An inquiry into class representation in creative fields has recommended changes believed to be the first of their kind in Greater Manchester to increase the number of working-class people in the arts.
Class Ceiling, a report led by Nazir Afzal, the chancellor of the University of Manchester, and Avis Gilmore, the former deputy general secretary of the National Education Union, was announced on 26 September, with promises of providing a “blueprint for change” that would highlight solutions to the obstacles that have kept working-class representation in the arts low, with the hope that such changes could be put in place throughout the country.
Despite the existence of working-class talents in a variety of fields coming from the region, representation among prospective creatives from humble backgrounds has long been seen as an issue in the north-west, with the Salford-born actor Christopher Eccleston telling the Guardian in 2023: “If you grow up in the north-west, you don’t feel culture and the arts belong to you. You don’t believe if you come from a council estate you can be an actor, a poet or a painter.”
The report outlines 21 recommendations, with one of its leading proposals being that class should become a protected characteristic, in the same way that characteristics such as race, sex and religion are. Afzal believes that Greater Manchester has led the way with such changes before and should be prepared to do so again for class representation in the sector.
“As a former prosecutor, I have seen our region do this before,” he said. “When Sophie Lancaster was killed, Greater Manchester police broke new ground by offering people from alternative subcultures hate crime protection – and other police forces eventually followed suit. This was the right thing to do and we need to be equally bold. Because we are not going to break down barriers that are crushing creativity until we build an arts sector that treats class as a core inclusion issue.”
Another problem that the report highlighted was the lack of apprenticeships in the arts through which working-class creatives can enter the industry, with only 0.5% of new apprenticeships in the creative sector. When the Co-op offered five apprenticeships to get experience at indoor arena Co-op Live last year, they received 2,304 applications, or 460 for each of the five places.
Claire Costello, the chief people and inclusion officer at Co-op, said the Manchester-based group would lead a major apprenticeship drive to encourage large employers to increase creative opportunities for young people across the region.
“Our Co-op believes everyone, whatever their background, should be able to access opportunities in the arts and creative sector throughout Greater Manchester,” she said. “Apprenticeships can provide a stepping stone for future careers. That’s why Co-op is encouraging Greater Manchester employers to share unspent apprenticeship levy funds to raise £3m over three years to support 200 new apprenticeships in the arts and creative sector throughout Greater Manchester.”
Other recommendations in the report include the creation of a “Class Champion”, a role that would be appointed by the mayor to act as a representative for class issues, making it mandatory for all roles in the sector to be advertised publicly in order to combat cronyism, and increasing the number of artistic and creative programmes in schools so that young people are consistently exposed to the arts and have the opportunity to pursue them academically throughout their education.
