Classical music’s diversity problem

Classical music has a problem with diversity. The sector still falls far short in being representative of British society, though the issues run far deeper than identity politics. In order to address them we have scrutinise our whole notion of education, opportunity and social mobility.

Successive culture ministers have placed their support behind the diversity agenda, which is embodied most plainly by Arts Council England (ACE)’s Creative Case for Diversity. This was launched in December 2014 with the declaration that ‘Diversity needs to go mainstream’, and ACE, which funds many of England’s major orchestras, opera companies and concert halls – not to mention its music education hubs – would from then on be using its observations on diversity when making future funding decisions.

‘Public funding of arts and culture should be invested for the benefit of everyone. It should offer opportunity and draw on all talents,’ said ACE at the time of the launch. The fact is that the case shouldn’t have to be made any more. There are only a small few who would argue against it. The debate has moved on to look in more detail at what the problem actually is and how it might be solved: much harder questions.

Making progress
Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s success in BBC Young Musician made him the first black winner of the competition in its nearly 40-year history. During that time the UK has gone through a tremendous modernisation in attitudes towards race and diversity, and it is good that the competition has caught up. But it would be hugely unfair to suggest the record reflected poorly on the competition itself: it’s a reflection of the entire sector, starting from the earliest engagements with classical music (or lack thereof).

Toks Dada, the South Bank Centre's new head of music, points out that it's not just the obvious manifestations of diversity that have to be addressed: ‘ Everybody’s having this debate about classical music and audiences, and the fact that they’re not that diverse, but a colleague of mine recently pointed out that the backstage workforce itself isn’t very diverse.

‘That is an issue in itself, because if the industry wants to really and truly attract diverse audiences, artists and composers, then it needs to demonstrate that there is diversity among the gatekeepers, the management parts of the industry… to put it bluntly, that these people are not all middle-class white males And notice how I don’t only say "white": there is a gender issue and a social class issue as well. The racial element is just one part of the debate for a sector that wants to be truly diverse.’

Hannah Kendall, a composer who is also a director of instrumental tuition charity London Music Masters, agrees: ‘I don’t think the industry is racist or sexist, it’s just that a certain type of person runs it – yes, the gatekeepers. So if you’ve never been affected by these issues, it’s highly unlikely that this will be at the forefront of your mind: you have to put it there if you really want to make a difference. But because I am a woman and I am from a minority background, these imbalances are already at the forefront of my mind: so I put them there, and I put them into action.’

Hannah Kendall
Photo: Chris Alexander

Kendall’s latest project, The Knife of Dawn, is a one-man chamber opera based on the life of Guyanese poet and political activist Martin Carter. She has led the project, filling more roles than simply that of composer. ‘With my other hat on, as an artist manager or producer, being from a minority background does mean that I look at how I work with my own creative projects – for example, even down to the lighting designer: apparently only 3% of lighting designers in the country are women, but we have a woman lighting designer! That’s something that we’ve tried to incorporate into the whole project.’

Running alongside the production, Kendall has been working with Christina Scharff of King’s College, London, to see if there are benefits of working in this proactive way – and whether larger organisations could also benefit from the approach. ‘To be honest, spearheading your own projects, as I’m doing, is what gives you the freedom to do this sort of stuff – whether huge organisations would take on a task of working in this way, I don’t know.’

For large organisations which have been facing several years of reduced grants from ACE, overhauling how they do things might feel like a tall order. Reacting to a speech by Matt Hancock during his time as culture minister, Mark Pemberton, director of the Association of British Orchestras, said: ‘There was barely any reference from the minister to public funding. It’s fine for those of us in the arts to say we back the idea of greater access to what we do, but more resources are needed.’ As politicians trumpet the same tired lines about the arts – and classical music in particular – there is a growing perception that it is simply more lip service, particularly when education policies like the EBacc appear to be working precisely in the opposite direction.

Music education
Both Kendall and Dada agree that the industry can only reflect on stage (and backstage) the demographics of the young people who are coming through the music education system.

‘I work on classical programmes at THSH,’ says Dada, ‘so this is the sort of thing I’m talking about with colleagues all the time: how can we attract new audiences, and what are we going to do? In my opinion, the root of the problem is in education. I see the academic institutions as the gatekeepers to the industry: they’re training the next generation of artists. And so if there’s a lack of diversity within those institutions then that will be mirrored in the industry.

‘I recently went to London to see Chineke [Europe’s first professional all-black orchestra, which gave its first performance in September 2015], and I was looking at the programme. It was interesting as they had a number of biographies of players, which you wouldn’t normally have – I imagine because they were showcasing that these individuals do really interesting work. But I realised that so many of them were not from the UK. It’s interesting that when you are putting together a concert where the criteria is that you are BAME, you have to look as far afield as Europe, or even further.

‘That says to me that the issue isn’t that there are lots of BAME players and there isn’t a route for them into orchestral playing, or that they’re not getting the orchestral jobs; it partly says to me that there aren’t enough orchestral players. It’s one thing to have lots of players and them not being given the opportunities, but if there aren’t enough of them, that goes back to education. If primary schools or music hubs are not attracting the right mix of students to start playing an instrument, then we’re screwed.

‘I think the real challenge is: one, how do we make the debate a constructive one; and two, how do we turn the debate into practical points for the industry, in order to actually to make the change? What specific things can we do to make sure that in 20, 30 or 40 years’ time, the diversity of the sector mirrors the diversity of the country? If the sector isn’t representative of the diversity of the country, then we’re going to get to a point where there will be question marks as to whether the sector is sustainable or not.’

Forging ahead
For Toks Dada, one way forward is to ensure that, rather than simply talking about the issue, there should be a commitment to clear action points. ‘After every conference or seminar on the subject of diversity, I ask: What next?,’ he says. Another is to ensure ‘that there are really good role models … If young BAME musicians can go to orchestral concerts and look at the platform and see there are other people like them, that’s a really big part of the battle.’

More consistent support from government would be Kendall’s main wish: ‘I think there are lots of organisations and charities, such as LMM that are doing really good things, but I think what’s missing is the perception of the importance of music among the government. There just seems to be a disconnect between music and everything else.I think if it was given that importance among children starting from a really young age, we would be seeing better results in other academic areas, better diversity in classical music – and it would be better all round.’