“Arts organisations should treat social class in the same way as identity markers protected by equality legislation in order to combat a ‘class crisis’ in the sector, a new guide argues. … It recommends employers measure and report on socio-economic diversity, stop offering unpaid and unadvertised job opportunities and create a more inclusive work culture and recruitment process to diversify their staff. The toolkit also offers practical advice on how to achieve sustainable institutional change, based on research involving 110 arts organisations.” – Arts Professional

“In its four years of existence, Chineke!, Europe’s first majority black and minority ethnic (BME) orchestra has transformed the attitude of the classical music business towards race, diversity and inclusion. ‘Before Chineke! there was nothing like it,’ says founder Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE. ‘Today, people of colour are acceptable in the industry, whereas the establishment used to say classical music is not for people like you.'” – Classical Music (UK)

“Employers in the creative industries risk alienating diverse young talent by ‘needlessly asking for degrees’ for entry-level jobs, according to a new report. This was identified as one of a number of barriers that are ‘excluding young people from [Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic] and lower-income backgrounds’ from working in the arts that were revealed in the study.” – The Stage

Vu Le: “I’ve been thinking a lot about the differences between conservatives and progressives (see “10 things progressive funders must learn from conservative ones or we are all screwed“). Last week I brought up how progressives come to a knife fight with a spreadsheet. Maybe a logic model. But the major difference may be that conservatives are united under a single set of philosophies and strategies (their “Theory of Change,” if you will) and spend most of their time and resources implementing it, while progressives waste endless years creating and debating thousands of separate theories and strategies that are then poorly coordinated and put into action. Let’s learn from our conservative colleagues, then. Let’s create and finalize the Progressive Theory of Change, the mother of all Theories of Change, the Theory of Change that will guide all of us in the sector.” – Nonprofit AF

Hilary Amnah: “While working in the public sector for much of my arts administration career, I have been complicit in adhering to largely inequitable practices — especially when it comes to grant funding. And while my fellow public sector arts administrators and I get excited by moving the needle — even just a little — to make our policies and practices more equitable, we’re still not addressing the core structures that created these inequities in the first place. We focus our attention on moving the needle within these structures, but hasn’t history shown us that these structures don’t (and won’t) work to get us to a more equitable reality?” – Americans for the Arts

Aileen Alon: “While most of my career has been in the arts, I’ve never been employed by an arts organization. … In fact, I’ve probably been able to do more for the arts and culture sector in my community by being an advocate for the arts in non-arts organizations.” – Americans for the Arts

Most organizations are hyper aware of creating a well-balanced board, representing increasingly diverse communities. While we continue to actively address (and we must) race and gender diversity, age diversity is rarely considered. Leaving potential young board members out can be detrimental to an arts organization, and here’s why … – Americans for the Arts

Los Angeles Music and Art School (LAMusArt), the only multidisciplinary arts school in east Los Angeles, has offered discounted and tuition-free arts programs to youth for over 70 years. Jasmine Ako writes about how she helped found LAMusArt’s Young Professionals Advisory Board. – Americans for the Arts

Manuel Prieto, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Music and Art School: “As I look to my past to see what my task as an arts leader is for the future, I cannot help but think of cultural equity. Succession planning is creating a series of feeder groups up and down the entire leadership pipeline of an organization. While concern for senior leadership positions is what comes to mind, it is the intentional retention of key staff members and volunteers, coupled with sufficient and professional development, that the sector needs.” – Americans for the Arts

Vu Le: “‘Solutions Privilege’ [is] the privilege of expecting easy and instant solutions that would align with one’s worldview and not challenge one’s privilege. It manifests in the following ways, and because I benefit from male and other privileges, I’m also prone to it, so I’m going to use ‘we’.” – Nonprofit AF

Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, argues that the most important thing that grant makers can do is make sure the nonprofits they fund can attract good staff members and compensate them fairly. – The Chronicle of Philanthropy

“If the field is not investing in the artistic and cultural traditions of every aspect of their community, then we are not fulfilling our purpose. … The historically inequitable distribution of resources and the values systems, biases, and systemic barriers associated with that distribution hold within them insidious checks and balances that make achieving the goal of cultural equity something that requires deep and specific engagement, self-reflection, and transformative effort.” – Americans for the Arts