The Guardian view on working-class representation in the arts: Manchester can lead the way | Editorial

A pioneering enquiry in the north-west can help deliver fresh solutions to a national problem. Amid deepening social divisions, it takes on a vital taskThe gradual gentrification of Britain’s creative industries is a matter of record and an all too familiar theme. The alarm has repeatedly been sounded in recent years by senior figures in the arts. In 2022, Mark Rylance memorably questioned a distribution of cultural resources in which England’s most famous public school enjoys the luxury of two theatres, while arts education is relentlessly downgraded in the state sector.To paraphrase Macbeth, the sound and the fury has yet to signify very much in the way of meaningful change. One recent study found that between 2020 and 2023, working-class representation across the creative industries actually declined from 26% to a paltry 19%. In a country where issues of class and status have become politically volatile – as Sir Keir Starmer rightly diagnosed during his keynote Labour conference speech on Tuesday – this is deeply undesirable from every point of view. Culturally, it means the marginalisation of perspectives that can enrich the national conversation. Economically speaking, a wealth-generating sector is missing out on a talent pool it should be trawling. Politically, the trend reinforces perceptions of the UK as an unhealthily stratified society, where the rhetoric of equal opportunity rings hollow.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

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