Arts funding system causes BAME organisations to fail, paper claims

The current system of arts funding is “one of the biggest causes” of failure for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) led organisations and programmes, a ‘provocation paper’ on arts funding has claimed.

The paper by MeWe360, a membership organisation which provides support for creative entrepreneurs, warns that BAME leaders and organisations are trapped in a continuous cycle of grant applications, rather than becoming economically sustainable.

It says that “little has fundamentally changed” as a result of large public investment into diversity over the past 30 years and is calling for more funding to be directed to hubs, such as MeWe360, which support BAME organisations and individuals to become self-sustaining.

“With limited money available, the existing funding system is wasteful and is not meeting the demands or needs of the BAME community: neither is it investing in the long-term sustainability of organisations,” the paper says.

“Our fear is that this ultimately quashes entrepreneurialism. It is time for a different approach.”

The paper has been published following a five-year action research project run by MeWe360 to test new approaches to increasing diversity in the arts.

A constructive attempt

The paper, billed as a “constructive attempt” to offer an alternative funding model, criticises the current system’s focus on increasing the supply of art, rather than funding according to demand. It warns this has led to a legacy of institutions “that are either permanently dependent on grants or perpetually on the brink of failure”.

It says BAME-led organisations are the “short-term beneficiaries yet long term-victims” of such an approach to funding.

In addition, the paper asks how the arts sector can be sure that new diversity schemes such as Arts Council England’s Sustained Theatre fund are not simply a repetition of previous schemes which made “little or no overall impact”.

No quick fixes

The paper positions business development organisations, such as MeWe360, as central to the solution to a lack of diversity in the arts.

While it accepts that there are no “quick fixes”, it asserts that BAME hubs offer a “genuine solution” by helping organisations to become economically sustainable and giving participants access to a wide and influential community for shared learning.

“Our hope is not that BAME organisations become ‘NPO-ready’ and require an endless supply of government grants but rather are equipped to stand on their own two feet and shape their own future,” the paper says.

It calls for funders to ensure that money spent on BAME participation supports “initiatives and organisations that are responding to genuine demand within the BAME community” and highlights to need to provide resources such as rehearsal, workshop and performance spaces on a “cheap, flexible and non-committal basis”.