Edinburgh International Festival under fire for all-white senior management
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The Edinburgh International Festival is under pressure to change recruitment procedures after it emerged ethnic minorities are almost totally absent from senior roles.
A survey of senior festival staff found many of the boards and committees which organise the event are exclusively white, despite Scotland having a fast-growing black and minority ethnic (BaME) population.
“The lack of people from BaME communities... does Scotland’s creative community a disservice, and doesn’t represent the diversity of which Scots are rightly proud,” said Patricia Ferguson, Scottish Labour’s Culture spokeswoman.
Julie Weston, a director at Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: “The criteria for staff appointments remain merit and ability, not race, nationality or colour.”
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