- The Mayor’s £1million Untold Stories fund will champion diversity and improve representation in the capital’s public spaces
- Investment comes as landmark study finds that there are double the number of statues featuring animals in London than there are of named women
- Bespoke content on an interactive website will also help educate people of all ages and backgrounds about Britain’s diverse and complex history
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has today announced details of a £1million fund to help champion diversity in the capital’s public spaces and ensure London’s landmarks and monuments reflect the achievements of all who have contributed to the success of our city.
The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, announced by the Mayor in June 2020, is committed to improving the representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, women, LGBTQ+ communities and disabled people in the public realm. Its role is to enrich and enhance the capital’s public spaces and advise on better ways to increase public understanding of the human stories behind existing statues, street names, building names and memorials.
Today, the Mayor announced the first phase of the Commission’s work, with a £1million Untold Stories grant programme, which will invite community-led organisations to submit applications for grants worth up to £25,000 to help refresh their public spaces. This may include new ideas for murals, street art, street names and other projects to ensure we are told a fuller version of our capital’s story.
The announcement also includes the launch of a new partnership with Bridging Histories to create an interactive platform to enable Londoners and anyone interested in the capital’s diverse history to learn more about the city. Bridging Histories will take people of all ages through a series of interactive educational activities enabling them to connect with others, learn about the past, and create positive change for the future.
The unveiling of the Untold Stories grants programme follows the publication of the first comprehensive audit of public sculpture and monuments across the capital - part of a national research project by Art UK funded in part by City Hall. This landmark study reviewed sculptures in public spaces across London over the last 1000 years. It finds that out of almost 1500 monuments in the capital:
- More than a fifth are dedicated to named men. (20.5 per cent)
- Only four per cent are dedicated to named women.
- The number of sculptures that feature animals - almost 100 - is double that of named women.
- Out of a total of almost 50 sculptures there are only three sculptures dedicated to named women of colour. (Noor Inayat Khan, 1914-1944 and Mary Seacole, 1805 - 1881, Nicola Adams b.1982)
- 14 sculptures across the entire city depict named men of colour.
These findings provide further evidence of the urgent need to improve diversity in public spaces across London - one of the most diverse cities in the world.
The Mayor wants everyone to be able to take pride in our public realm and is committed to ensuring our public spaces represent who we are and the values of diversity and inclusion that lie at the heart of our city.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “London’s diversity is its greatest strength but for far too long our capital’s statues, street names and buildings have only shown a limited perspective on our city’s complex history.
“I’m determined to do everything I can to ensure our public realm presents a more complete picture of everyone who has made London the incredible city it is today.
“That’s why I’ve launched a £1million fund to help the diverse communities who know our city best lead the way in celebrating our capital’s Untold Stories.”
Binki Taylor, Commissioner, Mayors Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm and Brixton Business owner and partner in the Brixton Project, said: “The commission holds a strong desire for the outcome of its work to be a public realm that genuinely reflect the cultures, histories and narratives of all Londoners. The development of an accessible grants framework for commissioning creative public realm projects from the heart of London’s communities is a fundamentally transformative and cohesive act of empowerment for local people.”
Andrew Ellis, Director, Art UK, said: “The release of Art UK’s comprehensive photographic audit of public sculptures and monuments in London – and soon the rest of the country – could not be more timely given the great interest in public statuary. It is the result of a substantial programme of digitisation executed by a large body of brilliant volunteers working alongside the Art UK team. The project has been funded in the main by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with London digitisation also supported by the Mayor, for which Art UK is very grateful.”
Dr Joanna Burch Brown, Bristol University and the Bristol History Commission, said: “I hope people of all backgrounds will join in, learn something new, feel more connected to people around them, and be inspired to make a positive change for the future.”
Selina Papa, Head of Engagement, National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “National Lottery Heritage Fund is committed to ensuring everyone has opportunities to access and enjoy heritage. Programmes like the CDPR microgrant enable communities to record & celebrate the people, places and events that are important to them, and pave the way for better representation in heritage as well as potential to widen interest in the UK’s celebrated range of museums, archives, historic buildings, landscapes and cultural heritage. We are glad to offer support the programme.”
Helena Lee, acting deputy editor of Harper’s Bazaar and East Side Voices founder, said: “This initiative is important to break the cycle of systemic non-representation of the British ESEA community and minority groups in the cultural infrastructure of London. My hope is that their roles in building this diverse city will be acknowledged, and Londoners will be connected to the multitude of rich stories that are yet to be told but need to be brought to light.”
Notes to editors
- Community-led groups and organisations across London can now apply for funding from the new £1million fund to improve diversity in our public places. The first round of Untold Stories grant applications will open on 21 October 2021. The deadline for applications is midday on 12 January 2022. Community-led organisations based in London with a turnover of less than £500k can apply for up to £25k for projects (murals, artworks, plaques, benches, memorials, gardens, play areas, etc.) to enhance diversity and representation in London’s public spaces or provide context, insight or draw attention to invisible, contested or missing heritage in London’s public spaces. The second round of funding will open in Spring 2022: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/arts-and-culture/commission-diversity-public-realm/commission-diversity-public-realm-grants
- The Untold Stories grant programme has two funding streams; ‘Test and develop’ grants of £1,000 to £5,000 are available for organisations to develop a concept, project or new idea. These could include consulting with local people, running a workshop or developing ideas with support from an artist, history or heritage group. ‘Grow and Make Happen’ grants of £4,000 to £25,000 will be awarded to projects which have been developed with relevant permission and plans, for example new artwork, objects or plaques or a new regular event in London’s public spaces.
- Art UK is a cultural education charity on a mission to make the art in UK public collections accessible to everyone, for enjoyment, learning and research. It enables global audiences to learn about the nation’s art collection by digitising artworks, telling the stories behind the art and creating exciting opportunities for public interaction with art, both online and offline. Over 80% of the nation’s art is not on public view, and until Art UK started its work much of this art had not been photographed. Their work is helping to change this, making what is publicly owned, publicly accessible – to anyone, anywhere. Originally focused on oil paintings, their scope has widened to include prints, drawings, watercolours, sculpture and photography. Art UK play a major role in supporting public art collections by improving their accessibility and sustainability and their platform currently shows 280,000 artworks by 50,000 artists. As an ambitious collaboration between 3,300 institutions, it is one of the largest arts partnerships put together in the UK. Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (1096185) and in Scotland (SC048601). For more information, please visit www.artuk.org.
- Bridging Histories invites people of all ages and backgrounds to join in six categories of activity exploring personal and community history. The activities include sharing a recipe and a story to go with it, creating a poem, discovering street and family history or being a monument detective all with the aim of becoming a personal or community changemaker. Bridging Histories was started by Director Joanna Burch-Brown with the Bristol History Commission, the Bristol Mayor's office, and University of Bristol as an extension of the ‘We are Bristol Commission’. The website has additional content specially adapted for London. To launch the project and inspire people of all backgrounds to participate, Bridging Histories is being kick-started in London by six groups leading workshops in London communities, with £14K of funding by the Mayor of London. For more information please visit: https://bridginghistories.com/
- The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, set up by the Mayor of London in June 2020, reviews the landmarks that currently makes up London’s public realm, furthers the discussion into what legacies should be celebrated, and makes recommendations aimed at establishing best practice and standards. It is wide in scope and considers murals, street art, street names, statues and other memorials. It is co-chaired by Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility and Community Engagement Debbie Weekes-Bernard and Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries Justine Simons OBE, and comprises arts and community leaders from across the capital, as well as historians. It works alongside a Borough Working Group of local councils, and a Partners Board, including ActionSpace, Art Fund, English Heritage and Shape Arts, Arts Council England, Black Cultural Archives, Historic England and Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts). Following his support for the installation of a statue of suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square in 2018, Sadiq and his senior team have held discussions with council, community and arts leaders across the capital to assess the best way to improve diversity in the public realm.