Weekend arts group a lifeline

Published: 8 April, 2011

An open letter to Alan Davey, chief executive of the Arts Council:

• THIS letter is a heartfelt protest at the cutting of the Weekend Arts College (WAC) grant.

The Weekend Arts College provides access to high-quality arts training and facilities to over 600 young people a week. WAC’s students overwhelmingly identify themselves as coming from low-income, disadvantaged backgrounds, and 75 per cent identify themselves as black or other ethnic minority community.

To describe WAC as a youth arts provision is to understate the enormous beneficial impact the organisation has had on marginalised youth for over 30 years. It is literally a lifeline, and a transformative experience for countless young people facing social and pastoral challenges our genera­tion can only guess at. It is also a centre of excellence. Sophie Okonedo and Marrianne Jean-Baptiste are the only two black British actors to have ever been nominated for an Oscar, and they’re both WAC kids. 

WAC’s unique atmosphere derives from the high number of ex-students who now teach and administrate, creating a feeling of continuity and empathy. I have been teaching drama at WAC since 1991, and now find myself teaching the children of fellow former students. 

Recently I was invited to speak at an Arts Council event entitled “The Creative Case For Diversity”, in which practitioners and Arts Council workers spoke of a future commitment to ensuring that access to arts was made available to all. I have to tell you in all candour that I find myself wondering if this event was just an empty posture, in light of this myopic decision to cut the grant of such a proven social leveller as WAC. 

I also find myself wondering why an organisation so predominantly black in make-up has suffered a 100 per cent cut, while more mainstream organisations who have done far less to challenge the vanilla hegemony of arts in England took only a 15 per cent hit.

I urge you to re-consider, and also would love to invite you to come to WAC and observe first-hand the dedication of both the staff and students. And, yes, the classes still cost one pound, 30 years later.

CHE WALKER
WAC Performing Arts and Media College