Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the performing arts industry on diversity and social mobility of performers in that industry.

Ensuring that our arts and culture represent everyone is good for business, good for creativity and good for our communities. The Secretary of State, her Ministerial team and DCMS officials reguarly meet with a wide range of stakeholders across the arts and culture sector including Arts Council England and performing arts organisations and discuss a number of issues including what can be done to support diversity both on and off the stage.

The Arts Council has committed £11.8m of its strategic funds since December 2015 to support and increase diversity within the arts including the Sustained Theatre Fund which offers support to the development of BME theatre makers across the wider theatre sector in England. The fund has awarded £500,000 to eleven organisations including Eclipse Theatre who will deliver a programme that will support over 1,200 black artists in the North by increasing access to local, national and international networks and opportunities for BAME artists.