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The term ‘subaltern’ was first coined by the Marxist intellectual, Antonio Gramsci, and used to refer to any individual or group of people who were ‘suffering under hegemonic domination of a ruling elite class’ and were denied ‘basic rights of participation in the making of local history and culture’ (Louai, 2012). The concept was then adopted in the field of post-colonial theory and formed the basis of the Subaltern Studies Group which comprised a group of South Asian scholars at the University of Sussex in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Placed within the context of post-colonialism, the subaltern refers more specifically to people situated within colonised countries who are marginalised in every way due to their lack of access to the cultural imperialism and systems of power. A seminal text in the field of Subaltern Studies is Gayatri Spivak’s ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’, in which she discusses what she refers to as the ‘epistemic violence’ in the discourse that Western intellectuals use to represent and refer to these groups of people, suggesting that cultural imperialism is enacted in the manner in which only forms of Western knowledge are recognised and valued in academia (Spivak, 1988).

I contend that Spivak’s argument and the concept of the subaltern can be useful in examining and unpacking notions around cultural diversity and the representation of marginalised individuals in the arts. For instance, in a text that focusses on what he refers to as ‘British Asian theatre’, Anamik Saha discusses the way in which an emphasis on ‘culturally diverse arts’ by Arts Council England and a pressure for cultural diversity within the media has led to ‘greater minority representation in cultural production’ (Saha, 2017). Rather than help to dismantle the structures of power that marginalises ethnic minorities in the UK, Saha argues that an increase in the number of minorities in the media and in British theatre can actually enforce racial hierarchies ‘through taste and distinction that preserves the whiteness’ of these forms of cultural production (Saha, 2017). In encouraging ethnic minorities to conform to modes of representation that are respected and valued by the white Western cultural hegemony, the voices of these individuals are arguably stifled and diminished in a similar way to the voices of the subaltern in academia.

Eibhlin

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Increasingly, arts organisations are reviewed on the ability to demonstrate resilience: their long-term sustainability and robustness in the current political and economic climate. The concept of resilience cuts across financial, philanthropic, environmental and digital practice; it is a term that is used as the ultimate justification of funding support. Indeed, Arts Council England summarise it as proof of being "fit for the future". Without this evidence, arts organisations and artists alike are not considered worthy, and are placed at risk as funding and governmental support is reduced in the UK sector. I am therefore interested in the models, practices, and policies which are put in place to establish resilience. I am also interested in the wider impact and the causal effect of this on cities, artists, and audiences, including the impact on global and local connections.
Anneliese

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is essential in the construction of collective identities and is most pronounced in the formation of national identities. Yet, individual or marginalized social groups create and try to protect their own cultural memories, in particular if these are ignored by the grand narrative of a nation. Just like individual memories, cultural memory connects to all three temporal dimensions: it is evoked by the present, refers to the past, always has its eye set on the future.
Cultural memory is created by gathering aspects of heritage as it is stored or ascribed to ‘sacred spaces’ (heritage sites), objects (e.g., memorials), texts, rituals (e.g., commemorations), artworks, religion. These trigger memories of meanings associated with past events or values, often reaching back to allegedly mythical origins or they crystallise an important collective event (e.g., the French Revolution). Captured and mass-produced in photographs or souvenirs they function as aide memoire in popular reception. Thus it is important to consider that remembrance is shared through social interaction and not through narrative or objects alone.  - Ulrike

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Stereotype became a huge barrier to diversity of art industry. Cardwell defined Stereotype as "a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996) It is normally used when we encounter something unfimiliar and new, we would tend to reduce the processing time in thinking, i.e. if we learnt that a person has a specific characteristics, we will automatically assume the group of people that person belongs to has the same charateristics. For instances, Chinese people are considered experts in Kung Fu because of well-known action films by Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.
Thus, in terms of art creation, audiences and authorities will judge a piece of art work - how many elements representing that culture are shown, that became an obstacle to foreign artists in creation.

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The aspirational normativity is a dominate Neo-liberal condition posit a continual affective investment in the Utopian beliefe of future progress, which in turn fuel the workers' present effort. It also caused the future temporarily creative workers' willingness to take on

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Hope is the feeling of an expectation; it is the desire and trust of something to happen. It is a concept that needs to be considered in its specific context, as something that we share with others, but that must also be understood through certain cultural and social features. In the framework of today’s creative industries, it means to accept the precarity of our jobs and perseverate in thinking that something better will come. It is to imagine alternatives, different possible paths, enduring in instable ways of living. If – how Alacovska (2018) underlines – to experience hope, one needs to have experienced difficulties, it is also true that hope becomes a sort of survival mechanism, a ‘therapeutic approach’ to make the present more liveable. Hope is a crucial concept within the creative industries: we want, and need, to think that unpaid jobs, or internships, are just a transitory situation. Through hope, art workers can project their aspirations somewhere in the future.

Marta

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I would consider identity as a prism with many facets. It is difficult to describe the essence of a person with just one aspect of their life, since it is composed by many parts, including origin, experience, family etc. Taking a broader view on the matter, thanks to the connections and interactions that the internet provides, people have a lot of options regarding the communities that they can identify with because the web and social media allow visibility and exposure. What I would like to focus on is the creation of new communities on the internet that now can be considered as proper cultures. The barrier of physical proximity that was crucial for a certain type of culture to develop has now been broken down by the web. I want to reflect on the effects that this peculiarity of new cultures can have. If a part of the identity of a person is built on the interactions and relationships he has, how online engagement shaped the new cultures and identities?

Chiara

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The concept of Hope is part of the daily life of the human being. We are usually hoping that something better is going to come in our personal life or in our job. According to the Cambridge Dictionary the meaning of hope is “to want something to happen or to be true, and usually have a good reason to think that it might”.

In the visual arts sector, being an artist is an arduous profession. Artists usually have other jobs to support their production of artworks and at the same time pay their monthly expenses because with only the sales of their artworks is not enough. Also, the sector usually don’t pay the same salaries as other professions and pays by contracts or specific tasks. While most of the art jobs in London pay less than 25.000 pounds a year the average salary is 36.000 pounds yearly. As Alacovska (2018) said, the notion of hope presents a better comprehension of why the artist continuous working in precarious conditions.

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I would like to suggest that the lack of diversity in the arts is actually an issue of economic class. The wages in the arts sector are notoriously low, if there are is in fact any wage at all. A common pathway in to the sector is through unpaid work or internships. Larger institutes in particular are able to ‘pay’ workers, usually young people, just in the status of that place. For paid work £20,000 seems a generous starting salary. Therefore most people who are in a position to accept such a pittance would need some form of additional financial support. This could be in the form of living at their family or being supported by them or a partner. I would argue that most people who are in this situation are the middle or upper classes and who for the most part are white.

I also feel there is something to be said for the context of statistical information about diversity. An article by the Museum’s Association in 2018 states that in York Museums Trust less than 5% of their staff are BME. From 2004-2008 I lived in York and have continued to revisit since. I am aware that the cultural makeup of a place can change, but I would be interested to know what percentage of the population of York is BME – quiet low I would imagine as I’ve always known it to be a very white community. I think we need to be careful when comparing two institutions in difference places of the country and that the ‘diversity target’ for York Art Gallery should not be the same target as for a The Tate.

Claire :)