Earlier this month, during the climax of Chicago rapper Noname’s headline gig in London, she paused, cut the accompaniment, and addressed her sold-out audience. “Can I hear you say free Palestine?” It was, of course, not the first time I’d been at a concert where the artist had made some kind of political statement. At Stormzy’s packed out All Points East show last year, he implored the crowd to “f*** the Government and f*** Boris”. I’ve watched Little Simz rap about apartheid, and Beyoncé sing about race relations.
But it was Noname I thought of when a row about Arts Council England broke out last week. It all started when the magazine Arts Professional reported on a hitherto largely unnoticed update that the Arts Council had made to its policies at the end of January. Buried a few lines into its relationship policy was the warning that political statements made by individuals associated with Arts Council-funded projects — even if in a personal capacity — could cause reputational risk. That in turn, the Arts Council said, could affect funding.
