ACE to hold further talks with women’s group

Arts Council England (ACE) has invited a group of senior arts professionals to a meeting to discuss how it can respond to the under-representation of and discrimination against women in the sector – with a view to possibly setting up a gender advisory group.

The Women in Theatre group says the meeting, which will be held on 14 October, is the first time ACE has taken action in over five years to address the issues, as well as the first time the funder has invited the group to a meeting, rather than it requesting one.

It follows a previous meeting in March, when the group presented the findings of a five-year research project. Women in Theatre said the issues highlighted by its research include discrimination against older women, the need to improve support for childcare and caring responsibilities, and unconscious bias in the workplace.

Those invited to the meeting include Jude Kelly, Chief Executive of the WOW Foundation, Jennifer Tuckett, who is Co-Director of the Women in Theatre Lab and the former Research and Literary Director at Sphinx Theatre, and Stella Kanu, Chief Executive of the Globe Theatre and Co-Founder of Black Womxn in Theatre.

The meeting will be attended by ACE Chair Nicholas Serota, as well as the organisation’s Director of Strategy Michelle Dickson and Director of Theatre Neil Darlison.

Women in Theatre said that since the March meeting, ACE has committed to adjusting its guidance to make clear childcare is eligible for inclusion in National Lottery Project Grants, and has met the charity Parents and Carers in the Performing Arts to “discuss childcare and how to support and amplify this message”.

ACE has also been in regular contact with the group to keep it informed about “other possibilities” it has been working on, the project said.

This includes an agreement to consider setting up a gender advisory group and to look at how employment figures used by ACE use “are not the same as experience figures/qualitative findings which highlight discrimination”.

Tuckett said ACE’s work on this area in the past five months was “fantastic and much appreciated”.

‘Watershed moment’

She added: “This has been a real watershed moment of working together to address this issue for the first time during the five years of the Women in Theatre research project (and longer), and we can’t wait to hear what actions ACE have decided it is possible for them to take.”

Kelly said the group was “delighted” to have been invited for a further meeting by ACE, adding: “It is vital that the ongoing under-representation of and lack of structural support for women who work in the arts is addressed.”

It emerged earlier this year that there would be a review of the role of ACE’s Race Advisory and Disability Advisory Groups.