There is a class crisis in arts leadership in the UK and there is much ado about Meta this week.
Hello from Taipei! I am currently in Taipei to attend RightsCon, a global conference focused on human rights in the digital age.
There is much ado about Meta this week which will leaving you wonder WTF now?! is going on at the Facebook company. But before getting into all that is happening at Meta, there is a different kind of arts leadership crisis going on in the UK that warrants exploration. In terms of Meta, a copyright and AI case it is involved in has revealed the company’s approach to permission to use copyright materials, it wants to build the longest undersea internet cable daf different kind of arts leadership crisis going on in the UK , it and Google will not be taking part in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras this year and it has sweetened executive remuneration packages despite culling workers.
Don't just read the introduction. Free members can read the entire weekly WTF now?! round-up. Sign up and keep reading.
What's been going on?
Here’s WTF happened this week:
Class is becoming a significant issue for arts leadership in the UK
A disproportionate number of arts leaders in the UK went to private schools and Oxford or Cambridge.
As the Creative Australia Venice Biennale 2026 backflip saga continues to cast down on the leadership at the federal arts funding agency, a different kind of leadership crisis is under scrutiny in the United Kingdom. A survey by The Guardian of the 50 organisations that receive the most Arts Council England funding revealed “a disproportionate number of leadership roles were occupied by people who were educated privately and those who went to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge”. Over a third (36 percent) of arts CEO and other executive directors in the UK received a private school education while almost a third (30 percent) of artistic directors and other creative leaders went to a private school. Over a quarter of CEOs and executive directors (26 percent) attended the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge and 17.5 per cent of artistic and other creative directors went to the universities of Oxford or Cambridge.
