As part of The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½â€™s ongoing work on Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism, we will be sharing regular updates on the progress we have made in these areas. This is just a start, and we are all conscious that there is more work to do. We will continue to report progress on a termly basis.
Since the start of the 2020 Autumn Term, the following activities have taken place:
- The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½â€™s Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Working Group met in October, to discuss a report from our independent external consultant on our current picture, and potential ways forward.
- Recruitment for two faculty positions in the arts of Africa and its global diasporas is currently underway, with applications having just closed.
- Our new Decolonisation Reading Groups have been launched – and 165 staff and students have signed up to take part.
- We have launched our first ever undergraduate scholarships, aimed at encouraging people from a wider range of backgrounds to study art history. Although the scholarships are open to a range of applicants from widening participation backgrounds, priority will be given to students who are care leavers, carers, are living with a disability, come from a minority ethnic group or have refugee status.
- We have continued to use our convening power to broaden art history knowledge and address diversity through our Research Forum events. Highlights of the last term have included:
- Open ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Hours on British Art, Immigration and Migration; and Rethinking Gauguin
- Dan Hicks and ‘The Brutish Museums’
- Ethiopian Christians in Florence: Filippino Lippi’s Adoration of the Magi and ‘Miracle of St Philip’
- Radical Alternatives: Temporal and Spatial Mediations in Contemporary Iranian Art
- Addressing Images with Nadya Wang, looking at contemporary womenswear designers in Southeast Asia
- A Rock-Hewn Revolution in Early Medieval Ethiopia
- Afterlives of the Kingdom of Haiti, 1820-2020: Art, Refinement and Material Culture
- Feminism’s Occult Imagination, with artist Tai Shani
- Symposia on The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½â€™s Islamic Metalwork collection and on Textual Abstraction Within Transnational Modernism, looking athow artists experimented withÌýscriptÌýin North Africa, West Asia and South Asia in the wake of independence movements
- A book event on Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa
- Equality and Diversity on-line training has been rolled out to all staff.
- A significant piece of work has been undertaken as part of ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Connects to develop a new suite of interpretation for The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Gallery. It addresses issues such as the history and contexts of the artwork in the collection, as well as the history of Somerset House.
- The Library has purchased over 70 new print titles since August which respond to the issues raised by the Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Working Group.
In addition, The ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ grateful for the work of the Students’ Union who continue to address structural bias and inequality in all meetings with staff and directors. Their work in the Autumn Term included:
- Expanding the SU Parliament to provide representation of Disabled, LGBTQ+ and BAME students.
- Working with a group of students to establish BAME Soc – a social and support group run for and by students.
- Purchasing 70 books relating to Black social history for future use by students in the Common Room.