In its new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Review, ACE says the proportion of arts organisations funded through its national portfolio programme who have a disabled chair has trebled in four years (from five to 15 per cent).

The proportion of funded arts bodies with a disabled chief executive has also risen, from nine per cent in 2018-19 to 13 per cent in 2022-23, while the proportion with a disabled artistic director rose from eight to 10 per cent, and the proportion of board members identifying as disabled increased from eight to 12 per cent.

ACE also reported significant increases in the proportion of its own staff and council members who identify as disabled people.

The proportion of disabled people in its workforce rose from seven to 12 per cent; the proportion of disabled directors increased from two per cent to 7.6 per cent; and the proportion of managers identifying as disabled more than trebled, from three per cent to 11.3 per cent.

The proportion of ACE area council members identifying as disabled more than quadrupled, rising from six per cent to 25 per cent, although the proportion of disabled national council members remained at seven per cent.

The proportion of disabled applicants who were successful with National Lottery-funded project grants fell from 53 per cent to 35 per cent, but the report suggests that was probably because of a significant increase in the number of applications.

The proportion of audience members identifying as disabled people also increased slightly, increasing from nine per cent in 2018-19 to 10 per cent in 2022-23.

Andrew Miller, a member of ACE’s national council, and chair of its disability advisory committee, says in the report: “Clearly there is still work to be done to improve the representation of disabled people in the sector, and that is something that we will continue to advocate and strive for.

“But for the proportion of disabled people working in our creative and cultural organisations to have doubled in five years is something truly to celebrate.”

Dr Ju Gosling, artistic director of Together! 2012, a disability arts organisation which receives ACE funding through the national portfolio programme, said questions remained as to whether the figures showed an increase in the employment of disabled people and more opportunities for disabled people to engage with the arts or instead “an increase in disability rates among certain demographics as a result of Covid and an ageing population”.

She said: “Chairs, artistic directors and CEOs all tend to be middle-aged or elderly, and many arts audiences are slanted towards older people too.

“We’ve also seen a lot of people departing the creative arts for economic reasons, including as board members.

“Disabled people are less likely to have access to these alternative employment opportunities, so are more likely to have remained with Arts Council-funded organisations despite flatlined budgets in many areas.

“Disabled people have also been less likely to be invited onto boards in the first place and are less likely to be in employment, so there is a bigger pool of people available to replace departing non-disabled volunteers.

“However, outside of London there was a genuine increase in the funding of disabled-led organisations in the last round [of ACE funding], which was definitely good news.”

Gosling said she would “obviously like to see these figures continue to increase, not least because it would reflect better retention of arts workers as they age”.

But she warned that “the continued slurs on the abilities of disabled workers coming from the US, plus the rise in national insurance and the continuing squeeze on arts organisations’ budgets, makes the future picture less clear”.

And she said cuts to arts training and work opportunities over the last 15 years “means there are already far fewer young people coming up to take over than previously”.

She added: “I’m not at all sure that mainstream organisations will be so keen now as they were 10 years ago to employ a young disabled person in a first or early career job, for the reasons above.

“So we could easily see a fall over the next five to 10 years rather than a continuing increase.”

Trish Wheatley, chief executive of Disability Arts Online, another disability arts organisation which receives ACE funding, said: “It is encouraging to see an increase in disabled people in positions of leadership and in the wider arts workforce.

“This progress should be celebrated because we have more people with lived experience making decisions and creating work.

“However, despite the increases shown in the report, disabled people remain significantly underrepresented, so it is vital that Arts Council England continues to work with the sector to address ableism and remove barriers.”

Sir Nicholas Serota, ACE’s chair, says in the report: “The boardrooms of 2023 were far more diverse than those of 2018, with significantly higher proportions of female, Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, and disabled and LGBTQIA+ members.

“The same shift was also seen in leadership roles across organisations, with a greater proportion of women and Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, and disabled people occupying the roles of chairs, chief executives and artistic directors at the end of the last Portfolio than at its beginning.

“Diversity also grew across the total workforce, in each of the four protected characteristics, race, sex, sexuality and disability, that this report covers.

“These changes are profound, particularly in the context of the range of challenges from the pandemic to the cost-of-living crisis, and we should all take pride in them.”

But he says there is “still much more to do to make sure that our sector is drawing on all available talents and appealing to audience members from all backgrounds”.

And he says that while the proportion of disabled people in the arts workforce “rose significantly”, it still remains below the level of disabled people in the population.

Sir Nicholas also says in the report that there is still work for ACE to do, which was why it established a disability advisory committee and a race advisory committee in 2022 and commissioned an independent review of inclusion within ACE in 2023.

He adds: “Our adoption of our own statement on the social model of disability, and the related policies we have introduced to implement it, are examples of the work we are doing in this area.”

Picture: ACE-funded Paraorchestra’s SMOOSH! at Filwood Community Centre, Knowle West, Bristol, July 2021. Photo by Paul Blakemore

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