A new paper has said class should become a protected characteristic like race or religion in a bid to create more bands like Oasis – after pathways to success dried up for the working class
Class should become a protected characteristic like race or religion to stop the arts world being so posh, a report says.
The paper, Class Ceiling, says working class people are struggling to break into the arts world, leaving the sector dominated by the middle class and London.
The report is the result of a review into the arts sector in Greater Manchester, led by the chancellor of the University of Manchester, Nazir Afzal, and Avis Gilmore, former deputy general secretary of NEU.
Co-chairman of the Greater Manchester review, Mr Afzal, who is also the chairman of the Lowry theatre, said this was an opportunity for the region to lead the way on a national challenge and build a better sector “where talent is discovered everywhere, nurtured properly, paid fairly and allowed to rise”.
Among the Inquiry’s 21 recommendations are measures to include class as a protected characteristic.
Mr Afzal said: “As a former prosecutor, I have seen our region do this before.
“When Sophie Lancaster was killed, Greater Manchester Police broke new ground by offering people from alternative sub-cultures hate-crime protection, and other police forces eventually followed suit.
“This was the right thing to do and we need to be equally bold. Because we are not going to break down barriers that are crushing creativity until we build an arts sector that treats class as a core inclusion issue.”
It says the rungs of the ladder that led to stardom for those in the region such as Oasis’ Gallagher brothers, comics Peter Kay and Caroline Aherne or poet John Cooper Clarke, are no longer there.
Barriers preventing working class talent in the arts include class discrimination, or classism, recently described as the last acceptable prejudice by comedian Ricky Gervais, who said the only group you can now mock is the working class.
Lack of money and working for free is also a major barrier, with middle class people more able to rely on the “bank of mum and dad” as they begin low-paid arts careers.
And a lack of connections for working class people inside the arts world, unlike their middle and upper class contemporaries, is also a block to participation and progression, the report says.
Fewer than half of creatives questioned, 44%, said they earned enough to make a living, with many requiring second jobs; 51% of respondents said they had experienced bullying, harassment or bias based on their social class.
And just 18% of respondents said they saw their own experiences of working class life and culture widely represented in their work.
Only 22% said they personally knew someone working in the arts when they were growing up.
The review included a survey of 300 working class people working in the arts in the region, including focus groups and 150 hours of interviews of those taking part, from teenage musicians and mid-career arts workers to Danny Brocklehurst, a Bafta and RTS (Royal Television Society) award-winning screenwriter.