The Black Heart Art programme aims to provide financial scholarships to underrepresented and under-resourced young people for arts education, empowering the next generation of diverse arts talent.

The art sector remains one of the UK’s most overwhelmingly underrepresented industries, with only 18.2% of the music, performing and visual arts workforce coming from working class backgrounds and just 2.7% of the UK’s art sector come from Black, Asian and other ethnically diverse backgrounds. The UK government has also recently announced that its moving ahead with plans to cut funding for art and design courses by 50% across higher education institutions in England, further widening the gap to participation for many young people.

By providing diverse young talent with funding to pursue their artistic talent, we hope to ensure more equitable opportunities for all to create and experience the arts, no matter their background. Education is key to growth, and as money is the primary barrier to entry in the arts, by removing this barrier, it starts to chip away at the exclusionary way things have always been done in the art world and change the narrative to create greater inclusion.