Beeb ‘needs to diversify the Proms’
THE BBC needs to do more to improve the diversity of its “near snow-white” Proms, campaigners claim.
The only black faces at the Beeb’s Maida Vale studios – the home of the famous Symphony Orchestra – work in catering or security, say Black Lives in Music.
Musician Roger Wilson, who is campaigning for the group, said: “I welcome you to visit Maida Vale studios where the only ethnically diverse staff, almost without exception, can only be seen in roles of security or catering.
“Aside from musicians, where are the black orchestra managers, black music librarians, black stage managers, black logistics and operational staff?”
Wilson, who has worked with stars including Dame Shirley Bassey said there has to be an improvement on the “paucity of real diverse representation in classical music”.
He added: “These statistical facts, these images of a near snowwhite industry are the only deterrent a young aspiring musical talent from an ethnically diverse background needs to put the hand brake on and try their hand elsewhere.”