| 'The arts can play a crucial role in bridging barriers between different groups and fostering a sense of community cohesion.' |
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Cultural policy should be at the heart of managing the transition to a multicultural Britain. The arts are at the vanguard of thinking, and culture is central to our personal and group identities.
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The contributions to this debate that suggest cultural diversity policy in the arts is problematic, have a limited vision of the role that public policy can play. A progressive approach should provide a support mechanism and incentives that encourage and enable willing artists to work with communities.
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This does not imply a policing policy that dictates arts production and amplifies ethnic divisions. The arts can play a crucial role in bridging barriers between different groups and fostering a sense of community cohesion. The challenge for policy is to ensure that they do so in a manner that also enables artists to continue to lead and innovate.
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Two concerns appear to underlie this debate. The first suggests that cultural diversity policy somehow devalues the essence of art, reducing it to a tool in the hands of government. But the evidence suggests that the act of producing, participating in and viewing art can have wider social benefits. If this is the case, then we should not be afraid of shouting about them.
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The second concerns the risk of what Jatinder Verma refers to as 'institutionalising ethnic divisions'. This is a real danger. Art can foster intercultural exchange and encourage understanding between different communities. Policy and funding bodies must therefore work to encourage interdependence and not promote partition.
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Tiffany Jenkins argues that cultural diversity policy represents another form of political interference in art. We should be unashamed about this. Seventy-two percent of the public believes that arts from different cultures contribute a lot to this country  . If we believe that cultural activity can break down the barriers between groups in society, then we should aim for great art that also brings people together.
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James Heartfield suggests that targeting subsidy towards ethnic minority groups may mean that quality suffers - citing the example of the Greater London Council (GLC). This may or may not have happened at the GLC, but if quality suffers that is about poor management, not poor principles.
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We need to move away from this Manichean view that either art can be good or it can have wider social benefits. This is not a zero-sum game. Great art can do both. The constant drone of the art for art's sake zeppelin casts a long shadow over cultural policy. From outside, cultural commentators are seen as navel-gazers more interested in protecting their own vested interests than engaging with progressive change. Everyone is keen to talk about the importance of culture in the good society without recognising that this means everyone should have the opportunity to make, see and participate in arts activity.
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Why should there be a focus on diversity? The unfortunate fact remains that ethnic minorities are discriminated against in society. According to a recent Strategy Unit report:
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'Ethnic minorities are disadvantaged…on a broad range of measures of achievement: employment/unemployment rates; earnings levels; progression/occupational attainment in the workplace; and levels of self-employment. The extent of these disadvantages has fluctuated over time but has not been eliminated.'
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Jatinder Verma is correct to argue that we need to avoid institutionalising ethnic divisions. The arts can foster cultural-interdependence, providing a bridge and encouraging understanding between different communities, which is as crucial in Sunderland as it is in Southall. We can avoid reinforcing divisions if we conceptualise a policy framework that caters for emerging forms of identity, rather than simply formalises cultural differences. This requires a focus not only on who produces the art, but also on the audience.
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The Cantle Report, commissioned by the Home Office following the disturbances in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham in the summer of 2001, pointed to the importance of the local community feeling a shared sense of place - what the report called 'community cohesion'. 
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Arguably, the arts provide an opportunity to encourage community collaboration and forge relationships. They facilitate the exploration of local identity and are a way of engaging people in multicultural dialogues. The Cantle Report recommended joint-community arts programmes aimed at the young to foster community cohesion - and included a rap as an 'inspirational example of cross-community development'.
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Initiatives such as decibel must encourage different communities to work together, rather than simply ensuring that everyone gets their share of the public pie. decibel has laudable aims, including: raising the profile of 'ethnic' arts; opening touring opportunities for ethnic groups; strengthening the arts sector's commitment to cultural diversity and providing leverage to work with organisations in different ways. The proof will be in the pudding.
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There is a real danger that decibel will only reach those groups and audiences already in the arts sector, and fail to encourage new audiences and different communities to work together. Of the £3.5million decibel has spent in its first year, only £1.5million has been made available to the Arts Council's regional offices. Funding can only be accessed after a 'Grants for the Arts' award has been made at the discretion of regional arts officers. The only coverage we could find of decibel in the national media was a short mention in the Guardian and a piece on BBC Radio 3. decibel's website forum has generated four responses to date.
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The Arts Council should actively work together with the Community Cohesion Unit at the Home Office to build new networks and pool knowledge and understanding. decibel funding should be explicitly linked to projects that aim to encourage intercultural exchange through participation and viewing.
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At the pragmatic level, ethnic minorities are projected to account for over half the growth in Britain's working-age population over the next decade, and will form the audiences (and artists) of the future . To maintain public support, arts institutions should be working to promote and reflect the diversity of their audiences and practitioners today.
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Jamie Cowling is Arts Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr). Tania Wilmer is an assistant to the ippr Arts in Society research project. For further information see the ippr website.
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