The co-founder of Ensemble Records and current live music programmer based in London, Rob Farhat has written an extensive piece about structural racism in the arts and outlined some potential solutions to tackle the underlying issues in a lengthy piece on Medium.
In it, Farhat outlines the experience of minority artists in Ireland and makes a number of suggestions.
These include:
- Put black and minorities in positions of power in key positions of programming and decision-making, or at least, an advisory role.
- Give their platforms to minority programmers to book with creative freedom.
- Classical music organisations who receive the majority of arts funding available in Ireland should embrace minorities within their own structures and programming.
- Increase in funding should be allocated “into other genres of music and art forms where younger, ethnically diverse artists are at the forefront.”‘
- Music education should include more diversity it its curriculums.
- More minority community outreach in the arts in general.
You can read the piece and all the proposals here.
Lots of food for thought and action for people who work in the arts here, who programme stages and venues, who work in education, but it is also a useful read to literally anyone who is working in the arts.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
