Public Art and LGBT inclusion

For projects from January 2024 up to date And for ongoing work and upcoming, planned work

Public art

1) What is being done to make the town hall space more inclusive in terms of race, and LGBT inclusion? 2) What artworks have been installed or removed to help with this? Paintings linked to empire and slavery for example/

3) What public art more generally, has been commissioned to improve diversity and inclusion?

4) What public art more generally, has been removed, or given greater context, or reviewed for links to offensive or outmoded issues - statues linked to empire and slavery, for example

Local museums

5) What is being done to make local museums (if applicable) more inclusive in terms of race, and LGBT inclusion?

6) What displays have been added or updated to help with this? For example, have outdated displays been taken down?

7) What research is being undertaken?

8) What tours are available

9) What advice on racial inclusion and LTGBT issues is provided to staff?

Libraries

10) If applicable, what is being done to make local libraries more inclusive in terms of race, and LGBT inclusion?

11) What books have been added to stock in relation to this?

12) What books have been removed or moved to a reserve stack, or a less prominent place, because their content might be problematic; for example, outdated, racist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic ?

13) Can you provide details of any complaint received in the timeframe relating to the above issues?

Public Art

1) Lincolnshire County Council does not operate a Town Hall space

2) Within our museum and gallery exhibitions programme and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation award we are actively working to encourage contributions made by artists and students, showing, or making work as part of an exhibition or display that enhance our understandings of the above referenced issues. In addition we have specifically commissioned and/or purchased recent works including works by Thomas J Price and Charmaine Watkiss to proactively develop our permanent collections in this respect.

3) (see response to question 2)

4) (see response to question 5 below)

Local Museums

5) Our collections, sites and the stories we explore within our visitor offer are no exceptions to the developing understanding around the issues referenced within this request. Initial work has been undertaken to review collections of objects and archives relating to histories of colonialism and imperialism. Additionally, the sites we work in also contain direct, tangible links to these histories.

Internally we have begun assessing our collections and our documentation, and are looking to expand our understanding of the items in our care, including how they came to be in the collections and their histories. In terms of the future development of our collections there are strict ethical and moral principles within the UK's museum sector today that rightly prohibit the continued collection of contentious material in the context of colonial histories. However, within contemporary collecting, as part of our role in highlighting and facilitating reflections on these important issues we are committed to opportunities to diversify our collection to prompt new conversation on contentious themes and celebrating diversity. As a museum responsible for all of the items in our care, our public facing role is to unpick, highlight and represent the many different layers in an object's story which may resonate in different ways with different people. Our approach here is to look to highlight these narratives through an ongoing conversation with our audiences, local communities and other stakeholders where of relevance within our offer. Within our exhibitions programme and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation award we are actively working to encourage contributions made by artists and students, showing, or making work as part of an exhibition or display that enhance our understandings of the above referenced issues.

6-7) See response to question 5

8) LCC does not offer tours specifically focused on the referenced subjects of this enquiry. However in respect of our answer to question 5 above, related collections and artworks regularly feature within gallery tours as part of our visitor offer. LCC are engaged in third party run partnerships projects including Reimagine Lincolnshire and Threshold who are actively undertaking tours in the Lincoln as part of their programme Reimagining Lincolnshire - We are Threshold 9) All Lincolnshire County Council undertake regular mandatory corporate training in Equality Diversity and Inclusion as well as a range of guidance for managers on supporting our workforce, and for employees seeking support.

Libraries

10) The library services approach to stock, resources and services is inclusive of all by default as required by the PLMA 1964 and other relevant legislation.

11) Race and LGBT+ are not stock categories used in our Library Management System and so we are unable to search holdings by these terms to provide a list of books added to stock within the timeframe specified.

Our collections management tool CollectionsHQ will allow us to search by topic, relevant ones appear to be 'Equality and Social Issues', Sexuality and Gender' and 'Multicultural' and so this is an option if required. However, all of our stock holdings are in the public domain via our online catalogue Catalogue Home so the requestor can use this themselves to search for specific subjects or titles and sort results by publication date to see items within their specified timeframe.

12) None - Material is not rejected or taken from public view because it is controversial as we do not censor, and inclusion in our collection does not imply endorsement of a work. Stock selection and management follows the CILIP guideline as below with the 'weeding' of items focussing on condition, currency of information and demand. "The function of a library service is to provide, as far as resources allow, all books, periodicals etc. other than the trivial, in which its readers claim a legitimate interest. In determining what a legitimate interest is, the librarian may safely rely on one guide only - the law of the land. If the publication of such matter has not incurred penalties under the law it should not be excluded from libraries on any moral, political, religious or racist grounds alone, to satisfy any sectional interest'

13) There have been no complaints received in the timeframe relating to the issues above