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WARDROBE CRISIS with Clare Press
Are You Posh & White Enough for a Career in the Creative Arts? Rahemur Rahman on Strategies for System Change
Season 9, Ep. 207
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Rich, white and privileged - the creative arts sector has a class problem. Particularly in class-obsessed Britain, where middle-class people are twice as likely to work in creative jobs than their working class contemporaries. According to the Evening Standard, "the worlds of TV, film, music and the arts are dominated by straight, able-bodied white men living in London, despite them only accounting for 3.5% of the [UK] population."
Not that this is purely a UK problem. In New York, 85% of artists represented by commercial galleries are white. In Australia, where one in four of us were born overseas, culturally and linguistically diverse creatives are still barely represented in fashion at all. And consider the global luxury brands, with their spate of recent cookie-cutter creative director hires - can anyone actually tell the difference between these men from their photos alone?
But, "What about the new editor at Vogue?" I hear you say. Too often, the celebrated hire is still the only Black or brown person in the room.
I bet you can think of a thousand places where career progress is affected by your postcode, where you went to school and what your parents did. And lurking behind all that: race, gender, sexuality, difference, not to mention how much cash you've got...
It's time for a power shift!
Meet Rahemur Rahman, a British-Bengali artist, educator and designer who is determined to change the system, not simply tinker round the edges of representation. He made it, despite the odds. Raised in working class Tower Hamlets, he studied fashion at Central Saint MartinsHe studied fashion at Central Saint Martins, where he now teaches. Designs from his debut London Fashion Week collection menswear collection were acquired by the V&A Museum. Now, he's the director of training and development at Bari, a new incubator supporting South Asian creatives in East London as part of the British Bangladeshi Fashion Council.
This is a lively conversation about what it takes to, practically, turn things around - not just talk about it. Hint: no true diversity and inclusion without addressing the class barrier!
We're also talking the creative innovation meets heritage craft, social impact fashion, holidays with friends, and the joy of working on what matters.
Check the shownotes for links & further reading.
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