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Learning from The Drum : towards a decolonization of the arts in the UK
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Gregory, Davinia Louise (2019) Learning from The Drum : towards a decolonization of the arts in the UK. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3492920~S15
Abstract
The Drum, in Birmingham UK (1995-2016) was the last in a succession of Black-led community arts centres to open in England in the wake of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s-80s. It was also the last to remain open in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and the subsequent fiscal austerity measures that cut funding to the arts and local governments in the UK from 2010 onwards. On paper, it was created to provide an inclusive creative space for the city’s African, Caribbean and South Asian populations, at a time when mainstream cultural organizations were not doing so. Additionally, it was intended as an economically regenerative project for the ‘deprived’ area of Newtown in North Birmingham when, in the wake of the early 90s recession, many city councils were pump-priming private sector investment using cultural projects. In practice however, its leadership aimed to create a space for building a community of communities in practical terms, and a space where those communities could establish creative and intellectual self-confidence. In March 2016, six months into this PhD and, incidentally, halfway through Arts Council England’s Creative Case for Diversity, The Drum organization announced that it had gone into voluntary liquidation, and finally closed on June 30th 2016. During this time, institutional ethnography participant observation and interviews were being conducted at The Drum for this project.
The dissonance between diversity as written in policy and promoted by policy makers, and cultural / racial / socioeconomic diversity as lived in practice is explored in this thesis. The research also sheds light on practices and processes that can lead to the closure of Black led arts organizations in a system where public funding is the norm. Each significant element that contributed to The Drum’s closure is examined, and evidence of what caused an organization’s demise is provided. This is the first piece of research to fully document the closure, aftermath and legacy creation of a Black-led arts organization; the first empirical analysis of what happens at this point of stress. Such closures often happen quickly and are complex. They are sometimes documented after the fact using document analysis and archival material. However, this empirical data-rich analysis of what happens in real time when an organization implodes is important because it bridges the gap between what policy documents say about the role and function of cultural diversity in the arts and what happens (and is needed) on the ground. Developments in cultural policy are examined through the lens of sociology of Race. Seeing that very little has materially changed in the way that arts organisations work toward racial equality in Britain, it suggests new directions based on empirical evidence. It asks why and how this can be changed, as many others have done. Moreover, it asks what Black arts is in Britain in 2019, what its purpose and future is, and how far physical buildings are needed for it to meet its true remit. This thesis is likely to serve as a helpful resource for leaders and funders of arts organizations.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HM Sociology N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Art centers -- England -- Birmingham, Multiculturalism -- England, Cultural pluralism -- England | ||||
Official Date: | September 2019 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Sociology | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Jones, Hannah 1980- ; Belfiore, Eleonora, 1975- | ||||
Sponsors: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) | ||||
Format of File: | |||||
Extent: | 262 leaves : illustrations (chiefly colour), colour maps | ||||
Language: | eng |
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