On Monday 18 July, the amazing Serlina Boyd, founder and publisher of Cocoa Girl and Cocoa Boy magazines, asked why there was a huge lack of Black people in the Prom's audience, whilst there were incredible Black people on the programme.
Serlina was invited. Otherwise she says she wouldn't have been there.
She says: "Why don’t we know about these type of events? I would have never known about this concert if I was not personally invited to attend."
This indicates clearly that there's a huge, huge problem in the Arts.
We get it. These long established arts institutions can't mend this problem overnight, but with so many resources available to them and with MUCH smaller organisations successfully attracted more diverse audiences (hello, Power of stories in Ipswich in 2021!), there's no reason not to fix up.
It's time to sort this out. Audiences are ready. But they need to know about these events and they need prices that work for them. The event producers and venue staff need to understand their biases and white audience members need to never, ever assume a Black person is a cloakroom attendant, a waiter or bar staff. And this is just the tip of a unequal iceberg!
By summer 2023 we want to see more people of colour enjoying the Proms. And it might even attract new benefactors and champions from diverse backgrounds. Everyone wins.
Read Serlina's full post here: https://lnkd.in/eHyeHmuH
Thank you to Serlina for permission for us to use your post in our marketing content. We stand with you on this.