Last year, Tate completed a Diversity Strategy which laid the groundwork for broadening Tate’s programmes, Collection, staff and audiences. The strategy aims to open up programmes and jobs to everyone, bring diversity into all areas of our work, and to create an environment where staff feel valued.
Putting this into action, Tate Liverpool has launched a training scheme for young people called Creative Apprenticeships, run by a consortium of cultural organisations and led by the gallery. Creative Apprenticeships specifically aims to reflect the diversity of Tate Liverpool’s local community within its workforce, and it does this by targeting young people aged 16 to 24 who have talent and aptitude, but lack qualifications or experience. Tate Liverpool will host two paid Creative Apprentices during 2008–9, and they will work towards a Level 2 NVQ qualification.
Tate Modern’s Learning team took on two trainees from ethnic-minority backgrounds during the past year who have gone on to find work within the sector, at the Imperial War Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Tate Modern has also continued to take part in the Inspire programme, run by Arts Council England, which provides two-year placements for curators from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. Tate worked with an Inspire Fellow for two years until October 2007, and this is set to continue with a new Fellow based at Tate Britain.
At Tate Britain, three research assistants were recruited to set up Tate Encounters: Britishness and Visual Culture, a collaboration between Tate Britain, London South Bank University and Wimbledon College of Art/University of the Arts. The project will produce in-depth case studies of how 50 London migrant families, primarily from the African/Caribbean and Asian diasporas, encounter Tate Britain and the Collection over a three-year period.
Access has been tackled with a Tate-wide advisory group which meets every three months. The group includes disabled participants and acts as a forum to discuss topics relating to Tate’s Disability Equality Scheme.
